Impacts of changes to Plenary and Forum dates for UN/CEFACT in 2026

Our original project brief and schedule anticipated a July 2026 Plenary/Forum date.

During 2025, a May plenary date was advertised. In late 2025 this was corrected to a November 2026 Plenary and Forum.

Currently (as of writing this issue) there is still a UN/CEFACT Forum date in May 2026.

These dates impact our thinking about when we need to have our deliverables finalised for the project. The other essential condition for "finalisation" is the "definition of done". IF we were to be providing a formal recommendation (as was originally understood in 2025) - something that requires a majority approval across participating Member States before being issued as a recommendation to all UN countries - THEN we would need to have our "deliverables" finished (ready for review, no known issues at project level) at least 100 days before a plenary meeting. My understanding is that the review for a proposed recommendation has two phases, a public review phase and then a UN/CEFACT review phase.

As an important clarification, we are not expected to be producing a "recommendation", as understood within the UN/CEFACT system, even if our work "recommends" certain approaches.

This means that we are "free" to choose our own end-point within reason.

To avoid procrastination and ever increasing scope, my proposal is that we stick to an assumed "May 2026" end point, allow for a month long period before this where no changes are expected to the documentation. We would aim for an end-March date for our documentation work.

We should expect that what we produce in this "release" is an well articulated argument for implementation of what we are recommending. This means that our current project will recommend further work be undertaken and that an operational solution is built for the GRID.