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2025-09-04 1655 AEST

Sep 4, 2025

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​

John Phillips welcomed attendees to the UN/CEFACT global trust registry project, emphasizing an open-source, royalty-free approach, and discussed the substantial work Alina Nica Gales completed on Digital Identity Anchors (DIA). John Phillips and Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay addressed the challenges of consolidating documents, with Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay highlighting the difficulty of merging contributions from multiple individuals. John Phillips outlined the pilot project objectives, which involve testing recommendations and exploring concepts from UN/CEFACT, and Steve Capell suggested enhancing pilot use cases by attaching DIAs to commercial processes. Alina Nica Gales announced that the Spanish registrar’s board has formally decided to appoint a legal and technical team for a pilot project, and John Phillips noted strong interest from British Columbia, Canada, in running a pilot. The pilot projects are expected to be self-sustaining, covering their own infrastructure and costs, with support from the project in terms of advertising and repository space. John Phillips introduced online forms to gather feedback on benefits, use cases, and constraints, acknowledging and committing to fixing technical issues with the forms.

Details​

  • Project Onboarding and Introductions John Phillips welcomed attendees to the UN/CEFACT global trust registry project, briefly reviewing the code of conduct and intellectual property rights, emphasizing an open-source and royalty-free approach for contributions (00:00:00). Harley Thomas introduced themself and their role at Trust Providence and as a leader in the UN/CEFACT Tech Working Group (00:01:04).

  • Digital Identity Anchor (DIA) Work John Phillips discussed the substantial work Alina Nica Gales completed on the meaning of a digital identity anchor, describing it as a novel perspective for understanding the issuance, possession, presentation, and legal implications of DIAs (00:02:03). He noted the availability of a working document for access, detailing three levels of assurance for data within the registry: data created and controlled by the registrar, data provided by the subject and verified by the registrar, and data provided by the subject but not checked by the registrar (00:02:54).

  • Document Consolidation Challenges John Phillips explained that Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay is consolidating existing work, including contributions from Manos and Alina's work, into a unified document (00:03:53). Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay acknowledged the difficulty of merging documents when multiple individuals fork copies, which is a common issue with documents rather than code, and needs to be addressed promptly to ensure progress (00:04:52).

  • Pilot Project Objectives and Structure John Phillips introduced the discussion on pilot projects, stating that they are crucial for testing recommendations and exploring concepts from the UN/CEFACT body of work (00:05:55). He outlined two main streams for the pilots: exploring ideas to generate feedback and refine recommendations, and demonstrating the practical functionality of the concepts, acknowledging that not all aspects are expected to work perfectly on the first attempt (00:06:47). He also highlighted common elements for each pilot, including the involvement of an authoritative registrar, supply chain participants, and integration with a UN/CEFACT directory idea to demonstrate actions like issuing, presenting, verifying, and checking the registration of a digital identity anchor (00:07:38).

  • Enhancing Pilot Use Cases Steve Capell suggested that the primary value of a Digital Identity Anchor (DIA) comes from its attachment to commercial processes like invoicing, rather than just its presentation. John Phillips agreed, emphasizing that each pilot should incorporate a meaningful use case that goes beyond a simple DIA exchange, necessitating the inclusion of other elements like conformity credentials or invoices (00:08:28).

  • Visualizing Processes with Mermaid Syntax John Phillips explained the use of Mermaid syntax for generating sequence diagrams, noting that this text-based approach allows for easy modification of processes without altering the diagram itself (00:10:40). He demonstrated how simple changes in the text can reorder steps, such as checking the authoritative registrar directory first, based on feedback received (00:11:41).

  • Pilot Development and Beneficiaries John Phillips stated that pilot participants, with support from Alina Nica Gales and others, will define their use cases, incorporating essential interactions and additional factors like credentials or invoices to enhance relevance in supply chains (00:12:33). He emphasized the need to identify the intended benefits and beneficiaries before starting a pilot, citing the Spanish, Canadian, and Indian registrars as examples of entities expressing interest (00:13:33).

  • Pilot Commitments and Policy Implications Alina Nica Gales announced that the Spanish registrar's board has formally decided to appoint a legal and technical team for a pilot project, with public announcement pending the team's formal appointment (00:13:33). John Phillips also mentioned that British Columbia, Canada, has expressed strong interest in running a pilot (00:15:32). Steve Capell clarified that the project's output could include technical specifications and guidance notes, which require bureau approval, or policy recommendations to member states, which need member state approval at the plenary (00:35:11). Alina Nica Gales believes a policy recommendation for the Global Trust Registry is essential, given that most member states' registries would need to register there (00:37:29).

  • Pilot Constraints and Support John Phillips outlined that pilots are expected to be self-sustaining, covering their own infrastructure and costs, as no dedicated funds are available for allocation. However, the project can assist by advertising the pilots and providing space on the UNIC repository for project-related information (00:17:32). Steve Capell added that attracting software platforms and traders would be beneficial for developing business use cases, and engaging with development banks could help involve developing countries (00:18:31).

  • Gathering Feedback through Forms John Phillips introduced online forms designed to collect ideas on benefits, use cases, and constraints for the project, noting that they allow for anonymous contributions with optional initial submission for follow-up (00:19:22). He explained that contributions from registrars or individuals with lived experience are particularly valuable for validating perceived benefits (00:20:33) (00:23:22). Harley Thomas provided an example of a benefit related to land ownership and cadastral boundaries in Australian agriculture, emphasizing the need for proof of ownership against different identification schemes (00:41:28).

  • Pilot Timeline and Review Process John Phillips mentioned that the anticipated timeline for pilots is completion by the end of the calendar year, which might be ambitious given that project recommendations need to be finalized months before the July 2026 plenary (00:33:37). Steve Capell clarified that policy recommendations require a two-month review period, additional time for multi-language translation, and submission about a month before the plenary, suggesting a final draft by January for consideration at the next plenary (00:36:22).

  • Addressing Technical Challenges with Forms John Phillips acknowledged issues with the online forms, including unexpected editor access for some participants and submission difficulties (00:26:08) (00:29:22). He reassured participants that he would fix any faults and encouraged them to continue filling out the forms asynchronously over the next few days to gather diverse input on benefits, use cases, and constraints (00:39:45) (00:43:17).

Suggested next steps​

  • Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay will complete consolidating the existing pieces into one document structure.

  • steve capell will follow up on engaging developing countries through development banks to participate in the pilots.

  • Alina Nica Gales will check with her group to help shape the use case they want to explore.

  • John Phillips will fix any faults with the forms.