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2026-01-09 1155 AEDT

Jan 9, 2026

UN CEFACT GTR - AEST / PST​

Invited Jo Spencer Alina Nica Gales Steve Capell John Phillips

Attachments UN CEFACT GTR - AEST / PST

Meeting records Transcript Recording

Summary​

John Phillips welcomed attendees to the UN/CEFACT global trust registry project, emphasizing the open development process and the goal to produce a "white paper standards" set by the end of February due to the earlier UN/CEFACT plenary timing in May. Participants, including John Phillips, Ann Dao, and Mark Lizar, discussed the need to transition project documents from Google Drive to the UNICC GitLab environment, streamline the six existing documents into a single publishable set, and create strategic "explainers" to address the high volume of content and cater to diverse stakeholders. Key discussions focused on aligning the Global Trust Registry (GTR) with European initiatives like the European business wallet, the crucial role of authoritative registrars in international trade, and the need to monitor the "active legal state" of entities for continuous trust and transparency in global commerce.

Details​

Notes Length: Standard

  • Project Context and Governance John Phillips welcomed attendees to the UN/CEFACT global trust registry project, emphasizing that the work for 2026 continues under the same guidelines as the previous year, including an open development process and a royalty-free, open-source approach [00:00:00]. The work is hosted on GitLab and the video content is on YouTube, which accommodates some organizations, like Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, that cannot access resources on Google Drive [00:01:00].

  • Review of Past Discussions and Stakeholder Interests John Phillips noted that previous presentations from the European zone are archived and highlighted discussions around the European Union's initiatives, particularly the European business wallet and the need for enactment of related acts in 2026 [00:01:57]. John Phillips also mentioned ongoing conversations about the interplay between the digital identity anchor and European IDs [00:02:56].

  • Case for the Global Trust Registry (GTR) John Phillips shared an article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation concerning a fraudulent registry operating off the coast of Madagascar [00:02:56]. This scenario illustrates the need for the GTR project, as supply chain participants need a way to verify the legitimate registrars for a sovereign nation [00:03:58].

  • Plenary Timing and Document Production The UN/CEFACT plenary is scheduled for May, much earlier than the expected July date, which creates a tight timeline for document submission. John Phillips stated that the goal is to produce a "white paper standards" set rather than a formal recommendation requiring country endorsement, aiming for a "bootstrap operation" to argue for the existence of the GTR [00:06:10]. The strategy includes a "hard sprint" to mature all documents for review by the end of February [00:07:23].

  • Transition to GitLab and Document Reorganization The project is migrating from a Google Drive environment to the UNICC GitLab environment for hosting and automatic website generation from markdown content [00:07:23]. John Phillips mentioned the challenge of learning the Git environment but noted that the markdown documents on the GitLab site are now the master copies [00:10:23]. The project requires effort to combine and cohere the existing six documents into a single publishable set, incorporating the economic arguments for change [00:12:45].

  • Streamlining Content and Strategic Communication Ann Dao agreed that a single, reorganized document is necessary, noting that there is sufficient content for wider commenting by February or March [00:13:57]. Mark Lizar expressed concern about the high volume and density of the content, suggesting the need for strategic "explainers" tailored to different stakeholders, which John Phillips agreed could be quickly produced using AI tools [00:17:17].

  • Stakeholder Engagement and Authority Mark Lizar questioned the clarity on who the critical stakeholders are for the project's strategic outcomes [00:19:10]. John Phillips clarified that the project has representation from key registrars and relevant governmental bodies, such as the Indian Department of Trade and Finance and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, though acknowledged that representation is limited to a few countries [00:19:55]. Mark Lizar emphasized the importance of engaging stakeholders with the necessary legal authority and scope for international conversation [00:21:05].

  • Alignment with European and Global Initiatives John Phillips discussed the need to address European concerns, particularly how the WEBUILD consortium's work on the European business wallet aligns with or conflicts with the digital identity anchor concept [00:22:48]. John Phillips pointed out that the European approach is eurocentric and constrained, as it does not address the needs of international trade beyond Europe, such as for the Comoros Islands [00:23:50].

  • Legal Entity Identification and Delegation The discussion addressed the difference between the European approach of a delegated officer and the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) [00:24:54]. John Phillips explained that GLEIF, established by the G20, recognizes legal entity identifiers (LEI) issued by others under sovereign law, and while the Verifiable LEI (VLEI) structure allows for recognizing human responsibility and delegations, GLEIF does not issue legal identities itself [00:25:50].

  • AI-Driven Research on Alignment John Phillips shared AI-generated research, including a multi-page deep research document, analyzing the alignment and conflicts between the GTR idea, the EU's initiatives, and the Digital Identity Anchor (DIA) [00:28:42]. The research noted that the legal basis for UN/CEFACT recommendations is "soft law," as it has no authority to impose law [00:30:49].

  • Discussion on International Transparency and Law Mark Lizar shared extensive work on international transparency, proposing that a controller identification record, linked to transparency by default, is essential and required in various international frameworks like the Council of Europe's Convention 108+ and ISO standards [00:31:45]. John Phillips asserted that international laws or treaties are only binding if formally adopted into a country's national legal fabric, meaning they are not real in countries like Australia without that acceptance [00:34:23].

