ISO/TS 26683-1:2012

TECHNICAL ISO/TS
SPECIFICATION 26683-1
First edition
2012-05-15
Intelligent transport systems — Freight
land conveyance content identification
and communication (FLC-CIC) —
Part 1:
Context, architecture and referenced
standards
Systèmes intelligents de transport — Identification et communication du
contenu des marchandises transportées par voie terrestre —
Partie 1: Contexte, architecture et normes référencées
Reference number
©
ISO 2012
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ii © ISO 2012 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 3
4 Abbreviated terms . 7
5 Context . 8
5.1 General context . 8
5.2 Road transport information exchanges for supply chain freight time-sensitive delivery . 9
5.3 Dangerous goods . 11
5.4 Domestic land transport scenarios .15
5.5 Complementariness of standards .15
6 Architecture .17
6.1 Overview .17
6.2 Standardization aspects for intermodal transport .21
6.3 Make and break bulk content identification .23
6.4 Variety of forms of freight land conveyance .24
6.5 Multiple trailers .25
6.6 Principal standards for the intermodal transport scenario .26
6.7 Subsequent standards .26
6.8 Operational aspects for data collection .26
6.9 On-board cargo stress measurement information during road transport .27
7 Freight land conveyance content identification architecture overview .27
7.1 Generalized framework .27
7.2 Cargo/vehicle information data layer .27
7.3 Sensor data .28
7.4 Item data .29
7.5 Agglomeration of data .31
7.6 Aggregation of data .31
7.7 Data transfer .32
8 Freight land conveyance and communication - Application interface profiles .32
8.1 General .32
Annex A (normative) List of referenced standards .33
Annex B (informative) Examples of the system implementation .70
Annex C (informative) ISO 6346 in respect of land conveyance identification .73
Bibliography .77
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through
ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards
adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
In other circumstances, particularly when there is an urgent market requirement for such documents, a technical
committee may decide to publish other types of document:
— an ISO Publicly Available Specification (ISO/PAS) represents an agreement between technical experts in
an ISO working group and is accepted for publication if it is approved by more than 50 % of the members
of the parent committee casting a vote;
— an ISO Technical Specification (ISO/TS) represents an agreement between the members of a technical
committee and is accepted for publication if it is approved by 2/3 of the members of the committee
casting a vote.
An ISO/PAS or ISO/TS is reviewed after three years in order to decide whether it will be confirmed for a further
three years, revised to become an International Standard, or withdrawn. If the ISO/PAS or ISO/TS is confirmed,
it is reviewed again after a further three years, at which time it must either be transformed into an International
Standard or be withdrawn.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/TS 26683-1 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 204, Intelligent transport systems.
ISO/TS 26683 consists of the following parts, under the general title Freight land conveyance content
identification and communication (FLC-CIC):
— Part 1: Context, architecture and referenced standards
— Part 2: Application interface profiles
The following parts are under preparation:
— Part 3: Handling of cargo stress information during road transport
— Part 4: Security profile
iv © ISO 2012 – All rights reserved

Introduction
In a scenario of land international transport and logistics, it is often difficult for a consignor and a consignee
to know the physical real-time location of cargo after consigning the cargo to a transport and logistics service
provider. Where a cargo is transferred from one haulier to another, obtaining information of the manifest
at a detailed level is often difficult. Auditing the actual content of a consignment en route; and monitoring
cargo stress measurement information during road transport; is also difficult, especially in the case of sealed
land conveyances such as sealed intermodal containers. It is a different task to that of progressing order
administration from consignor to consignee.
Seamless exchange of accurate, complete, and timely data at transportation hand-offs has always been
important for efficiency and accountability. There is now a growing understanding of needs for security of
transport information, and for transfer of information related to security against terrorism as well as theft and
traditional contraband.
There is no single organization responsible for standards through the intermodal supply chain. To achieve
a coherent set of standards requires coordination among the various international organizations working on
pieces of these standards.
