Requirements

info

Please note that this specification is suitable for pre-production pilot implementations.

Normative

UNTP Business Requirements

This page summarises the high-level business requirements for UNTP, grouped into seven categories. Each requirement links to the page where its solution is defined.

Category	Focus
1. Governance Requirements	UNTP is governed openly and transparently, is freely available to all, and is extensible to meet specific industry and jurisdictional needs.
2. Architectural Requirements	UNTP is scalable enough to achieve global implementation at volumes sufficient to have a material impact on traceability.
3. Traceability & Transparency Requirements	UNTP provides the traceability and transparency data each supply chain actor needs to meet due diligence obligations and customer expectations.
4. Trust & Integrity Requirements	UNTP provides data that is trustworthy and resilient to scrutiny.
5. Security & Confidentiality Requirements	UNTP protects the security and confidentiality of supply chain data, letting each actor choose their own balance between traceability and transparency.
6. Compatibility & Interoperability Requirements	UNTP is compatible with existing standards for technology, ESG criteria, and supply chain practices so that implementers can maximise existing investments.
7. Implementation Requirements	UNTP is implementable at the lowest possible cost, gives early implementers a market advantage, and allows the impact of implementations to be tracked.

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1 — Governance Requirements

UNTP must be governed openly and transparently, freely available to all, and extensible to meet specific industry and jurisdictional needs.

ID	Name	Requirement	Solution
GV.01	Consensus-driven process	UNTP development MUST follow a transparent, consensus-driven process open to all stakeholders, so that implementers can be confident UNTP will meet their requirements.	Governance
GV.02	Freely available	The UN MUST own UNTP intellectual property, and access and use MUST remain permanently free, so that implementers face no fees or IP infringement claims.	Governance
GV.03	Backwards compatible	New minor versions of UNTP MUST be backwards compatible within the same major version. Each major version MUST remain active and supported for at least two years, so that implementers can rely on the durability of their investment.	Governance
GV.04	Open source	UNTP implementation tools, including reference implementations and test services, MUST be available under open source and royalty-free licensing, so that implementers can minimise their own implementation costs.	Tools & Support
GV.05	Extensible	UNTP MUST define a non-breaking extensions methodology, so that UNTP can be extended to meet specific jurisdictional or industry requirements and implementers of a registered extension can be confident their implementation is interoperable with UNTP core.	Extensions Methodology
GV.06	Reusable extensions	Industry and jurisdictional extensions to UNTP SHOULD be governed by an open process and released under royalty-free licence terms, so that extension implementers have the same fees and IP confidence as with UNTP core.	Extensions Methodology
GV.07	Implementation register	UNTP MUST provide a mechanism for implementers to register their planned and actual implementations, so that implementers can publish their sustainability commitment and conformant solutions for discovery by a global community of users and customers.	Implementations

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2 — Architectural Requirements

UNTP must scale to global implementation volumes sufficient to have a material impact on traceability. Building on existing industry systems and using the simplest framework that meets the goals makes this achievable.

ID	Name	Requirement	Solution
AR.01	Protocol over platform	UNTP MUST define a standard protocol that any business software system can implement, so that every supply chain actor can continue using their preferred software without requiring upstream or downstream actors to agree on shared platforms.	Architecture
AR.02	Decentralisation	UNTP MUST define a decentralised protocol in which data is stored wherever the owner chooses, so that supply chain actors retain control of their data and can monetise their evidence of sustainable behaviour.	Architecture
AR.03	Natural business identifiers	UNTP MUST accommodate existing natural business, product, batch, and shipment identifiers, so that UNTP implementation imposes minimal disruption to existing business processes and can leverage existing business and product registers.	Identifiers
AR.04	Technical maturity	UNTP MUST accommodate varying levels of technical maturity — from paper-based documents to fully digitalised systems — so that any implementer can proceed without depending on the capability or readiness of upstream or downstream actors.	Human Rendering, resolvability
AR.05	Simplest possible core	UNTP MUST prioritise simplicity by specifying only the minimum that represents common core needs across different jurisdictions and industries, so that implementation costs are minimised and interoperability is maximised.	Architecture
AR.06	Re-use, not re-invent	UNTP MUST re-use existing open and free standards — such as W3C Verifiable Credentials and UN vocabularies — wherever they are fit for purpose, so that interoperability is maximised and existing software investments are reused.	Architecture

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3 — Traceability & Transparency Requirements

UNTP must provide the traceability and transparency data each supply chain actor needs to meet due diligence obligations and customer expectations for verifiable evidence of sustainable practices.

