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2025-11-13 1856 AEDT

Nov 13, 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 led the UN/CEFACT Global Trust Registry Project meeting, which included Sankarshan, Harmen van der Kooij, Jo Spencer, Alina Nica Gales, Hans J. Huber, Alex Tweeddale, Gondaliya Yash, Monica Sahal, and other participants. Sankarshan presented their draft document on the "technical operational aspects" of the Global Trust Registry (GTR), which aims to facilitate decision-making regarding its operation, maintenance, and nation-state integration. Alina Nica Gales proposed merging documents to simplify the project structure, specifically combining eligibility requirements with governance operating procedures and augmenting the Digital Identity Anchor (DIA) data structure with legal requirements, while emphasizing the high importance of legal requirements for the DIA, especially concerning data minimization. Harmen van der Kooij, Alex Tweeddale, and others offered to share ongoing experiments and pilots, which John Phillips agreed to schedule before the Christmas break to demonstrate the GTR's possibility with existing technology.

Details​

Notes Length: Standard

  • Project Overview and Code of Conduct John Phillips welcomed participants to the UN/CEFACT Global Trust Registry Project meeting, which was taking place on November 13th in Australia. They reminded attendees of the UN/CEFACT project's code of conduct, emphasizing global input and collaboration, and stated that all project output is intended to be available royalty-free in perpetuity [00:00:00]. John Phillips also addressed a spelling error in Harmen van der Kooij's name on the slide, which was quickly corrected [00:00:58].

  • Agenda and Technical Operational Aspects John Phillips outlined the agenda, which included a recap of the previous meeting and an opportunity for project contributors to discuss their recent work, followed by deep dives into other topics [00:02:04]. Sankarshan presented their draft document detailing the "technical operational aspects" of the GRID which they noted became a complex "rabbit hole" to write. The purpose of this draft was to narrow down open questions to facilitate decision-making regarding the GRID’s operation, maintenance, and nation-state integration [00:02:52].

  • Grid Recommendations and Technology Choices John Phillips acknowledged Sankarshan's extensive draft, noting it would serve as one of the key inputs for the recommendation to UN/CEFACT on how the GRID might exist, focusing on technology operations and architectures [00:04:22]. Sankarshan confirmed that they aimed for the draft to promote discussion around choices and terminology, ensuring that the final recommendations are technologically neutral and do not lock implementers into a specific approach [00:06:33]. They also mentioned efforts to discuss concepts like smart contracts without explicitly naming them [00:05:30].

  • Feedback on Technical Draft and European Trust Lists John Phillips encouraged technologically inclined participants, including Jo Spencer and others, to review Sankarshan's draft, titled "grid technology operations draft," which is located in the project deliverables folder [00:06:33]. Harmen van der Kooij suggested considering concepts used in Europe, such as "lists of trusted lists" within eIDAS, as potential conceptual patterns for the GTR, even if not adopted technically [00:07:30]. John Phillips affirmed the need to be aware of existing and emerging patterns like those in Europe and requested Harmen van der Kooij to share relevant links with the project group [00:08:43].

  • Segregating Grid Maintenance and Distribution Jo Spencer praised Sankarshan's contribution but highlighted the challenge of segregating the maintenance of the grid from the distribution and utilization of the grid information. Jo Spencer suggested that different architectures might be appropriate for these distinct functions, noting that the maintenance is the responsibility of the operating organization, while distribution can vary depending on external demands [00:10:57]. John Phillips responded by stressing the importance of being cautious about over-exploration ("rabbit holes") and focusing on proving the GTR's possibility with existing technology, emphasizing its social, political, and economic benefits [00:12:08].

  • Document Merging and Structure Alina Nica Gales discussed the idea of merging several draft documents to simplify the project's output, suggesting combining the document on eligibility requirements (Document 1) with the one on governance operating procedures (Document 4) [00:14:12]. They also proposed augmenting the document on data structure and schemas for the Digital Identity Anchor (DIA) (Document 3) with the legal requirements for the DIA. John Phillips agreed with merging the DIA-related documents, favoring two main buckets of work: recommendations on the grid and recommendations on DIAs, simplifying the overall structure [00:15:19] [00:17:52].