This part of ISO/TS 26683 specifies the data concepts applicable to the movement of freight and its intermodal
transfer. It focuses on a single “thread” of the overall end-to-end supply chain. These data concepts include
information entities (data elements), aggregated/associated information entities (groups of data elements)
and messages that comprise information exchanges at transport interfaces along the chain of participants
responsible for the delivery of goods from the point of origin through to the final. This work is integrated closely
with ‘Universal Business Language (UBL)’ espoused by OASIS and refers to the UN/CEFACT standards (Data
Elements TDED, Core Components Technical Specifications and Library CCL).
ISO 17687 provides a consistent context for the presentation and storage of ‘Dangerous Goods’/HAZMAT
information. ISO 17687 is designed to support the automated identification, monitoring and exchange of
emergency response information regarding dangerous goods carried on board road transport vehicles.
However, ISO 17687 does not specify nor even imply that any particular on-board or off-board systems should
be capable of performing such monitoring, data retention, or communications. ISO 17687 deals with the on
board information but not the media used for transmitting the information, nor the means of collating and
transferring the information. ISO 17687 identifies that such communications are beyond the its scope.
However in domestic land transport, particularly where no border crossings are involved, and except in the case
of ‘Dangerous Goods’/HAZMAT loads, a trucker usually does not have to report cargo manifest information to
any regulator. A trucker receives an order from the client with delivery date/time and location and, except in
the case of ‘Dangerous Goods’/HAZMAT, may not necessarily be given any detailed cargo information. The
haulier may or may not use a wireless tracking system for its vehicles, and such systems may or may not carry
any detailed consignment/cargo details. In these situations real-time land transport cargo monitoring is often
not possible and, in respect of auditing the content of the load and monitoring cargo condition information, even
where possible, has limitations.
There are also many situations where the tractor and trailer combination changes during the course of a
journey from consignor to consignee.
Further, even where such comprehensive systems are in place, they rely on the level of detail that exists within
the central computer system, and without the ability to monitor the actual contents, there is no possibility to:
a) audit the actual contents of the consignment. This is particularly difficult in the case of a sealed intermodal
container (ISO 668 and subsequent related standards for freight containers),
b) monitor the condition of the contents of the consignment (cargo stress measurement information).
The ISO 26683 series is therefore complementary to the context of ISO/TS 24533 and may well provide
sources of data required by such systems, and an electronic auditing capability has yet to be embraced by
ISO/TS 24533 . As has been seen above, ISO 17687 does not address the means by which its data is collected.
ISO 26683 is complementary to ISO 7372.
Further detail concerning the complementary nature of the ISO 26683 series to ISO 24533, EFM, ISO 17687,
IEEE 1512.3, UN/CEFACT, particularly UN/CEFACT UMM, ISO 7372, OASIS/UBL can be found in Clauses 5 and 6.
The ISO 26683 series provides a data agglomeration/aggregation capability as one means to capture and
transfer information about the content of the cargo load and its condition to a central system. Therefore,
ISO 26683 can also support both ISO/TS 24533 and ISO 17687/IEEE 1512.3 instantiations. ISO 26683 is
designed to present data to end-to-end cargo application systems, it does not provide end-to-end (consignor
to consignee) system design.
The ISO 26683 series envisages that a combination of existing technologies can be used to agglomerate/
aggregate relevant data and use a tractor/truck mounted communications means to realize real-time cargo
visibility of land transport, and is thus not dependent on future technologies or technologies currently in
research and development phases (although it will be suitable for future technical means to deliver its data).
This part of ISO 26683 provides context and high level architecture for all parts of the ISO 26683 series.
ISO 26683-2 defines application interface profiles to agglomerate/aggregate and transfer land cargo transport
data to provide improved land cargo transport data and specifies one or more modes of transfer using available
ICT technologies.
