The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) embarked on an initial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) (01/1995) to specify a framework of cooperation between IEC, ISO and UNECE in the area of EDI, Open-EDI and related trade document standards. On 17 November 1998, the MoU was replaced with an extension to the framework of cooperation to include other aspects of electronic business.
At current each of the four signatories of the eB-MoU (International Electrotechnical Commission, International Telecommunication Union, International Standards Organization and the UNECE) have developed or are developing standards related to electronic business. In addition to the four signatories, the MoU is open to other international, regional, governmental, industry and consumer organizations whose core mission involves standards-setting, as registered international user groups.
Under the MoU, the four organizations undertake to review their standardization activities and develop a joint, coordinated programme for standards development and publication which will benefit the marketplace.
The objective of the meeting is to coordinate relevant work programs with the participation of International User Groups to optimize the use of scarce resources for standardization in electronic business. Organizations are invited to bring forward to the Management Group information on new work items or other developments which may provide opportunities for exploiting new technologies. In order to foster cooperation at the working level all expert groups of each organization shall allow authorized, competent experts of the other organizations to participate in their work.
UNECE will be chairing the IEC-ISO-ITU-UNECE Electronic Business Memorandum of Understanding Management Group in 2021-2022.
