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Meeting 2025-12-12 1146 AEDT – Notes

Dec 12, 2025

UN CEFACT GTR - AEST / PST​

Invited Jo Spencer anica@registradores.org Steve Capell John Phillips

Attachments UN CEFACT GTR - AEST / PST

Meeting records Transcript Recording

Summary​

John Phillips chaired the UN/CEFACT global trust registry project meeting, which adhered to UN/CEFACT guidelines and included updates on key presentations and projects by Alex Tweeddale from Cheqd on verifiable credentials for the GRID, and Harmon from the Fedz community on their "blue pages" collaboration with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK). The participants, including Ann Dao, Jo Spencer, Hance Huber, and Sankarshan, discussed the structure of the Digital Identity Anchor (DIA) to encapsulate existing identifiers while maintaining GRID as a global project distinct from specific European initiatives, and Jo Spencer and John Phillips agreed on the need to segregate responsibilities between the GRID and registrars. John Phillips also provided updates on the HMRC’s interest in the pilot, the development of an economic argument for GRID, and a synthetic pilot environment using Git keys, while confirming that the UN formal support timeline has been shortened to the May 2026 plenary session, requiring focus on high-quality deliverables to achieve conceptual approval.

Details​

Notes Length: Standard

  • Meeting Context and UN/CEFACT Guidelines John Phillips welcomed attendees to the UN/CEFACT global trust registry project meeting, noting the meeting adheres to UN/CEFACT's code of conduct and intellectual property rules, which emphasize open-source, royalty-free content production. The discussion followed up on presentations from previous meetings, focusing on work by Alex Tweeddale from Cheqd and Harmon from the Fedz community in the Netherlands [00:00:00] [00:01:52].

  • Cheqd Presentation and Verifiable Credentials The previous day's session featured Alex Tweeddale from Cheqd, a developer in verifiable credentials and blockchain technologies, who showed work relevant to the Global Registrar Information Directory (GRID) [00:00:00]. Cheqd's work explores value exchanges between issuers, relying parties, and credential holders, aiming for fairness, equity, and privacy enhancement, and centers on creating "ecosystem builders" for potentially any number of ecosystems [00:01:05] [00:04:55].

  • Fedz Community and Dutch Chamber of Commerce Work Two weeks prior, Harmon presented work by the Fedz community, collaborating with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK), which involved a concept called the "blue pages". This system used a "crawling app" to find and list registrars or directories of interest across DIDs, which subsequently led to the inclusion of the phrase "harvest" in the GRID design document for acquiring data willingly shared by sources [00:01:52].

  • HMRC Engagement and Pilot Participation Following the Senegal symposium, His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from the UK expressed interest in joining the pilot projects [00:02:51]. John Phillips had a conversation with three representatives from HMRC, and they are currently considering participating in the pilot groups [00:03:57].

  • Cheqd Demo and GRID Registration Process John Phillips summarized Alex Tweeddale's demo, which involved authenticating as the UN/CEFACT controller and creating the genesis block for the UN/CEFACT GRID, including verifiable credentials and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) [00:04:55]. The demo progressed to creating "satellites," like "registra dores" from Spain, as members of the ecosystem, establishing a relationship between them and the UN/CEFACT GRID [00:07:14]. The intent of Cheqd's studio is to create an ecosystem builder, but John Phillips stressed that GRID would extract design lessons and requirements from this work rather than adopting any single technology [00:04:55].

  • Identifier Structure and the Digital Identity Anchor (DIA) A significant discussion arose regarding existing identifiers used by registrars and their role within the Digital Identity Anchor (DIA). John Phillips confirmed that GRID's principle is to allow registrars to use their existing identifier structure, with the DIA acting as a "super collective shell" around these identifiers, ensuring uniqueness by recognizing the registrar's context, such as the country code [00:07:14]. The complexity of the EU ID, which Ann Dao questioned, was noted, but John Phillips hoped it could simply be contained within a DIA without changing its legal meaning [00:08:33].

  • Global vs. European Scope for GRID The project lead, John Phillips, emphasized that GRID is a global project and must not be overly influenced by European initiatives, such as the EU ID [00:10:37]. Ann Dao’s question about incorporating the EU ID into the DIA led to a clarification that the DIA should encapsulate any existing identifier, with the primary concern being that European complexity should not slow down the global project [00:09:38].

  • Distinction Between GRID and Registrar Responsibilities Jo Spencer pointed out the need to maintain segregation between the responsibilities of the GRID and the registrars themselves, acknowledging that registrars might use different solutions for creating DIAs than the GRID's definition [00:11:36]. John Phillips agreed that this distinction is crucial due to varying levels of digital maturity across countries, and the initial step for GRID is accurately mapping what exists, while the next logical step, demonstrated by Alex Tweeddale, involves GRID issuing a DIA to the registrar [00:12:51]. Sankarshan agreed, viewing Cheqd's work as a demonstration of potential workflows, but not a mandatory standard for all participants [00:15:10].

