UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE

Recommendation No. 28

CODES FOR TYPES OF MEANS OF TRANSPORT

(Geneva, November 2002 ECE/TRADE/315)

 

 

Second edition approved by the UN/CEFACT Information Content Management Group (ICG), September 2002 United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business

 

I. PREAMBLE

 

The United Nations, through UN/CEFACT (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business), supports activities dedicated to improving the ability of business, trade and administrative organisations, from developed, developing and transitional economies, to exchange products and relevant services effectively. Its principal focus is to facilitate international transactions through the simplification and harmonisation of procedures and information flows.¹

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¹ From the mission statement of UN/CEFACT

 

Globalisation of the marketplace is taking place rapidly, with companies sourcing components in one part of the world, assembling them in another part of the world and selling them in yet another. The trend towards transacting business through electronic means is leading to more physical goods flows with smaller and more frequent shipments of goods and commodities. This globalisation of markets has resulted in the growing need for even more efficient and effective information flows. The solution to achieving effective information flows across international markets lies in the use of common procedures and processes based on the use of globally agreed standards. Inherent in this approach is the need for precise mechanisms to define the data and for common coding systems to represent specific data items.

 

The identification of the type of means of transport is frequently required in information exchange in trade and transport. This Recommendation, as an international standard, provides a single coding system that will facilitate the common identification of the types of means of transport among all parties concerned with the exchange of this information.

 

The UN/CEFACT work programme emphasises the need for developing recommendations, which simplify and harmonise the current practices and procedures used in international transactions. Within this context, the role of the UN/CEFACT Information Content Management Group (ICG) is to secure the quality, relevance and availability of code sets and code structures to support the objectives of UN/CEFACT, including managing the maintenance of UN/ECE Recommendations related to codes.

 

This second edition of the code lists for Recommendation No. 28 supercedes and replaces Annex I in the first edition of Recommendation 28 (TRADE/CEFACT/2001/23, January 2001).

 

II. RECOMMENDATION

 

At its seventh session in March 2001, UN/CEFACT agreed to adopt the following Recommendation. A list of the countries and organisations present at this session can be found in Annex 1.

 

The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) recommends that Governments and business do mutually promote and support the implementation of one single system for the coding and classification of types of means of transport towards a common approach to trade facilitation on a world wide level.

 

This implies:

 

1. For participants in international trade and transport:

 

- to accept and implement the codes for the types of means of transport;

 

2. For Governments, international organisations and national trade facilitation bodies:

 

- to accept and encourage the implementation of the codes for the types of means of transport.

 

III. SCOPE

 

1. This Recommendation establishes a common code list for the identification of the type of means of transport. It has particular relevance to transport organisations and providers, Customs and other authorities, statistical offices, forwarders, shippers, consignees and other parties concerned with transport

 

IV. FIELD OF APPLICATION

 

2. This Recommendation applies in cases where a coded representation is required to specify the type of means of transport. It is intended for use by commercial, administrative and regulatory parties concerned with the transport of goods and/or persons at national, regional and international levels. The codes defined herein may be used in manual and/or automated systems such as those that support EDI and electronic business, for the exchange of information regarding the type of means of transport.

 

V. EXPLANATORY TEXT

 

A. Definitions

 

3. The following definitions have been adopted for the purposes of this Recommendation:

 

code: A character string that represents a member of a set of values.

 

code list: The complete set of code values for a data item.

 

data: A re-interpretable representation of information in a formalised manner suitable for communication, interpretation or processing.

 

document: Recorded permanent data containing information.

 

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange): The electronic transfer from computer application to computer application of commercial or administrative transactions using an agreed standard to structure the transaction or message data.

 

electronic business: The process of transacting business electronically. This includes the sharing of unstructured or structured business information by any electronic means among suppliers, customers, governmental bodies, service providers and other parties in order to conduct and execute transactions in business, administrative and other activities.

 

facilitation: The implementation of measures leading to the simplification, standardisation and harmonisation of the formalities, procedures, documents and operations inherent to international trade transactions.

 

formality: A set of requirements of an official, commercial or institutional nature.

 

goods: All materials received from a shipper.

 

harmonization: The alignment of national formalities, procedures, documents, information, and operations to acceptable international commercial norms, practices and recommendations.

 

means of transport: Particular aircraft, vehicle, vessel or other device used for the transport of goods or persons.

 

mode of transport: Method of transport used for the carriage of goods.

 

procedure: Steps to be followed in order to comply with a formality, including the timing, format and transmission method for the submission of required information.

 

standardization: The development of standards whose purpose is to align formalities, procedures, documents, information, and operations.

 

B. Background

B1. Mode and means of transport

 

4. Information on the mode and means of transport as used for the movement of goods and/or persons is required for many purposes. Furthermore this information is communicated in many ways such as paper documents or EDI.

 

5. This information may be needed for contractual reasons, for example where a sales contract stipulates a particular mode and means of transport. In many countries information on the mode and means of transport is also required for Customs and statistical purposes.

 

6. The means of transport such as aircraft, road vehicles, railway engines, barges, and deep-sea vessels, are often identified by a registration number. Such registration numbers invariably do not contain any element that would indicate the type the means of transport to which the number relates. Therefore a separate method is required to identify the specific type of means of transport.

 

7. It is also recognised that types of means of transport in general are dependent on the mode of transport. Accordingly, the annexed code list is divided into a number of sections, one for each specified mode of transport.

 

B2. Facilitating information exchange

 

8. The application of information technology such as EDI and electronic business depends on accurate and well defined information.