ID	Name	Requirement	Solution
TT.01	Data carriers	UNTP MUST define consistent methods for discovering product data from both new and existing data carriers — ID barcodes, 2D matrix codes, QR codes, and RFID tags — so that any party holding only a product batch ID or shipment ID can find ESG data for that product or shipment.	Identity Resolver
TT.02	Item/batch granularity	UNTP MUST provide data at the granularity of individual items or batches in a shipment, so that downstream actors can aggregate material inputs — such as Scope 3 emissions — into their own ESG performance data.	Digital Product Passport
TT.03	End-to-end traceability	Subject to privacy and confidentiality constraints, the UNTP traceability model MUST trace value chains from finished product to raw materials across any number of commercial boundaries (sale of goods), logistics boundaries (consolidation and deconsolidation), and process boundaries (manufacturing transformation of inputs to outputs), so that the provenance and ESG footprint of goods can be verified as the sum of parts.	Traceability Events
TT.04	Sustainability data	UNTP MUST provide a consistent, straightforward way to access and verify all available sustainability metrics — carbon intensity, deforestation, water usage, fair work, etc. — for a given product item or batch, so that product buyers can meet their sustainability and due diligence obligations.	Digital Product Passport, Conformity Credential
TT.05	Provenance data	UNTP MUST provide verifiable provenance information — raw material content and manufacturing origin countries — for a given product item or batch, so that product buyers can meet supply chain resilience and goods origin controls.	Digital Product Passport, Guarantee of Origin
TT.06	Circularity data	UNTP MUST provide a simple mechanism to access circularity data — including recycled content metrics and end-of-life recycling information — so that product buyers can meet recycled content goals and recyclers can optimise their processes.	Digital Product Passport, Circularity Data
TT.07	ESG vocabulary	Given the volume and diversity of ESG standards and regulations, UNTP MUST define a scalable, straightforward mechanism to determine both the precise meaning and the general category of ESG claims, so that downstream actors can map either the specific criteria or the general category of ESG data with confidence.	Vocabulary
TT.08	Rules as code	UNTP MUST define a mechanism to simplify compliance assessment of entities, products, and processes against the fast-growing set of ESG standards and regulations, so that any actor's investment in sustainable ESG practices can be tested against multiple criteria.	ESG Rules

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4 — Trust & Integrity Requirements

UNTP must provide data that is trustworthy and resilient to scrutiny.

ID	Name	Requirement	Solution
TI.01	Trust anchors	Trust in the authenticity of sustainability claims can be established through third-party audits, attestation by trusted authorities, or long-standing evidence of sustainable behaviour. UNTP MUST provide a mechanism to link ESG claims to any or all of these trust anchors, so that downstream actors can be confident that claimed ESG performance is genuine.	Trust anchors
TI.02	Identity integrity	UNTP MUST provide a mechanism to verify that ESG claims about products, locations, or entities are made by actors who genuinely own the identifiers or are their authorised delegates, so that downstream actors can be sure parties are genuinely authorised to make such claims.	Identity Anchors
TI.03	Accreditation	Third-party audits and assessments add trust. Where a verifier does not know the auditor or certifier, UNTP MUST provide a mechanism to link third-party certifiers to the accreditation authority under which they operate, so that downstream actors can trust certificates even when they do not know the certifiers.	Conformity
TI.04	Document verification	UNTP MUST define standard, interoperable mechanisms to prevent spoofing or tampering with any documents issued by upstream actors, so that downstream actors can be confident that claimed identity and genuine ESG credentials have not been altered.	Verifiable Credentials
TI.05	Graph verification	ESG performance evidence in supply chains is not concentrated in a single document but distributed throughout the value chain. UNTP MUST define a mechanism to describe and verify evidence available from chains of linked documents, so that downstream actors can ascertain the complete ESG footprint and provenance data for any shipment.	Trust Graphs
TI.06	Product substitution	As the brand value of verifiably sustainable products increases, so does the incentive to attach fake products to genuine sustainability evidence. UNTP MUST define an anti-counterfeiting mechanism so that downstream actors can confirm they have purchased genuine goods.
TI.07	Mass balance fraud	Mass balance fraud occurs when a supply chain actor blends sustainable materials with cheaper non-sustainable materials and then claims the manufactured product is 100% sustainable. UNTP MUST define mechanisms to detect mass balance fraud, so that downstream actors can be confident in the integrity of their sustainable supply chain and that the value of sustainable products is maintained.	Chain of Custody

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5 — Security & Confidentiality Requirements

UNTP must protect the security and confidentiality of supply chain data, letting each actor choose their own balance between traceability and transparency.

ID	Name	Requirement	Solution
SC.01	Transparency vs confidentiality	UNTP MUST allow every supply chain actor to choose their own balance between transparency and confidentiality, so that each actor can share only what delivers value while protecting information they deem confidential.	Confidentiality
SC.02	Multi-layered security	Product information ranges from public to highly confidential. UNTP MUST provide a range of data protection mechanisms that supply chain actors can apply appropriately to choose the right protection level for specific data sets.	Confidentiality
SC.03	Selective redaction	ESG data and credentials from sellers may contain information buyers do not want to pass on to their customers. UNTP MUST define a selective redaction method that lets any supply chain actor redact information — without affecting cryptographic integrity — from upstream credentials before passing them to downstream customers, so that verifiable ESG data can flow without leaking commercially sensitive data.	Confidentiality
SC.04	Revocation	UNTP MUST provide a mechanism to revoke previously issued conformity certificates when an actor is found non-compliant, so that downstream actors can be confident in the currency of the ESG assessments they receive.	Verifiable Credentials
SC.05	Availability	UNTP MUST define a mechanism to ensure high availability and long-term durability of ESG evidence, so that verifiers can access data even when source systems are down — and so that data for long-use-cycle products such as batteries or building materials remains accessible long after source systems are retired.	Verifiable Credentials
SC.06	Cryptography	UNTP MUST support flexibility in cryptographic methods so that new algorithms can be adopted as they emerge to meet new challenges such as quantum computing.	Verifiable Credentials
SC.07	Key management	UNTP MUST provide mechanisms for discovering public keys, protecting private keys, and rotating key pairs, so that keys remain secure and can be re-chained if compromised.	Verifiable Credentials