  • DIA Specification and Governance Alex Tweeddale's demo highlighted that the DIA schema itself was registered as part of the ecosystem, which John Phillips found interesting as it implied recognition of the data structure by all participants [00:16:33]. Hance Huber raised a question about who controls the DIA specification, which led John Phillips to conclude that the DIA spec belongs within the UN/CEFACT’s UNP specification and that the GRID project would influence it through testing and feedback [00:17:30].

  • Economic Argument for GRID John Phillips discussed two new documents produced using an AI engine and subsequently edited by them: an economic argument summary and a supporting research paper, both utilizing reliable sources like the World Bank and OECD [00:19:18]. They encouraged attendees to review and contribute to these documents via the GitLab environment to improve the economic case for GRID and its benefits to global trade [00:20:20].

  • GRID Pilot Environment and Design Decisions John Phillips detailed a synthetic pilot environment they developed using GitLab to replicate the concept of registrars and registries, inspired by a suggestion from Steve Capel [00:22:08]. This pilot's architecture design highlights key design decisions, such as the principle of registrars as sovereign entities, liable only for the data they provide, which GRID harvests [00:23:20].

  • Technical Implementation of the Pilot The pilot uses Git-recognized keys (GPG and SSH) to mirror the concept of signing data content and checking for authentication, similar to verifiable credentials [00:24:20]. John Phillips explained that the pilot uses GPG keys for external registrars and SSH keys for internal testing, and an automated process reads registrar information daily to populate a basic table with country lists, registrars, and verification status [00:25:20]. The examples used in the demo, such as "Atlantis," "Genovia," and "Gondol," are fictitious countries to demonstrate the concept [00:26:20].

  • Avoiding Critical Path Dependency Jo Spencer cautioned against making the GRID a critical entity that must be inquired upon for every DIA assessment, specifically pointing out that the grid must not be in the critical path or the real-time transaction flow [00:28:38]. John Phillips agreed, noting that the harvesting model is key to maintaining registrar sovereignty, allowing them to operate even if the GRID is down [00:30:46]. The ICAO public key system was cited as an example of distributing public keys through pull requests, which avoids critical path dependency for real-time verification [00:31:38].

  • Process for Verifying a New Registrar Ann Dao asked how new registrars, especially those from less-digitalized countries, would be verified in real life [00:33:17]. John Phillips acknowledged this is a crucial unwritten chapter, suggesting leveraging the UN’s existing structure where representatives can identify authorized registrars, though they expressed reluctance to adopt ICAO's requirement for in-person attendance due to the high cost for smaller nations [00:34:11]. Jo Spencer suggested utilizing UN country representatives or offices to streamline this process [00:36:24].

  • UN Formal Support and Project Timeline The discussion shifted to the process for obtaining formal UN support for GRID, which John Phillips noted involves working through UN/CEFACT, the body responsible for trade and commerce standards [00:38:38]. The project is aiming for a recommendation to be approved at a plenary session, which was recently confirmed to be in May 2026, significantly shortening the timeline compared to the initial understanding of July 2026 [00:39:47]. Due to the tight schedule (requiring documents 90 days before the May plenary), John Phillips concluded that the project should "keep calm and carry on," focusing on producing high-quality content to minimize objections for approval [00:40:43].

  • Deliverables for the May Plenary Jo Spencer sought clarity on the necessary documents for May, which John Phillips outlined as removing legal, technical, and operations obstacles, and presenting the economic argument for GRID's necessity [00:43:55]. The primary goal for May is gaining acceptance of the GRID concept and assigning ownership to a UN body. John Phillips and Jo Spencer agreed that success means getting approval for the concept, which would then transition to a subsequent team responsible for execution, and that the project should aim to be "finished enough" while allowing for subsequent evolution [00:44:54].

  • Future Work and Meeting Schedule John Phillips confirmed that the work leading up to the May plenary would be informed by the pilots, but not reliant upon their completion, and that the pilots would continue beyond May [00:48:23]. This was confirmed as the last meeting for 2025, with the next one scheduled for January 8th, but participants were encouraged to use the open channels like Slack and GitLab to continue work during the holiday period [00:49:53].

Suggested next steps​

  • John Phillips will set a milestone in the project to freeze the documentation in February for review to sharpen thinking and prepare for the potential submission to the May plenary.

  • John Phillips will draft a chapter on the process for bringing a new country into the grid, including checking Alina's eligibility requirements and leveraging the UN's existing understanding of countries to find the appropriate registar.

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