Part 3 will specify the handling of on-board cargo stress measurement information during road transport
Part 4 will provide a security profile requirement and definition.
vi © ISO 2012 – All rights reserved

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION ISO/TS 26683-1:2012(E)
Intelligent transport systems — Freight land conveyance
content identification and communication (FLC-CIC) —
Part 1:
Context, architecture and referenced standards
1 Scope
This part of ISO 26683 provides the context for application interface profiles for the exchange of land transport
data using current technologies and existing standards for item identification, package identification, container
identification, and international standards and practices regarding freight and its movement. This part of
ISO 26683 provides the following:
a) a context of the relationship between ISO 26683 and other freight and fleet standards and defines the
objectives for the ISO 26683 series. The explanation is provided as to how existing International Standards
and Technical Specifications can be utilized to agglomerate/aggregate data concepts by using standardized
application interface profiles and utilize them within the context of ISO 26683 and how ISO 26683 can be
used to provide information/data to cargo management systems;
b) descriptions of use cases of providing information to cargo tracking and tracing in end-to-end transport
by exploiting identifiers, data carriers, EDI messages and data elements with respect to various types of
cargo and transport means within an international intermodal/multimodal cargo movement context;
c) an architecture for the collation and transfer of data agglomerated/aggregated from information contained
in the transport load to transport operating systems, the objective being to enable efficient handling of
truck/trailer identification and on-board cargo information for tracking, tracing and cargo monitoring
purposes in a land cargo transport situation.
NOTE ISO 26683 is designed to present information to end-to-end cargo application systems; it does not provide
end-to-end (consignor to consignee) system design.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document
(including any amendments) applies.
In addition to the references listed below, Annex A identifies a large number of International Standards that may
be used in the identification, labelling and communication with the contents of a land conveyance. Data may
conform to any of the International Standards listed below, but shall conform to at least one of the International
Standards listed below or in Annex A.
NOTE This clause provides references for only those standards referenced in the main body of this document.
ISO 6346, Freight containers — Coding, identification and marking
ISO 7372, Trade data interchange — Trade data elements directory
ISO 13183, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — Using
broadcast communications
ISO/TR 14813-2, Transport information and control systems — Reference model architecture(s) for the TICS
sector — Part 2: Core TICS reference architecture
ISO 17261, Intelligent transport systems — Automatic vehicle and equipment identification — Intermodal goods
transport architecture and terminology
ISO 17262, Intelligent transport systems — Automatic vehicle and equipment identification — Numbering and
data structures
ISO 17263, Intelligent transport systems — Automatic vehicle and equipment identification — System parameters
ISO 17264, Road transport and traffic telematics — Automatic vehicle and equipment identification — Interfaces
ISO 17687, Transport Information and Control Systems (TICS) — General fleet management and commercial
freight operations — Data dictionary and message sets for electronic identification and monitoring of hazardous
materials/dangerous goods transportation
ISO 21210, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — IPv6 Networking
ISO 21212, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — 2G Cellular systems
ISO 21213, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — 3G Cellular systems
ISO 21214, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — Infra-red systems
ISO 21215, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — M5
ISO 21216, Intelligent transport systems — Wireless communications — CALM using millimetre
communications — Air interface
ISO 21217, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — Architecture
ISO 21218, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — Medium
service access points
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451-1, Information technology — Smart transducer interface for sensors and actuators — Part
1: Network Capable Application Processor (NCAP) information model
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451-2, Information technology — Smart transducer interface for sensors and actuators — Part 2:
Transducer to microprocessor communication protocols and Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS) formats
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451-4, Information technology — Smart transducer interface for sensors and actuators —
Part 4: Mixed-mode communication protocols and Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS) formats
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451-7, Information technology — Smart transducer interface for sensors and actuators —
Part 7: Transducer to radio frequency identification (RFID) systems communication protocols and Transducer
Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS) formats
ISO/TS 24533, Intelligent transport systems — Electronic information exchange to facilitate the movement of
1)
freight and its intermodal transfer — Road transport information exchange methodology
ISO 25111, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — General
requirements for using public networks
ISO 25112, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — Mobile wireless
broadband using IEEE 802.16
ISO 25113, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — Mobile wireless
broadband using HC-SDMA
ISO/TS 26683-2, Intelligent transport systems — Freight land conveyance content identification and
communication (FLC-CIC) — Part 2: Application interface profiles
ISO 29281, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — Non-IP networking
1) To be published.
