Annex A: Division of Responsibilities

Recognizing that within electronic business, there is the potential for convergence for all types of data interchange, the work programme will be tailored to bring all types of information exchange development within a single framework.

Recognising the need for a single clear and unambiguous set of data definitions and relationships as the basis for defining sharable sets of data for the different processes in electronic business, in order to achieve modularity, consistency and interoperability between the various standards used, the MoU Management Group will be the coordination authority for developing an integrated, modular architecture of information for Electronic Business. The architecture shall include as a minimum:

• clear, unambiguous definitions of the information, capable of interpretation into multiple languages
• fixed relationships between elements of information
• hierarchies of information elements
• identification of information that should be maintained through registration authorities

Recognizing that the participating International User Groups are responsible for contributing to the specification of the requirements for standards for electronic business, although they do not have a unique responsibility.
Within this context, the following current division of responsibilities is agreed.

A.1 In the case of UN/EDIFACT messages or other messages using its functionality, syntax and/or directories, UN/CEFACT is responsible for the development and maintenance of these messages and the associated implementation guidelines . ISO, IEC and the participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to such work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts in the message design groups.

In other application areas where UN/ECE is not capable of meeting the business requirements, such as specific functions in banking, documentation and industrial automation, ISO and IEC are responsible for the development and maintenance of the information exchange standards. Every effort will be made to avoid duplication of functionality provided by UN/EDIFACT and to establish links with UN/EDIFACT. UN/ECE is invited to contribute to such work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of its experts in the application area groups.

A.2 Since the standardization of syntaxes for electronic business is broader than UN/EDIFACT, it is recognized that ISO and IEC are the more appropriate organizations for the development and maintenance of standardized syntaxes for electronic business. However, in the case of the EDIFACT application level syntax (ISO 9735), including its interactive version and associated security, it is understood that its development and maintenance is a collaborative ISO-UN/ECE activity, to be carried out in a joint group, the secretariat of which is to be provided by ISO and the chair to be provided by UN/CEFACT. The results of the work of the joint group will be submitted for parallel approval in both ISO and UN/ECE and will be published jointly by ISO and UN/ECE.

A.3 In accordance with the provisions for maintenance included in the United Nations Trade Data Element Directory (TDED, published, in part, as ISO 7372 ), it is recognized that maintenance is a collaborative activity carried out by the Joint ISO-UN/ECE Maintenance Agency, the secretariat and chair to be provided by the UN/ECE, and that results will be published jointly by ISO and UN/ECE.

A.4 In accordance with previous agreements between the three standardization organizations, it is recognized that ISO/TC 154 « Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration » is responsible for the management of the BSR project . Other bodies interested in the development of the BSR are invited to contribute to such work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts.

A.5 It is understood that standards for naming, defining and coding of data elements are the responsibility of ISO and IEC (carried out in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 « Data Management and Interchange », ISO/TC 184/SC 4 « Industrial Data-Parts Libraries » and in IEC/SC 3D - « Data sets for libraries of electric component data »). UN/ECE and the participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to this work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts. It is understood that UN/ECE is responsible for the development of Guidelines for the use of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 standards as the basis for the development of UN/EDIFACT directories. Other application areas within ISO and IEC will be responsible for the development of their own guidelines.

A.6 In the context of open-edi, it is understood that ISO and IEC are responsible for the development of standards concerning security in edi transmission (e.g. ISO/TC 68 « Banking, securities and other financial services » is responsible for security in Bank to Bank messages). UN/ECE and the participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to this work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts. It is understood that UN/ECE is responsible for the development of Guidelines and for the implementation of security standards in UN/EDIFACT Messages and in the EDIFACT application level syntax (ISO 9735), which should be consistent with other security standards.

Responsibility for the coordination of the security aspects will lie with the MoU Management Group

A.7 In the context of open-edi, it is understood that ISO and IEC are responsible for the development of methodologies and formalisms for creating and specifying Business Information Models (BIMs) , for example the Semantic Descriptive Techniques being developed/chosen by ISO and IEC for modelling of Information Bundles in the BOV related standards for Open-edi. UN/ECE and the participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to this work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts. It is understood that UN/ECE is responsible for the development of Guidelines for the use of BIMs as the basis for the development of UN/EDIFACT Messages. Other application areas within ISO and IEC will be responsible for the development of their own guidelines. It is understood that participating International user groups are responsible for business process modelling for their environments.

Responsibility for the coordination of modelling activities will lie with the MoU Management Group

A.8 It is understood that the maintenance of the Open-edi reference model (ISO/IEC 14662) is the responsibility of ISO and IEC. UN/ECE and the participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to this work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts.

It is understood that ISO and IEC are responsible for the choice of existing formalisms and/or development of formalisms, for the specification of scenarios (including information bundles), and their registration in repositories (BOV related standards for Open-edi). It is understood that UN/ECE is responsible for the use of these formalisms for the development of scenarios within UN/EDIFACT. Other application areas within ISO, IEC and the participating International User Groups are responsible for the development of their own scenarios. Responsibility for the coordination of the scenarios will lie with the MoU Management Group.

