A recommendation from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe holds potential to affect testing and certification activities around the globe – and it is open for public review until 23 March 2025.
UN/CEFACT Projects Public Reviews
UNECE Recommendation No. 49 Transparency at Scale is a draft recommendation to all United Nations member states, dealing with the integrity of product data relating to sustainability attributes. The regulatory significance of this document derives from the nature of calls made upon governments.
“National and regional policy makers should establish a national traceability and transparency framework in a way that aligns with risk-based due diligence for responsible business conduct, to support their national sustainability commitments and improve their export market competitiveness.”
– Draft UNECE Recommendation No. 49
More reliable product claims
This Recommendation deals with the need for reliable claims about product sustainability and it has direct implications for conformity assessment. While focussed on sustainability claims, it is notable that the principles and processes outlined should be applicable to all forms of conformity assessment and all kinds of product attributes, including assessment of quality and performance.
“Recommendation No. 49 has emerged in response to an increasing demand for policy action to enhance the trustworthiness, accuracy, and verifiable integrity of [sustainability] claims and disclosures. The international nature of value chains requires this response to make sustainability information accessible across different jurisdictions, industries, product segments, and steps in the value chain, to create transparency at scale.”
– Draft UNECE Recommendation No.49
Australian involvement and the NATA link
Development of this Recommendation has been a complex process, occurring over several years and involving a large number of experts across all relevant disciplines. The extent of Australia’s influence throughout the development of this work has been impressive. Drafting of Recommendation No.49 was co-chaired by Steve Capell of GoSource Australia, who has also been leading work on the associated specification, called the United Nations Traceability Protocol. NATA’s own Brett Hyland was part of the main drafting team for Recommendation No. 49, as well as the Project Lead for the associated material relating to digital conformity certificate exchange, published in 2024 by the United Nations as Digital Product Conformity Certificate Exchange – High Level Process.
BRS on Digital Product Conformity Certificate Exchange – High Level Process (version 1.0) | UNECE
Hyland says: “Future digital supply chains are already starting to take shape and the nature of the interface with conformity assessment processes is also coming into view. I am happy that Australia has been able to make substantive contributions to the development of robust and equitable digital processes’.
Related activity
A separate, but closely related, body of work that may also hold implications for Australian industry is ISO/PWI 25534-1 Digital product passport: Overview and fundamental principles, which has been established as a joint initiative between UNECE and ISO. This work kicked off in February and seeks to foster an internationally unified understanding of the architecture of Digital Product Passports and to support the necessary standardization efforts. Like UNECE Recommendation No. 49, this work is sure to reverberate around the world and will have implications for global product conformity systems.
Stay tuned for updates to these significant – and very active – areas of development!