2 © ISO 2012 – All rights reserved

ISO 29282, Intelligent transport systems — Communications access for land mobiles (CALM) — Applications
using satellite networks
ISO 29283, ITS CALM Mobile Wireless Broadband applications using Communications in accordance
with IEEE 802.20
IEEE 1512.3, IEEE Standard for Hazardous Material Incident Management Message Sets for Use by Emergency
Management Centers
OASIS, Universal Business Language v2.1, http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/UBL-2.1.html
OASIS, UBL Common Library — transport library
OASIS, UBL-CommonAggregateComponents-2.1
CEFACT/TMG/N093, UN/CEFACT Modelling Methodology (UMM):
— UMM Foundation Module V1.0 (2006)
— UMM Base Module V1.0 (2006)
— User Guide UMM 1.0
UN/CEFACT, Core Components Library CCL 10B
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1
application interface
communication point where one part of a system communicates with another in order to service an application
NOTE The communication point is typically but not necessarily wireless in the scenarios of ISO 26683.
3.2
application interface profile
series and sequence of behaviour and protocols including where appropriate the identification of chosen
classes, conforming subsets, options and parameters of those base standards necessary to accomplish a
defined function at an interface in a particular way such that it can be used interoperably between two parties;
profiles, which define conforming subsets or combinations of base profiles identify the use of particular options
available in the base standards, and provide a basis for the development of uniform, internationally recognized,
interoperability and conformance tests.
3.3
audit
methodical examination/verification/evaluation of the information associated with items in a cargo and other
relevant data
3.4
authority
statutory body existing within a jurisdiction and a specific area of responsibility that administers legislation to
regulate trade and/or monitors compliance with existing legislation
3.5
base standard
approved International Standard used as the basis of an application interface or an application interface profile
3.6
cargo
goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck
NOTE In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.
3.7
cargo stress measurement information
data collected from sensors associated with an item, container or conveyance that provides information about
parameters that may affect the condition of the cargo
EXAMPLES temperature, position/attitude (upright cargo), pressure, shock, dampness, etc.
3.8
carrier
party undertaking or arranging transport of goods between named points
[UN/TDED 3126: UN/CEFACT definition de 1001 code CA]
3.9
consignee
party to which goods are consigned/shipped
[UN/TDED 3132: UN/CEFACT definition de 3035 code CN]
3.10
consignment
separately identifiable amount of goods items (available to be) transported from one consignor to one consignee
via one or more modes of transport and specified in one single transport document
3.11
consignor
shipper, sender, party which, by contract with a carrier, consigns or sends goods with the carrier, or has them
conveyed by him
[UN/TDED 3336: UN/CEFACT definition de 3035 code CZ ]
3.12
consolidation
grouping together of individual consignments of goods into a combined consignment for carriage
3.13
container
receptacle for the transport of goods, especially one readily transferable from one form of transport to another
[UN/TDED 3336: UN/CEFACT definition 8053 code CN Container]
3.14
conveyance
means of transport
3.15
data carrier
means or function which carries data objects from one point to other point
3.16
electronic freight manifest
electronic means of generating, storing, distributing, and accessing manifest-related data along the end-to-
end supply chain
4 © ISO 2012 – All rights reserved

3.17
forwarder
forwarding agent
person or company that organizes shipments for individuals or other companies and may also act as a carrier.
