Originally published in IAF Outlook, 19 September 2024

Digital trade has been grabbing headlines for a while.  This is often presented as an unstoppable force, but it has not always been clear how certification fits into this picture.  The United Nations (UN), through their Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (CEFACT), has been considering this matter and in July 2024 they published a new standard covering the digital exchange of product conformity data.  What is this all about?

A need for harmonisation

While conformity assessment processes are a key mechanism for providing global product assurance, the resulting data is still largely paper-based, or in electronic formats that do not facilitate easy data processing.  Further, the complexity of the data involved represents a formidable challenge to digitalisation efforts.  However, as other trade-related documents become increasingly digitalised and the efforts by some governments to implement electronic single windows and digital product passports continue to gather momentum, there would seem to be some risk of unhelpful fragmentation of the processes used for exchanging certification data.

A newly published UN/CEFACT Business Requirements Specification (which is free to download) now describes a basic set of data elements and linkages to enhance utility of data issued by conformity assessment bodies, while recognising that paper-based certificates, including PDFs, will continue to exist into the foreseeable future. As with all work at UN/CEFACT, the outcomes are described in terms of open-source data standards and are designed to avoid dependence on proprietary or closed systems. The described data model is scoped as an entirely voluntary initiative and will hopefully be seen as complementary to numerous other digitalisation initiatives already underway within the conformity assessment and accreditation sectors.

In the model, the presence or absence of basic data elements (intended to be machine-readable) provides insights such as verifiable connections to the physical product of interest, the status of an issued certificate, and the authority under which it was issued. Chiefly, the model offers a transition pathway towards full digitalisation but on a timeframe that may be more manageable for CABs. The approach recognises the role of CABs as the valid custodians of the data that they produce and their authority over any revisions to such data. At the same time, the obligation of CABs to respect and implement the confidentiality requirements of their customers remains central to the model.

Towards agreement on common principles

Significantly, this work supports another major area of work at the UN, which is the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Recommendation #49 Transparency at Scale project, which represents an emerging protocol to ensure that sustainability claims made about products can be substantiated in a verifiable and traceable manner.

It is hoped the newly published UN/CEFACT specification on exchange of product conformity data will generate constructive international discussion involving global quality infrastructure institutions like the IAF, regional accreditation groups, other relevant representative bodies, and the wider conformity assessment community.