Call to Action for Traceability, Transparency, Sustainability and Circularity of Value Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector

2021, Economic Commission for Europe

Summary

The sixty-ninth session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will take place on 20-21 April 2021 at the Palais des Nations, in Geneva. The Executive Committee (EXCOM) has decided that the theme of the session will be: “Promoting circular economy and sustainable use of natural resources in the UNECE region” (EXCOM/CONCLU/109 and EXCOM Informal Document No. 2020/38). The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and its secretariat have been requested to consider how to contribute to the cross-cutting theme of the UNECE session (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2020/INF.14 and ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2020/INF.15). In light of this, and in connection with the ongoing UN/CEFACT project on traceability and transparency of sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear sector (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2020/INF.16), the twentysixth Plenary was asked to support a “Call to Action” (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2020/6) as a contribution of UN/CEFACT to the sixty-ninth session of UNECE (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2020/2 Plenary decision 20-07). This “Call to Action” invites all actors in the garment and footwear industry to take action for traceability and transparency in order to accelerate the sustainability and circularity of value chains in this industry, in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The initiative aims to establish a mechanism to support the uptake of measures in the proposed UNECE Recommendation No. 46 (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2021/10 submitted for approval to the twenty-seventh session of the UN/CEFACT Plenary) as well as relevant UN/CEFACT standards, and to support the monitoring of their implementation. Document ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2020/6/Rev.1 is submitted by the UN/CEFACT Bureau and its secretariat to the twenty-seventh session of the UN/CEFACT Plenary for endorsement.