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2026-01-08 1850 AEDT

Jan 8, 2026

UN CEFACT GTR Project - AUS / EU​

Invited Alina Nica Gales John Phillips Jo Spencer Steve Capell

Attachments UN CEFACT GTR Project - AUS / EU

Meeting records Transcript Recording

Summary​

The UN/CEFACT Global Trust Registry Project team, including John Phillips, Alina Nica Gales, Harmen van der Kooij, Hans J. Huber, and Sankarshan, discussed the May plenary's tighter deadline, the UK's His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) interest in a customs and tax pilot, and the global challenge of fake registrars, agreeing that trust remains the prerogative of the individual trade participant. Key talking points focused on aligning European identity work with the project's Digital Identity Anchor (DIA) grid, the preference for using the UNICC-hosted GitLab markdown as the master document environment instead of Google Docs, and the need to clarify that the DIA acts as a technical concept within a "decentralized mesh" of identifiers rather than a new hierarchy. Alina Nica Gales will receive the current markdown copy for Document Number 4 edits, which will include moving substantive eligibility requirements from Annex 2 to a normative Section 4.

Details​

Notes Length: Standard

  • Project Kickoff and Deadlines John Phillips welcomed the team to the UN/CEFACT Global Trust Registry Project in 2026, confirming the open development process and guidelines remain unchanged [00:00:00]. Alina Nica Gales reminded the group that the plenary is scheduled for May, indicating a tighter deadline than initially anticipated. John Phillips noted that updates on deadlines and feedback from the UNC Fact bureau will be shared, reflecting on two December meetings, including a presentation by Alex [00:00:53].

  • European Identity Alignment and UK Pilot Alina Nica Gales had previously raised concerns about aligning European identifier work with the project's digital identity anchor and grid efforts [00:01:46]. John Phillips reported that the UK government's His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), specifically Matt Lahi and their team, are interested in joining a pilot focused on customs, tax, and duties, which was mentioned in relation to a US group meeting [00:02:45].

  • Challenge of Fake Registrars and Trust John Phillips shared a relevant article about a group of islands that achieved independence in 1975, the Komaros, where one island has become a center for fake registrars and fraudulent company registrations, raising the problem of how a trade participant would identify a fake registrar [00:04:27]. Harmen van der Kooij affirmed this is a common global discussion, emphasizing that every country or company should retain the ability to decide whom they trust [00:05:47].

  • Nation-State Authority and Trust John Phillips reiterated that the project focuses on recognizing the authority of nation-state registrars to register things [00:06:43]. They stressed that "trust is in the eye of the beholder," meaning participants decide whether to trust the information presented to them, and the project does not mandate trust [00:07:48].

  • Priorities for Discussion and Document Review Alina Nica Gales outlined three issues for discussion, with a primary focus on the relationship between the European initiative they are co-leading and the grid initiative, citing concerns raised by Spanish colleagues [00:07:48]. Additionally, Alina Nica Gales proposed a brief explanation of the document edits, specifically reordering the table of contents to integrate eligibility requirements more logically [00:08:57] [00:13:57].

  • Document Editing Environment and Strategy John Phillips explained that the UNICC-hosted GitLab environment is the preferred location for the master copies of documents. Hans J. Huber inquired about the current editing location, leading to a discussion about the challenges of working across Google Docs and GitLab [00:09:58]. Sankarshan suggested waiting until Alina Nica Gales finishes their changes on the downloaded copy before attempting to synchronize with the GitLab markdown and Google versions to avoid complex "piecemeal merges" [00:13:57].

  • Shifting to GitLab as the Master Copy Environment John Phillips expressed a preference for treating the GitLab markdown documents as the master copy, suggesting that Alina Nica Gales work on a current downloaded copy of the markdown rather than an older Google Doc version [00:15:18]. Hans J. Huber and Harmen van der Kooij agreed, advocating for the adoption of GitLab to reduce complexity, noting that UNEC's Atlassian environment is unreliable and unmaintained [00:17:23] [00:25:04]. John Phillips confirmed that GitLab's version control allows for unwinding mistakes, supporting the shift to direct editing or working on local markdown copies [00:19:20].