  • Scope Focus and First Steps John Phillips stressed the project's initial focus on nation states, registrars, and company recognition, explicitly aiming to avoid entanglement with user IDs, PII, or individual privacy in the first instance of the grid [00:40:35]. Mark Lizar agreed on the need to keep the focus on registrars, but maintained that the conversation about digital identity platforms shows the underlying issues must be addressed [00:41:21].

  • Registrar Authority and Digital Maturity The grid's requirement for the Digital Identity Anchor (DIA), part of the UNP project, is solely that it is issued by an authoritative registrar [00:42:08]. John Phillips emphasized the need to include registrars from nations like the Comoros Union, even if they lack digital maturity and primarily use paper-based systems [00:44:04]. The first iteration of the grid will recognize trustworthy metadata about these existing registrars [00:44:58].

  • Decentralized Architecture and Prototype John Phillips indicated that the GTR architecture, while diagrammed centrally, can be implemented in a decentralized manner [00:49:17]. A prototype using fictitious nation states illustrates the harvesting of cryptographically signed registrar information and the distribution of copies to other registrars and participants, similar to a public key directory (PKD) [00:51:09] [00:55:34].

  • Strategic Scaling and Future Vision Mark Lizar noted that the grid registry is critical infrastructure for international transparency and trust [00:46:05]. John Phillips expressed a preference for starting with the "first step in mind" to secure initial progress on the grid concept before pushing the broader concepts of individual privacy and transparency that Mark Lizar advocates [00:53:00]. The strategy involves leaning on experienced UN/CEFACT members and directly engaging registrars to demonstrate that the GTR is empowering, not a threat [00:54:16].

  • Identification of Authoritative Registrars John Phillips clarified that the group's role is not to designate authoritative registrars but to have them identified by external bodies, recognizing that this may change with political influence. John Phillips confirmed that the group will not recommend specific departments in particular countries as authoritative registrars [00:58:29].

  • Sharing and Research Mark Lizar acknowledged the difficulty of defining the authoritative registrar issue and mentioned needing time to formulate their thoughts clearly [00:58:29]. John Phillips asked Mark Lizar to share references, such as a convention number or ISO standard, on the Slack channel, group email, or in the chat, for others to review [00:59:17]. Mark Lizar indicated that they are conducting research for the following week, including engaging regulatory personnel, and invited John Phillips to attend, though acknowledged the time difference might be prohibitive [01:00:12].

  • Grid's Role with EU ID and Central Registry Ann Dao discussed the potential utility of the "grid" in the context of the European Union's Digital Product Passport (DPP), which will establish a central registry requiring unique IDs, even for non-European manufacturers [01:00:12]. Ann Dao proposed that the grid could function to indicate the legal and existing status of manufacturers, thereby aiding the legally responsible party (e.g., European importer or brand name) in validation, or potentially allowing the registry itself to disclose this information. Ann Dao further suggested the grid could help manage instances where a single business might have multiple IDs across different global registries [01:01:12].

  • Monitoring Active Legal State and Transparency Mark Lizar referenced the open banking model and the consensus company's architecture, which continually added sources for real-time monitoring of financial registries to check the "active state" of legal entities [01:02:18]. Mark Lizar emphasized that real-time knowledge of a company's active legal state is necessary for dynamic international information control and that changes, such as in ownership, must trigger updates to consent and security validity [01:03:33]. Mark Lizar stated that transparency is key, noting that while the banking executives' actions were not necessarily for transparency, the problem of active legal state monitoring also represents a solution multiplier [01:04:40].

  • Trust and Authoritative Registrars John Phillips asserted that the continued existence of companies like Consensus and Equifax demonstrates that external entities will always build upon formal regulatory infrastructure. John Phillips reiterated that the mere legal registration by an authoritative registrar does not mandate trust from consumers or supply chain participants, who retain the right to decide who they trust based on their own concerns [01:04:40]. Mark Lizar introduced the "all hail the emperor attack" scenario, questioning the reliability of an authoritative registry if the country's governance shifts away from democracy, which is a problem their international standard addresses to ensure transparency [01:05:34].

  • Concluding Remarks John Phillips expressed satisfaction with the conversation and thanked Mark Lizar and Ann Dao for staying past the scheduled time. John Phillips confirmed that minutes and transcripts would be automatically produced and expressed anticipation for the next stages of work [01:06:48].

Suggested next steps​

  • The group will make a hard sprint to mature all documents for review and sharing by the end of February.

  • John Phillips will incorporate the economic arguments from the end of last year into the final document set, including a social economic value case at the beginning to argue for the required change.

  • John Phillips will produce tailored explainers for different audiences, such as registrars, supply chain participants, and the European Union, based on the existing content.

  • Mark Lizar will share the links to the convention number, ISO standard, and other references mentioned during the meeting on the Slack channel, group email, or in the chat.

Chat​

00:03:41 John Phillips: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-31/fake-gambling-licenses-anjouan-casinos/106158766

00:05:48 Mark Lizar: its telling that this is still a problem in todays day and age. with all this tech.. ;-}

00:22:32 sankarshan: For India it is DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade)

00:24:09 Mark Lizar: EUID - is user/human id -

00:30:26 John Phillips: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lTXF9Cg4sz6q5JXcl7VHVlpj7pZAcvrSyGivULbMYMM/edit?tab=t.0

00:54:24 sankarshan: I'm sorry - I will have to log off a little bit before the end of meeting.

00:54:35 John Phillips: Thanks Sankarshan