3.18
freight
goods
any commodity transported
3.19
freight forwarder
party arranging the carriage of goods including connected services and/or associated formalities on behalf of
a consignor or consignee
[UN/TDED 3336: UN/CEFACT definition de 3035 code FW]
3.20
goods
freight
any commodity transported
3.21
identifier
unique and unambiguous expression in a written format either by a code, by numbers or by the combination of
both to distinguish variations from one to another among a class of substances, items or objects
3.22
intermodal freight container
large cargo-carrying object (of various formats) used for transport or storage conforming to ISO 6346; freight
container designed and constructed to permit it to be used interchangeably in two or more modes of transport
3.23
ISO intermodal freight container
ISO intermodal container
ISO container
large cargo-carrying object used for transport or storage that conforms to ISO 668, Series 1 containers
3.24
international standardized profile
internationally agreed-to, harmonized document which describes one or more profiles
3.25
interoperability
ability of two or more systems to exchange information and to make mutual use of the information that has been
exchanged (sometimes called “open systems”)
3.26
ITS station
communication point for ITS system
3.27
land transport
mode of transport that is effected using roads and railways and may in some cases include use of inland waterways
cf. transport (3.37)
3.28
land transport conveyance
transport means to effect the land transport sector(s) of a cargo
3.29
manifest
specification of all cargo on board the transportation means (all modes) containing details of contents, shipper,
consignee, and other details that may be required by customs or consular authorities
3.30
open system environment
comprehensive set of interfaces, services, and supporting formats, plus user aspects, for interoperability
and/or portability of applications, data, or people, as specified by information technology standards and profiles
3.31
rollercage
cage with casters for transporting loose items
3.32
security
protection of information and data against danger, damage, loss and criminal activity so that unauthorized persons
or systems cannot read or modify them and authorized persons or systems are not denied access to them
NOTE Security has to be compared to related concepts: safety, continuity, reliability. The key difference between
security and reliability is that security must take into account the actions of people attempting to cause destruction.
3.33
security profile
characterization of security requirements
3.34
shipment
identifiable collection of one or more goods items (available to be) transported together from the original shipper
to the ultimate consignee
NOTE A shipment may be transported in one or a multiple number of consignments.
3.35
taxonomy
classification scheme for referencing profiles or sets of profiles unambiguously
3.36
tracing
function of retrieving information concerning goods, goods items, consignments or equipment
3.37
transport
transportation
movement of people and goods from one location to another
NOTE Transport is performed by modes, such as air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline and space, and the field
comprises the attributes of infrastructure, vehicles, and operations.
3.38
transport means
vehicles, trailers, vessels, aircraft, or combination thereof, used for the transport of goods to perform a journey
3.39
tracking
function of maintaining status information of goods, goods items, consignments or equipment
6 © ISO 2012 – All rights reserved

3.40
trucker
person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, usually a semi truck, box truck, or dump truck
NOTE “Trucker” and “driver” are the common terms in the United States and Canada; “truckie” is used in Australia
and New Zealand; and “lorry driver” or “driver” in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
3.41
visibility
ability to audit the content of a land conveyance while en-route or at strategic points of an overland journey
4 Abbreviated terms
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3GPP third generation partnership project
AEI automatic equipment identification
AVI automatic vehicle identification
CALM communication access for land mobiles
CEFACT See UN/CEFACT
CCL core component library
ebXML electronic business eXtensible Mark-up Language
EAN European Article Numbering Association
EDIFACT electronic data interchange for administration, commerce and transport
EFM electronic freight management
ERI electronic registration identification
GSM global system mobile
HAZMAT hazardous materials/dangerous goods
IATA International Air Transport Association
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization
IMO International Maritime Organization
ITS intelligent transport systems
JTC1 ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1
JWG joint working group
LTE (3GPP) long term evolution (sometimes called 4G)
OASIS Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
OBE on-board equipment
OBU on-board unit
OCR optical character recognition
PDC personal digital cellular (Japanese advanced 2G mobile communications standard)
PHS personal handy-phone system
RFID radio frequency identification
RSU road side unit
SOA service oriented architecture
SOAP simple object access protocol
SSL secure sockets layer
TDED trade data elements directory
TLS transport layer security
UBL universal business language (OASIS)
UIC Union Internationale de Chemins de fer
ULD unit load device (IATA container)
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
UN United Nations (Organization)
UN/CEFACT United Nations, through its Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business
UN/EDIFACT United Nations electronic data interchange for administration, commerce and transport
UN/TDED United Nations trade data elements directory
USDoT United States Department of Transport
VIN vehicle identification number
WCO World Customs Organization
WSDL web services description language
XML eXtensible Mark-up Language
5 Context
5.1 General context
In a scenario of land international transport and logistics, it is often difficult for a consignor and a consignee
to know physical real-time location of cargo after consigning the cargo to a transport and logistics service
provider. Where a cargo is transferred from one haulier to another, obtaining information of the manifest at
a detailed level is often difficult. Auditing the actual content of a consignment en route and monitoring cargo
stress measurement information during road transport is difficult, especially in the case of sealed containers
such as sealed ISO intermodal containers.