  • Structural and Normative Clarification in Document 4 Alina Nica Gales proposed structural and normative clarifications for Document Number 4, which includes the governance framework and eligibility requirements. They explained moving the substantive eligibility requirements for authoritative registers from Annex 2 into a dedicated normative Section 4, because the criteria act as a core "admission gate" defining who can and cannot participate in the grid, rather than optional guidance [00:12:59] [00:26:55].

  • Legal Meaning of the Digital Identity Anchor (DIA) The discussion shifted to Document Number 3 concerning the Digital Identity Anchor's (DIA) legal meaning and data structure [00:30:41]. John Phillips noted that the document reflects concepts like UNCITRAL MLETR, where a digital record holds the same legal weight as a physical record [00:31:38]. Alina Nica Gales clarified that UN/CEFACT recommendations are soft law, meaning they are not mandatory and only become binding once incorporated into a member state's national law, allowing countries discretion in their implementation [00:32:48].

  • Proposal for Legal Context within the DIA Spec John Phillips proposed to the UNP protocol group that any issuer of a DIA should be required to provide a link or reference to the legal meaning of that issuance, ensuring the regulatory context for any issued DIA is discoverable [00:32:48]. Harmen van der Kooij connected this to the European initiatives, explaining that a decentralized identifier (DID) can be mapped to various credentials (like the EU ID or LEI), with the UNTP DIA being a technical concept that facilitates this mapping without creating a new hierarchy of identifiers [00:35:12].

  • Addressing Concerns about Identifier Hierarchy Alina Nica Gales reported that members of their board were concerned that the DIA would be perceived as a new, competing identifier and asked about a possible hierarchy among identifiers [00:38:41]. John Phillips and Harmen van der Kooij disagreed with the concept of a "hierarchy," preferring to see the system as a "decentralized mesh" or "graph" where every country is sovereign and can determine which identifiers they accept from others [00:39:44].

  • Need for Explainer Content Hans J. Huber offered to create an illustration, a "craft structure," which consists of nodes (single identifiers) and edges (relations between them), to help people understand the concept and address concerns about identifiers [00:37:40]. John Phillips supported this, suggesting the need for a suite of explainers tailored to different stakeholders (regulators, participants, software developers) using powerful AI tools to generate content [00:41:10]. Hans J. Huber requested additional identifiers to incorporate into their graph structure illustration [00:42:58].

  • Review of AI-Generated Research on Alignment John Phillips shared an AI-generated research document (a 15-page "deep research" report) that analyzed the alignment opportunities and potential conflicts between the UN/CEFACT project, European initiatives like "we build," and GLEIF. The research concluded that a functional global digital economy requires "weaving these threads together" in a mesh/grid/graph, rather than choosing a single winner, and suggested Alina Nica Gales's work as a potential point for this integration [00:44:48] [00:46:31].

  • Pilot Infrastructure and Next Steps John Phillips described the "pretotype" sandbox environment they created in GitLab for pilots, which allows participants, such as HMRC, to interact with concepts like managing registrar information, pulling it into the grid, and verifying data authenticity using GPG cryptography [00:48:32]. John Phillips committed to sending Alina Nica Gales the most current markdown document for Section 4 edits, with the aim of having documents in good shape by the end of February in preparation for the May plenary in Geneva [00:52:33].

Suggested next steps​

  • John Phillips will send Alina Nica Gales a copy of the most current markdown document for her to work on, and she will send back the edits for him to merge.

  • Hans J. Huber will start an illustration of the craft structure, consisting of nodes (single identifiers) and edges (relations between identifiers).

  • Alina Nica Gales will provide Hans J. Huber with any material she has regarding the hierarchy or pyramid structure assumed by her colleagues.

  • John Phillips will share information on the groups IO message or Slack channel to inform those who were not on the call.

  • Alina Nica Gales will edit document number four regarding eligibility requirements.

  • Alina Nica Gales will move forward to edit the document regarding the digital identity anchor.

Chat​

00:04:50 John Phillips: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-31/fake-gambling-licenses-anjouan-casinos/106158766

00:09:40 John Phillips: This is the research paper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lTXF9Cg4sz6q5JXcl7VHVlpj7pZAcvrSyGivULbMYMM/edit?tab=t.0

00:13:19 sankarshan: I think all I need to do is set up the SSH keys on Gitlab, I'll do that so you aren't the only one on the hook for edit merges.

00:52:15 Harmen van der Kooij: Got to go. Good stuff. To be continued..!