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6 — Compatibility & Interoperability Requirements

UNTP must be compatible with existing standards for technology, ESG criteria, and supply chain practices so that implementers can maximise the leverage of existing investments.

ID	Name	Requirement	Solution
CI.01	National regulations	UNTP-conformant data SHOULD be straightforward to map to national ESG regulations, so that it can provide upstream B2B ESG evidence to support national B2C product conformance.	Vocabulary, Extensions Methodology
CI.02	Entity ESG reporting	UNTP-conformant ESG data on products and shipments MUST be straightforward to map to entity-level ESG reporting obligations, so that transaction-level UNTP data can be easily aggregated to inform annual ESG reporting conforming to standards such as IFRS Sustainability.	Vocabulary
CI.03	ESG standards	UNTP MUST support ESG claims against criteria from any ESG standard and MUST provide a mechanism to map those claims to a common vocabulary, so that implementers can align with standards of their choice and verifiers can interpret claims even when unfamiliar with specific standard criteria.	Vocabulary
CI.04	Credential interoperability	The verifiable credential landscape is fast-moving. UNTP MUST work with multiple technical credential standards — including W3C VCs, IETF JWT, and ISO mDL — and MUST specify a minimal, simple profile of each, so that interoperability between different implementations is maximised.	Verifiable Credentials, Other Profiles TBD
CI.05	Blockchain independence	Whilst some implementers MAY choose blockchain technologies, UNTP MUST NOT require blockchain for conformant implementations, so that implementers who wish to avoid the costs and complexity of blockchain are free to do so.	—
CI.06	Product identifier compatibility	UNTP MUST allow industry to continue using its preferred existing product identifier schemes and MUST NOT favour one scheme over another.	Identity Resolver
CI.07	Business and facility identifier compatibility	UNTP MUST define a mechanism to support existing identity registers, so that implementers can continue to leverage business identifiers such as tax registration numbers, facility identifiers, and location identifiers under UNTP.	Identity Resolver, Identifier Registers

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7 — Implementation Requirements

UNTP must be implementable at the lowest possible cost, give early implementers a market advantage, and allow the impact of implementations to be tracked.

ID	Name	Requirement	Solution
IM.01	Business case	Every UNTP implementer needs confidence that implementation benefits outweigh costs. UNTP SHOULD provide business case templates for each stakeholder type so that decision-makers can fast-track their decision to proceed.	Business Case
IM.02	Open source tools	UNTP MUST include an open-source reference implementation that any supply chain actor can embed in their solutions to fast-track implementation.	Tools
IM.03	Conformity testing	UNTP MUST include a conformance test suite and test service so that implementers can self-assess conformance and be confident their implementations will be interoperable.	Test service
IM.04	Implementation support	UNTP MUST provide mechanisms for implementers to obtain community or professional support to minimise implementation risk.	Support
IM.05	Tracking implementations	UNTP MUST provide a mechanism to track implementations so that uptake and impact can be measured and early implementers can publicise their solutions.	Implementations
IM.06	Tracking extensions	UNTP MUST provide a mechanism to track and publish industry and jurisdictional extensions so that new extensions can find and reuse relevant work.	Extensions Register
IM.07	Tracking outcomes	Uptake is a straightforward measure of success, but UNTP's real purpose is to lift the value of sustainable practices. UNTP MUST develop a set of KPIs to track and assess whether it achieves material impact.	Greenwashing KPIs

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Key changes:

• Requirement statements tightened throughout: Redundant preamble removed from the start of each statement — "The UNTP MUST define a standard protocol that is easy to implement" → "UNTP MUST define a standard protocol that any business software system can implement."
• Active voice in requirement statements: "can be established", "is stored", "are made by actors" recast where the subject was clear.
• Omit needless words: "in a straightforward and consistent way", "in any way", "both…and" constructions tightened throughout.
• Numbering anomaly corrected: TT.07 Rules as Code appeared in the Architectural Requirements section in the source — moved to Traceability & Transparency where it belongs, renumbered as TT.08, and a placeholder AR row removed.
• Column header "Requirement Statement" → "Requirement": Shorter and unambiguous.
• Category introductions: Each rewritten as a single plain sentence rather than a passive description of intent.
• PDF formatting artefacts removed: Broken words, missing spaces, and run-together text from PDF extraction cleaned throughout.