In the international context, an ocean or air carrier is required to report cargo manifest information to related
authorities, according to the standards designated by IMO (International Maritime Organization), ICAO
(International Civil Aviation Organization)/IATA(International Air Transport Association); therefore, a party
concerned in international air/ocean transport is able to track or trace cargo on a real-time basis.
Seamless exchange of accurate, complete, and timely data at transportation hand-offs has always been
important for efficiency and accountability. There is now a growing understanding of needs for security of
transport information, and for transfer of information related to security against terrorism as well as theft and
traditional contraband.
8 © ISO 2012 – All rights reserved

ISO/TR 14813-2:2000 identifies a Commercial Vehicle functional domain including:
“Transactions to maintain the TICS (ITS) information about a shipment from the time of the order by the
consignor to the reception of goods by the consignee. The key TICS (ITS) transactions are to provide
registers of service providers and to enable the goods to be tracked throughout intermodal journeys.”
Deliverables in the ISO 26683 series shall be consistent with this definition.
5.2 Road transport information exchanges for supply chain freight time-sensitive delivery
Some international shipments are entirely by the highway mode, others begin and end with motor carrier service
and travel on other modes in the course of the shipment. ISO/TS 24533 [Intelligent Transport Systems — Data
dictionary and message set to facilitate the movement of freight and its intermodal transfer — Road transport
information exchanges] for supply chain freight time-sensitive delivery (Road-Air Freight-Road) focuses attention
on an international truck-air-truck thread through the supply chain where the interfacing modes’ data structures
and formats must accommodate each other to ensure efficiency and security from end to end, and shall be
considered the reference for these aspects of road transport information exchanges for supply chain freight .
Rail, ocean transport, air and road are vital components of intermodal, international shipping. ISO/TS 24533
is focused on international end-to-end monitored supply chain operations where there is aggregated system
visibility of all aspects of data to all parties involved.
ISO/TS 24533 specifies the data concepts applicable to the movement of freight and its intermodal transfer. It
also addresses the business processes depicting the roles and responsibilities of the various participants in
the international supply chain. While designed for international freight movements, it is as usable in domestic
supply chains so long as the information/data is available.
ISO/TS 24533 focuses on a single “thread” of the overall end-to-end supply chain consisting of a road-air-road
combination. These data concepts include data elements, data frames (groups of data elements) and messages
that comprise information exchanges at road transport interfaces along the chain of participants responsible for
the delivery of goods from the point of origin through to the final recipient as presented in Figure 1.
The scope includes motor transport data needs within the international supply chain to satisfy the requirements
of both businesses and governmental organizations. ISO/TS 24533 is applicable to highway shipments that
originate in one country and terminate in another. It may however also be applied to highway shipments that
originate and terminate in a single country. ISO/TS 24533 is applicable to highway freight movements that
interface with other modes and incorporates requirements set for those other modes.
If goods change to or from another mode between origin and destination, ISO/TS 24533 does not establish
requirements for those other modes. However, it addresses the requirements of information exchange between
the truck mode and another mode (e.g. air freight). Further, ISO/TS 24533 does not constrain the requirements
of customs, regulatory, and safety bodies at border crossings. However, ISO/TS 24533 does include the data
elements most likely to be required by Customs.
NOTE It is intended that this thread may be generalized to address the various combination of segments that occur
in the global supply chain.
