Project Documents and Deliverables
This folder contains the working documents for the project. These will be used to produce the recommendations for review for the UN/CEFACT plenary in 2026.
While the project is active, all documents are draft and subject to change. None should be considered definitive unless marked as such.
This folder holds documents that are considered necessary for discussion and understanding, and/or useful for the production of the final deliverables.
The early material for the project was produced in shared Google Doc formats within a Google Drive. This originating folder and documents can be found here. This approach was adopted in order to support collaboration opportunities for a broader group.
Depending on the need and participants, discussion and work on some topics may continue in the Google environment (as well as project Slack Channel and Group Email).
When the work is deemed sufficiently mature/substantive by the project leads, the content and changes are moved to this UNICC hosted GitLab environment. Master copies of all documents are maintained within this environment.
Document Framework
The document framework is built on four critical strategic pillars:
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Institutional Legal Integrity: The governance of the GRID is defined through a formal framework of institutional oversight, ensuring the directory remains a neutral, legally protected UN utility.
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Sovereignty & Resilience: The GRID is defined as a decoupled discovery layer that respects national infrastructure and protects the "Sovereign Anchor" of the Authoritative Registrar.
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Liability Management: In the proposed application of the UNTP Digital Identity Anchor (DIA), we have introduced a Trust Attribution Framework (Authoritative vs. Verified vs. Asserted) to provide Registrars with a "Liability Shield" regarding third-party data.
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Institutional Sustainability: We proposed a self-sustaining finance model based on the ICAO PKD "Cost-Recovery" model, ensuring the GRID is self-funding and budget-neutral for the United Nations.
The Document Suite (01–05)
The documentation is organized into five modules:
| Doc # | Title | Primary Focus | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Economic Argument | The "Trust Tax" reduction & hypothetical ROI via the ICAO-style funding model. | Ministers & Economists |
| 02 | Registrar Data Qualities | Standardized metadata for GRID listing and the "Inclusive Maturity Model" for participation. | Registrar IT & Data Leads |
| 03 | DIA Legal & Data Structure | The "Trust Wrapper" concept and the legal articles defining functional equivalence and liability. | Regulators & Legal Counsel |
| 04 | GRID Legal Governance & TOM | Institutional Oversight: The legal framework for the GRID Board, membership eligibility, and formal legal annexes (Indemnity, Immunity, and Dispute Resolution). | Secretariat, Lawyers & Gov Reps |
| 05 | Pilot Design Architecture | Proof of Concept for decentralized harvesting and decoupled key management. | Technical Leads & Pilots |
Key Legal & Institutional Highlights
Of particular interest to legal and policy leads, Document 04 (GRID Legal Governance & TOM) includes:
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Institutional Oversight: The creation of the GRID Board, composed of Nation State participants, to oversee the "Trust Root" and ensure the Technical Operator (UNICC) adheres to UN mandates.
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Formal Legal Safeguards: The inclusion of an Annex of Formal Legal Clauses addressing UN Privileges and Immunities, Indemnification for the Secretariat, and a defined Dispute Resolution mechanism (UNCITRAL-aligned).
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Eligibility Protocol: A transparent procedure for the admission of "Authoritative Registrars," ensuring that only those with a valid statutory mandate can anchor identity in the GRID.
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Agnostic Sovereignty: Explicit protection for the "Sovereign Choice" of Nation States regarding their internal identifier standards (National Standard, Regional Standard, GS1, ISO, LEI, etc. etc.), ensuring the GRID remains a neutral reference layer.