 

9. In information exchange, the use of an unambiguous code to indicate a type of means of transport is preferable to variable and possibly imprecise textual descriptions. Such descriptions in turn may lead to contractual misunderstandings.

 

10. Many processes such as the compilation of statistics and the analysis of transport operations require a method to uniquely identify types of means of transport.

 

11. Requests for special transport services may require the identification of the type of means of transport.

 

C. Specific Considerations

 

12. This Recommendation should be used in conjunction with Recommendation 19 (Codes for Modes of Transport). Whenever the code for the type of means of transport is specified, consideration needs to given to specifying the code for the associated mode of transport. This will ensure the correct interpretation of the type of means of transport.

 

13 In UN/EDIFACT this requires the specification of type of means of transport together with the mode of transport in the TDT (Details of transport) segment using C228 (Transport means) and C220 (Mode of transport) respectively.

 

14. Users of this Recommendation are encouraged to use it in conjunction with other applicable UN Recommendations. These include:

 

- Recommendation 5 - Abbreviations of INCOTERMS,

 

- UN Recommendation 10 - Unique Identification Code Methodology - UNIC,

 

- UN Recommendation 11 - Documentary aspects of the international transport of dangerous goods.

 

- UN Recommendation 16 - UN/LOCODE - Code for Ports and Other Locations,

 

- UN Recommendation 18 - Facilitation Measures related to International Trade Procedures,

 

- UN Recommendation 19 - Codes for Modes of Transport,

 

- UN Recommendation 21 - Codes for Types of Cargo, Packages and Packaging Materials,

 

- UN Recommendation 22 - Layout Key for Standard Consignment Instructions,

 

- UN Recommendation 23 - Freight Cost Code - FCC,

 

- UN Recommendation 24 - Trade and Transport Status Codes.

 

15. A number of the codes defined in Annex 2 correspond to existing industry codes in order to facilitate the migration to the annexed code list. For the respective entries use has been made of as many sources as possible such as Lloyds Register of Shipping, the UN International Maritime Organisation, International Chamber of Shipping, International Air Transport Association, Governmental agencies, Railways, etc.

 

16. For air transport, the aircraft type codes as published in the IATA Standard Schedules Information Manual (SSIM) that, through reference in the annexed code list, constitute provisions of this Recommendation. All standards are subject to revision, and parties to agreements based on the air transport provisions of this Recommendation are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent edition of the IATA SSIM.

 

VI. MAINTENANCE AND UPDATING

 

17. This Recommendation shall be maintained on behalf of UN/CEFACT by the UN/CEFACT Information Content Management Group (ICG).

 

18. Proposals for updating this Recommendation should be addressed to the Trade Facilitation Section, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland or by e-mail to: cefact@unece.org

 

19. Draft revisions to the body text and/or code list of this Recommendation shall be issued by the ICG when required and shall be made available on the ICG Web page under: http://www.unece.org/cefact

 

20. Draft revisions shall be subject to a public comment period of at least two months. UN/CEFACT Heads of Delegation shall be notified of the availability of a draft revision and the period for comment. Following the conclusion of the comment period, the ICG shall address all comments received. Depending on the comments received, the ICG shall issue a new draft revision or shall prepare a final revision for approval.

 

21. Final revisions of the body text of this Recommendation shall be approved by the UN/CEFACT Plenary.

 

22. Final revisions of the code list of this Recommendation shall be approved by the ICG Plenary, or in the case where the body text has also been revised, by the UN/CEFACT Plenary.

 

VII. CODE LIST STRUCTURE AND PRESENTATION

 

23. The code list is annexed to this Recommendation, as follows: Annex 2 Code list for types of means of transport.

 

24. The code list is presented with the following columns:

 

Change indicator (CI)

 

a plus sign (+) for an addition

a hash sign (#) for changes to the code name

a vertical bar (|) for changes to the code description

a letter X (X) for marked for deletion in this edition (will not appear in the next edition)

 

Mode (M)

 

Mode of transport code as defined in Recommendation 19

 

Code value

 

3 character alphanumeric code value comprising characters 0 to 9 and upper case A to Z. In certain instances the code value itself may be structured, where the lead character(s) represent the general description and where the subordinate or sub-type specific descriptions are represented by code entries with a further trailing character. For example, in maritime transport the code value "50" represents "General cargo vessel", whilst "501" is a subordinate code entry that represents "Grain vessel". For ease of reference, certain code values are shown in two parts (e.g. "50 1". In use, the code value should be a single value with no imbedded space characters (e.g. "501").

 

Code name

 

Code value name

 

Code description

 

Code value description

 

Annex 1.
COUNTRIES AND ORGANISATIONS IN ATTENDANCE

 

Countries and organisations in attendance at the seventh UN/CEFACT session where this recommendation was approved and those having indicated their support in writing to the UN/CEFACT secretariat included representatives of the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Venezuela and Yugoslavia.

 

The following intergovernmental organizations participated: Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Danube Commission (CD), European Free Trade Association (EFTA), European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), League of Arab States, and World Customs Organization (WCO).

 

The following United Nations bodies, regional commissions and specialized agencies were also represented: International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

 

The following non-governmental organizations participated: European Electronic Messaging Association (EEMA), International Article Numbering Association (EAN), International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Multimodal Transport Association (IMMTA) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

 

Observers present at the invitation of the secretariat included representatives of: the Electronic Commerce Europe Association (ECEA), the Global Commerce Initiative (GCI), Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), REDTOO AG, the Taipei EDIFACT Committee, and Webforce International.

 

Annex 2.
CODE LIST FOR TYPES OF MEANS OF TRANSPORT

 

2.1 Maritime transport (Mode of Transport 1)