A.9 It is understood that UN/ECE is responsible for the development of recommendations on simplification of trade processes, trade procedures and business practices, and aligned paper formats . ISO and IEC and the participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to this work by providing input through liaison and through d irect participation of their experts.

A.10 It is understood that ISO and IEC are responsible for the development of standards on industrial engineering practices, information and procedures , throughout the product lifecycle. ISO/TC 184/SC 4 is responsible for industrial and manufacturing data, and part libraries. IEC/TC 93 « Design Automation » is responsible for standardization to enable the integration and automation of electrotechnical product design, and transfer of data to manufacturing. UN/ECE and the participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to this work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts.

A.11 It is understood that the standards for technical documentation are the responsibility of ISO and IEC (carried out in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 « Computer graphics and image processing », and in IEC/TC3). UN/ECE and the participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to this work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts.

A.12 It is understood that the standards for processing multiple languages, character sets and encoding are the responsibility of ISO and IEC (carried out in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2 « Coded character sets »). UN/ECE and the participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to this work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts.

A.13 It is understood that CALS International is responsible for the preparation of a generic electronic business reference model in a virtual enterprise to support the CALS business scenarios, covering the different lifecycle phases of a product and a project, and the associated information requirements. This must recognize existing ISO, IEC and UN/ECE work on the value chain and business transactions. The generic model may be specialized to include sector-specific requirements. The reference model can be used to identify ongoing requirements for standardization, and to assist industry sectors and individual enterprises in identifying how to exploit both de jure and de facto standards to support electronic business. CALS International will also prepare a complementary Handbook for Electronic Business to provide information to industry on how to implement the standards in a consistent manner. The standardization organizations and the other participating International User Groups are invited to contribute to this work by providing input through liaison and through direct participation of their experts, and the standardization organizations shall provide the mechanism for processing any resulting documents as standards.

A.14 It is understood that the development of Electronic Design Automation standards is undertaken by a number of ISO and IEC technical committees and that the Electronic Design Automation Harmonization Group (EDAHG) is responsible for the harmonization of the standardization activities, under the IEC Advisory Committee on Electronics and Telecommunications (ACET).

A.15 It is understood that standardization activity on electronic commerce has already been incorporated within the ITU-T Global Information Infrastructure (GII) Projects of which the objectives are:

• to establish a set of fundamental concepts for GII, and to enable cross-industry and cross-standards organizations' understanding of inter-relationships of respective standards-based technologies;
• to provide coordination with other standards organizations such as ISO/IEC to ensure consolidation of work plans and priorities, and with other industry consortia as necessary to ensure adequate business, market and technological input to the establishment of work priorities.

The GII Project M.3 covers the technical framework for electronic commerce. ITU is concerned with electronic commerce because of the intervening telecommunication systems/functions. Part of the communications will probably go through the Internet, but other transport facilities will also be involved. Generally, the scope of the standards development activity of the ITU-T in electronic commerce should focus on areas not already being addressed elsewhere and where it can bring useful complements, such as security features or where telecommunications networks, based on any available technology, are used.

The objectives of the GII Project M.3 are:

• to review existing work on the subject outside ITU and examine the possible contribution of ITU-T;
• to characterize the functional aspects of electronic commerce;
• to identify the specific telecommunication support requirements applicable to electronic commerce;
• to define the interfaces between networks and information appliances appropriate for electronic commerce;
• to develop the protocols for the support of electronic commerce.

The lead body is ITU-T Study Group 16 and the collaborating bodies are ITU-T SG 4, 17, 13, IETF (in particular IOTP and PINT groups), OMG, TINA-C, and possibly ETSI/HF and ETSI/SEC.

A.16 It is understood that the following Questions of ITU-T Study Groups may provide inputs for the development of standards in relation with electronic business:

• ITU-T SG 4: Q.17/4, Q.19/4
• ITU-T SG 13: Q.12/13, 15/13, 16/13
• ITU-T SG 16: Q.B/16, C/16, D/16, G/16
• ITU-T SG 17: Q.9/17, 10/17, 12/17, 24/27, 26/27, 27/17

A.17 It is understood that the ITU-D Sector has developed a Project on Electronic Commerce for Developing Countries (EC-DC), that is a special initiative for developing countries' business communities demonstrating the value of information and communication technology to broaden markets by providing low-cost access to an international clientele.

A.18 It is understood that OASIS and UN/CEFACT have jointly developed a set of specifications for electronic business called ebXML, that work on the ebXML specifications is being continued under the respective OASIS and UN/CEFACT processes, and that OASIS and UN/CEFACT have their own agreement for the joint coordination and management of the ebXML work.

A.19 It is understood that OASIS creates specifications including those related to the use of XML for electronic business, that the topics pursued by OASIS are selected by its members, and that OASIS technical committees are formed and operate under terms of the OASIS TC Process. OASIS seeks to promote collaboration between its technical committees and Standards Organizations or other groups developing standards and specifications, and will create liaisons and other relationships with these groups as appropriate.