Figure 1 — ISO 24533 information exchanges at intermodal interfaces
(Source ISO/TS 24533)
ISO/TS 24533 utilizes the (UBL) ‘Universal Business Language’ developed by OASIS, referring to the foundation
of UN/CEFACT standards (Data Dictionary TDED, CCTS Core Components Technical Specifications…). The
Universal Business Language is the product of an international effort to define a royalty-free library of XML
schemas for business documents built upon a set of common components. UBL formatted electronic messages
enable direct connection into existing business, legal, auditing, and records management practices, eliminating
the re-keying of data in existing fax- and paper-based supply chains. It aims to provide an entry point into
electronic commerce for small and medium-sized businesses. The concept being that that these information
elements should all come from a single coherent superset of information elements (a consolidated library of
information elements). UBL is focused on a royalty-free library of XML schemas for business documents. UBL
uses XML to interchange business documents between two trading partners, but recognizes that the trading
partners will have their own internal storage representations for the information found therein. When it comes
time for an organization to fulfill their business reporting obligations, the information to report does not come
from their business documents but from their own internal storage representations and UBL therefore does
not embrace many of the attributes commonly used in physical, and particularly, domestic, land transport
movements, and much of the data required for the appropriate UBL data concepts are unlikely to be carried in
or available to the land conveyance OBE. However, where UBL is going to be used, it is important to be able to
forward data collected from land conveyances to such systems in a format that is meaningful to those systems
and easily translated into UBL when it comes time for an organization to fulfil their business reporting obligations.
Refer to the use cases presented in ISO/TS 24533 for examples of multi-modal freight movement.
As a complement to ISO/TS 24533/UBL, the USDoT initiative ‘EFM‘ [EFM Design, EFM Architecture Summary,
EFM_UBL_Profile_and_WSDLs, EFM_DeploymentGuide, EFM Database Schema] provides a detailed
instantiation for implementation design, down to software level which is not a standard but provides a detailed
model of how such systems can be applied.
Figure 2 depicts a high level logical view of the EFM architecture.
10 © ISO 2012 – All rights reserved

Figure 2 — EFM high level architecture
(Source: EFM Design USDoT)
There is no single organization responsible for data standards through the intermodal supply chain. To achieve
a coherent set of standards for information exchange processes requires coordination among the various
international organizations working on pieces of these standards. ISO/TC 204 has advanced the idea of
close coordination among other ISO Technical Committees, IEC, CEN, UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and
Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT especially their TBG3 Transport/Logistics group), and the World Customs
Organization. ISO 26683 shall be complementary to ISO 7372.
The vision of ISO/TS 24533 and the EFM project is to have an electronic supply chain manifest that will
satisfy the needs of the transport business industry and governmental organizations that regulate the flow of
commerce. ISO 26683 is designed to present information to such end-to-end cargo application systems, it
does not provide end-to-end (consignor to consignee) system design.
5.3 Dangerous goods
Deliverables in the ISO 26683 series shall be consistent with ISO 17687. ISO 17687 provides a consistent
context for the presentation and storage of ‘Dangerous Goods’/HAZMAT information. ISO 17687 is designed to
support the automated identification, monitoring and exchange of emergency response information regarding
dangerous goods carried on board road transport vehicles. Such information may include the identification,
quantity, and current condition such as pressure and temperature of such goods as well as any relevant
emergency response information. Reporting this information may occur prior to or during transportation of the
goods in a manner that allows all interested parties to access and correctly interpret the information. When
equipped with appropriate electronics and communications capabilities, vehicles carrying dangerous goods
may respond to queries regarding their status or self-initiate a message.
However, ISO 17687 does not specify nor even imply that any particular on-board or off-board systems should
be capable of performing such monitoring, data retention, or communications. The provisions of ISO 17687
cover four contextual situations:
a) general requirements;
b) on-board systems;
c) roadside recipient to emergency control centres;
d) emergency control centres to emergency control centres.
It is intended that the information is carried on-board the transport vehicle and may then be transferred to
interested roadside systems by whatever communications means are appropriate to that roadside system.
ISO 17687 proposes that the following levels of identification and monitoring systems for ‘Dangerous Goods’/
HAZMAT are possible:
1) direct supplement to existing product identification placards (which are visually oriented, non-electronic);
2) added data beyond that contained in existing placards;
3) interface with on-board systems;
4) intelligence to react to product or goods conditions.
ISO 17687 states that “with a suitable communications interface, it is possible to transmit the information to and
between remote sites such as emergency service systems and centres. This information transfer may occur
during normal operations or in emergency modes of operation.”
ISO 17687 therefore deals with the on board information but not
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