Minutes of UBL face-to-face meeting, Luxembourg, April 7-10, 2025
Participation
- Todd Albers
- Paloma Arillo Aranda
- Kenneth Bengtsson (chair)
- Peter Borresen
- Andrea Caccia
- Paul Donohoe
- Kees Duvekot
- Sander Fieten
- Ken Holman
- Wim Kok
- Ole Madsen
- Natalie Muric
- Svante Schubert
- Dragos Stoica
Welcome and Opening Remarks
The meeting opened with a welcome from Kenneth, who walked participants through the agenda and outlined the expected outcomes for the 4-day F2F meeting.
Subcommittee Updates
Payments and Finance Subcommittee
Nothing to report.
Pre-award Subcommittee
The TC reviewed the use of the TenderStatus and TenderStatusRequest documents. It was observed that while the names suggest they refer to the status of a specific tender (i.e., an economic operator's proposal), the definitions and content actually refer to the status of a tendering procedure. This mismatch causes confusion and complicates adoption, especially as Peppol uses the term Call for Tender instead.
- TenderStatus / TenderStatusRequest:
- Agreed to deprecate both document types.
- Pre-award will analyze whether there is a need for a new document type to report on the status of a procurement procedure, and if so, will propose a replacement with a more appropriate name.
- If a need for a document type to report on the status of a specific tender is identified, a separate document type will also be proposed.
- Agreed to avoid the term tendering, due to its inconsistent usage and confusion with tender.
- The term procurement procedure is preferred and will be used consistently in future updates.
- ProcurementProcessDocumentRequest:
- Peppol is currently using TenderingStatusRequest to request documents related to a procurement procedure, which is not its intended purpose.
- Proposal from Natalie to define a new document type: ProcurementProcessDocumentRequest.
- New ticket created: https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-419
Transportation Subcommittee
Peter presented various use cases of Despatch Advice documents, distinguishing between:
- Advice for delivery – "I'm about to deliver"
- Delivery note – "I have delivered"
The group identified the following:
- Work Statement vs. Despatch Advice:
- Work Statement is intended for services, Despatch Advice is for goods and products.
- A new Work Statement document type is needed.
- It should also support use as a timesheet.
- New ticket created: https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-408
- Delivery Note as a separate document type:
- DespatchAdvice. DocumentStatusCode:
- Currently described as a way to correct an incorrect DespatchAdvice, but usage is unclear.
- No clear way to reference the previous DespatchAdvice.
- Agreed to deprecate DocumentStatusCode and replace it with a clearer implementation.
- New ticket created: https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-410
CMR Requirements (International Road Transport):
- A Bill of Lading is a tradeable instrument – a Waybill is not.
- CMR is a form of waybill used for international road transport.
- The existing UBL Waybill document type already covers all CMR requirements.
- No action required by the TC.
Post-award Subcommittee
Nothing to report.
UBL 2.5 timeline
Kenneth presented the agreed timeline and milestones for UBL 2.5. No changes were proposed:
- April 7, 2025: Finalize semantic library review
- April 7, 2025: Draft multipart specification, including JSON part
- June 2025: No new requirements
- July 2025: Committee Specification Draft 01
- September 2025: Committee Specification Draft 02
- November 2025: Committee Specification approved
- March 2026: OASIS Standard
Review of Party ABIE
Paul presented a comprehensive review of the Party ABIE from the perspective of a new editor. The TC welcomed the perspective and recognized the need for improved documentation and guidance to lower the learning curve for new contributors working with complex reusable components like Party.
Discussions and decisions:
- Listed on regulated markets:
- TC agreed to introduce a new ABIE for listing securities of a PartyLegalEntity that are listed on regulated markets.