  • Legal Requirements and Data Minimization for DIAs Alina Nica Gales emphasized the high importance of legal requirements for the DIA, particularly concerning the issuing entity being a competent public authority [00:16:51]. They updated the group on suggested edits to ensure technological neutrality, use of open standards like W3C verifiable credentials, and adherence to the principle of data minimization for DIAs. Alina Nica Gales argued that the DIA should only contain attributes strictly required for legal identification and validation, excluding non-essential data [00:20:03].

  • Discussion on Data Minimization and Registrars' Autonomy John Phillips expressed interest in Alina Nica Gales's focus on data minimization, noting its alignment with privacy principles like GDPR. They raised concerns that the initial design of the DIA, possibly derived from UN/CEFACT, includes secondary information added at the applicant's request [00:21:40]. John Phillips also questioned how to balance data minimization principles with the project's commitment not to impose operational changes on registrars, suggesting the project should set minimum rules and recommendations while recognizing pilot implementations must align with national legal frameworks [00:22:50].

  • Organizational Identity and Project Ambition Hans J. Huber brought up the question of whether the project's scope, or "ambition level," for the DIA extends into organizational identity and if it should recommend that authoritative registrars process personal data, which they already do [00:29:18]. John Phillips reiterated that the project must use recommendations and cannot dictate actions to registrars [00:30:14]. They clarified that the project's minimal ambition is to establish the "grid" as an authoritative directory of registrars, which can later be built upon, eventually leading to registrars issuing verifiable DIAs in support of the United Nations Transparency Protocol (UNTP) [00:31:15].

  • Data Privacy, Selective Disclosure, and Technical Architecture Alina Nica Gales supported Hans J. Huber's points, emphasizing concerns over data privacy and the commercial sensitivity of corporate information, as registrars often charge a fee for disclosure. They suggested implementing privacy-preserving methods like selective disclosure and zero-knowledge proofs [00:33:28]. Hans J. Huber added that data minimization is also a result of "clever architecture," a technical decision, not just a legislative principle [00:35:41]. John Phillips agreed that the recommendations should state principles like data minimization but affirmed that the decision to issue a DIA ultimately rests with the registrar [00:34:36].

  • Plans for Demonstrations and Showcases Harmen van der Kooij suggested sharing ongoing experiments and pilots, such as the Dutch Chamber of Commerce issuing DIAs as verifiable credentials, and offered to do a 20-minute demo at the next bi-weekly meeting [00:36:37]. Alex Tweeddale also offered to present an existing approach using digital identity anchors that could apply to the grid [00:37:46]. John Phillips supported these presentations, aiming to schedule both demos before the Christmas break [00:39:44].

  • Many-to-Many Identifier Mapping for DIAs Gondaliya Yash inquired if the project was considering many-to-many identifier mapping, where multiple identifiers are used by different registrars for one organization [00:40:31]. John Phillips explained that registrars could produce a multi-identifier DIA or multiple DIAs, allowing for selective disclosure of parts of the identifiers [00:41:39].

  • BIA Life Cycle and Technology Neutrality Hans J. Huber asked about the life cycle of the Business Identity Anchor (BIA) and confirmed that they needed to review the relevant document section on "minimum content and life cycle management" [00:41:39]. Hans J. Huber also expressed their intent to check all project files for technology neutrality, aiming for their own verifiable trade implementation to potentially become one of the first UNTP implementations [00:44:03].

  • Did Method Abstraction for UNTP John Phillips mentioned that UN/CEFACT has recently abstracted references from "did web" to "did method" in their specification, placing discussion of specific DID methods in a dedicated section [00:49:58]. Alina Nica Gales asked for an explanation, and John Phillips briefly outlined that there are hundreds of DID methods, and the change makes the specification more abstract and easier to maintain [00:50:59]. Harmen van der Kooij acknowledged this as a significant improvement, even if not the final goal of full technology neutrality [00:49:58].

