Global interoperability of data models for trade documents and platforms

In a digital environment, for parties to seamlessly exchange data and documents, all information needs to be clearly defined and unambiguous (World Economic Forum/UNECE, 2017). Reaching agreement on both the semantic content (i.e. data definitions such as whether the ‘port of unlading’ is the same as the ‘port of discharge’) and the syntax of data (i.e. data structure or format) is critical to ensure trading partners wanting to exchange information understand it in the same way.