- Company size code
- Agreed to add a new BBIE in Party to indicate company size (e.g., SME, Large). New ticket created (UBL-416)
- HandlingCode cardinality change
- Agreed to change HandlingCode cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n. New ticket created (UBL-417)
- Network identification structure
- Discussed deprecating EndpointID in favor of a new "network identification" ABIE. New ticket created (UBL-418)
- Agreed changes:
- MarkCareIndicator: deprecate
- MarkAttentionIndicator: deprecate
- PartyName: deprecate to 0..1;
- Add new TradePartyName
- PartyName.Name: 1..n
- Period.DescriptionCode: deprecate cardinality to 0..1
- IndustryClassificationCode: change to 0..n
- AddressLine.Line: update definition to "A single address line expressed as unstructured text.".
- PartyIdentification: deprecate to 0..1
- Add new AdditionalPartyIdentification (0..n)
Address structure
The TC discussed that UBL currently supports two incompatible ways of expressing an address: one using a structured set of address components, and one using unstructured address lines. While it was noted that supporting both structures can create interoperability challenges, it was also recognized that the harmonization of address models is a complex topic with international implications. It was agreed that addressing this issue is beyond the current scope of the TC. No action was taken.
ESG and circular data elements
The TC reviewed and approved the proposal to integrate circularity and ESG related data elements into the existing UBL vocabulary. This work is based on alignment with ISO 14000 as agreed at the Budapest F2F meeting. The scope remains limited to integration within existing document types, and no new circularity-specific documents are being introduced.
Kenneth presented a proposal for additions, including a new CircularityProfile ABIE linked from Item, along with supporting ABIEs covering topics such as resource consumption, waste generation, recyclability, repairability, and end-of-life treatment. These structures are intended as a strawman implementation to support public review and enable qualified feedback from circularity subject matter experts.
See ticket: https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-357
Prose specification and multipart structure
It's currently uncertain if we will be able to publish 2.5 as a multipart specification, and it was agreed to focus on more urgent issues and defer a final decision to a later stage.
JSON syntax binding
Erlend had shared initial work on generating JSON schemas for UBL via: https://github.com/klakegg/ubl-json-schema. Work on a prose specification is needed. Agreed to defer further discussion to regular TC meetings.
UBL certification program
Andrea presented on the growing use of UBL in regulated domains and highlighted the potential benefits for authorities and implementers of having structured support for UBL conformity.
The TC discussed working toward a UBL certification support program and identified the following actions:
- Enhance the conformance clauses in the specification to provide clearer support for certification efforts.
- Develop a dedicated section on certification programs to support the creation and adoption of UBL certification frameworks.
Jira tickets
The TC resolved and closed the following tickets:
The following tickets were resolved and applied, but left open for further review and comments:
The following tickets were worked on but still need resolution:
Closing remarks and any other business
- CopyIndicator:
- Capitalization convention:
- Agreed to use capitalization in documentation to distinguish between UBL entities and general terms:
- Capitalized: refers to a specific UBL entity (e.g., Contracting Party = cac:ContractingParty)
- Lowercase: refers to the real-world concept (e.g., contracting party)
- Open question: where should this be documented? Possible options include the UBL NDRs or a note to readers in the prose spec.
- Ticket created: https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-407
- Review of UBL 2.4 known errors list:
- Deprecation documentation in BDNDR and/or UBLNDR:
- Agreed to update the NDRs to reflect the new deprecation columns in the library. The Dictionary Information section should now include deprecation information.
- Ticket created: https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-421
- ESPD alignment:
- Digital Product Passport:
- Endorsed schemas:
- GenderCode inclusivity:
- The current description of cbc:GenderCode includes an example reference to ISO 5218, which does not include non-binary genders.
- Agreed to additionally reference ICAO Doc 9303 for broader inclusion.
- Ticket created and resolved: https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-414
- SuppliedEvidence vs. EvidenceSupplied:
The TC expressed its sincere appreciation for the excellent and generous hospitality provided by the Publications Office of the European Union in Luxembourg during this face-to-face meeting. The support and facilities made for a productive and welcoming working environment, and the TC is grateful to everyone at the Publications Office for their kindness and outstanding assistance throughout the week.
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