  • File Management and Collaboration John Phillips committed to implementing Alina Nica Gales's proposed changes and document merges over the next two weeks, incorporating legal requirements for DIAs into the technical specifications [00:52:43]. They emphasized that the documents sourced from a markdown format on the GitLab environment are the master copies. John Phillips requested that participants comfortable with the environment obtain a UNIC login to engage with content management activities like raising issues and merge requests [00:53:54]. However, John Phillips requested that active work still continue in Google Docs due to ease of access and commenting, with them manually shifting the content to markdown [00:55:02].

  • Pilot Program Status and Use Cases Monica Sahal inquired about the status of pilot programs and if the GTR team was assisting countries or technical service providers with these pilots. John Phillips confirmed that other countries, specifically mentioning Alina Nica Gales and Spain, are actively working on their pilot programs [00:56:03].

  • Pilot Program Participation and Technology Framework John Phillips reported that Harmon is attempting to involve KVK, the Dutch business registrar, in the pilot, noting there is interest and potential capability, resource-dependent. They added that Canada is also keen, despite recent work action in British Columbia, and is likely to focus their pilot on critical raw minerals [00:57:05]. Regarding the technology framework for collaboration, John Phillips explained that currently they lack dedicated computing resources but can engage in paper-based design exercises to refine the Grid design or prototype using existing technologies like online forms and directories [00:58:06].

  • Assistance for Pilot Projects and Spain's Involvement The question of what kind of assistance the GTR team provides to countries on pilot projects was raised by Monica Sahal. John Phillips suggested that the GTR team can share progress and potentially non-commercially sensitive data sets [00:59:08]. Alina Nica Gales confirmed that Spain has a team and a budget for their pilot, and this team is the same one working on the "we build initiative" business package that Spain co-leads, ensuring internal harmonization [01:00:21].

  • Pilot Partner Suggestions and Budget Hans J. Huber suggested a large Spanish textile marketer as a potential piloting partner, citing the company's difficulties with customs identifiers and the global nature of the textile business [01:01:41]. Alina Nica Gales clarified that Spain will have to use its own budget for their project [01:02:46]. John Phillips stated that the going-in expectation is that pilots are self-sustaining, as the project currently has no money and the work is pro bono, but the core team can create an environment for sharing ideas and potentially connecting teams like the Indian, Spanish, and Canadian teams to work together [01:03:32].

  • Encouraging and Facilitating Pilots John Phillips stressed the need to encourage pilots to happen and that the core team can connect the pilots and facilitate discussions on how to run a sensible pilot and potentially combine two or three pilots into a global initiative [01:03:32]. Alina Nica Gales noted that the Spanish pilot project, although approved, had been temporarily on standby due to political decisions regarding elections for a new board of management [01:04:17]. John Phillips confirmed the project now has a green light [01:05:22].

  • Closing Remarks and Next Steps John Phillips apologized for running over time and encouraged participants to use the Slack channels, group email, or reach out directly to themself or Alina Nica Gales to maintain momentum. They noted that there are only a few weeks left until the end of the year, emphasizing the ticking clock for recommending something in draft form to the UNCEFACT bureau [01:05:22].

Suggested next steps​

  • John Phillips will merge the eligibility requirements into the governance operating procedures (document 4) in the next two weeks.

  • Harmen van der Kooij will share the links to the eIDAS trusted lists area that the group needs to pay attention to in the project group.

  • Harmen van der Kooij will do a demo of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce issuing a digital identity anchor credential to companies in the next bi-weekly meeting.

  • Hans J. Huber will run through all files, check for technology neutrality, and provide comments on the documents.

  • John Phillips will include Alina Nica Gales' proposed changes regarding technological neutrality, open standards, enhanced data minimization, and privacy safeguards into the legal spec doc for DAS and integrate it into the document about schemas.

  • gondaliya yash will follow up via Slack or email to further discuss the many-to-many identifier mapping process.

  • John Phillips will facilitate a discussion between the Indian and Spanish teams to work together on a topic that makes sense for both, and/or include the Canadian team.

  • John Phillips and Alina Nica Gales will help the pilots work out how a sensible pilot might be run and what it might do, and ideally connect more than one together to make some sort of global initiative.

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