External Vocabularies
The UN/CEFACT Web Vocabulary deliberately coexists with the authoritative vocabularies of the web and of trade. Where an external vocabulary already owns a concept well, the Vocab reuses, references, imports or maps to it rather than reinventing it — and pins what it depends on.
This page is generated from the recognised-vocabulary register (schema) — a machine-readable list of every vocabulary the Vocab recognises, each of which must meet the well-governed vocabulary criteria.
Foundation
The Semantic Web substrate the Vocab is built on.
| Vocabulary | Owner | Vocab use | Pinned | Governance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RDF · RDFS · OWL · SKOS | W3C | The linked-data model the Vocab is authored in. | — | W3C Process |
Reused directly
External terms and code systems the Vocab uses as published.
| Vocabulary | Owner | Vocab use | Pinned | Governance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| schema.org | Schema.org community | General-purpose web vocabulary. — Also mapped to via skos:*Match; reuses schema:name, schema:description. | pinned subset | releases |
| UCUM | Regenstrief Institute | Parseable unit expressions (e.g. km.h-1). — ucumCode on each unit-of-measure concept. | — | UCUM spec |
| ISO 3166 / 4217 / 6346 | ISO | Country, currency and container codes. — Referenced as code values by the country, currency and equipment schemes. | — | ISO |
Mapped to
Peers the Vocab publishes normative correspondences to (fidelity and status under Normative mappings, below).
| Vocabulary | Owner | Vocab use | Pinned | Governance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QUDT | QUDT.org | Quantities, units, dimensions and conversions. — Per-unit exactMatch + conversion multiplier/offset + dimension. | QUDT 3.1.0 | qudt.org |
Complementary
Domain peers the Vocab aligns and co-exists with.
| Vocabulary | Owner | Vocab use | Pinned | Governance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IATA ONE Record (planned) | IATA | Air cargo management. — Air transport. | — | IATA |
| DCSA (planned) | Digital Container Shipping Association | Maritime container transport. — Maritime transport. | — | DCSA standards |
| WBCSD PACT (planned) | WBCSD | Product carbon footprint / emissions. — Emissions reporting. | — | PACT |
Planned mappings
Recognised vocabularies not yet mapped.
| Vocabulary | Owner | Vocab use | Pinned | Governance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WCO Data Model (planned) | World Customs Organization | Customs and cross-border declaration data. — Regulatory domain. | — | WCO |
| GS1 Web Vocabulary (planned) | GS1 | Products, parties, locations and identifiers. — Identity / product domains. | — | GS1 standards |
| EU / JRC vocabularies (planned) | EU Joint Research Centre | Digital Product Passport under ESPR (batteries, textiles). — May be legally mandated per jurisdiction — see Governance. | — | ESPR |
Normative mappings
The Vocab lives among overlapping authoritative vocabularies. Rather than redefine or defer, it maps: every term and code that overlaps a peer carries an explicit, maintained equivalence.
Mappings are tiered by fidelity:
- Tier A, semantic (SKOS):
skos:exactMatch/closeMatch/broadMatch/narrowMatchfor 1:1 or near-1:1 correspondences. Carried in-band on the term itself. Where a correspondence crosses kinds (a Vocab role-property whose peer is a class, as with FIBO’s role classes),rdfs:seeAlsolinks it instead, without asserting concept equivalence. - Tier B, structural (SHACL / rules): where a concept maps but its shape differs (planned).
Mapping targets
| Target | What is mapped | How | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| schema.org | foundational entities & value objects (Party↔Organization/Person, Address↔PostalAddress, Measure↔QuantitativeValue, MonetaryAmount, Image…) | skos:closeMatch / exactMatch in-band | in place for retained terms |
| QUDT | units of measure: conversion multiplier/offset, dimension, UCUM code | skos:exactMatch per unit + embedded conversion metadata | ✅ done (1,342 units) |
| FIBO (EDM Council Financial Industry Business Ontology) | finance-domain terms: Payment, Account, FinanceAgreement, payment/finance amounts, account holder; and the party roles (payer, payee, financier, bank) | skos:*Match where the correspondence is like-to-like (class↔class, property↔property); rdfs:seeAlso for role-properties, since FIBO models those roles as classes | ✅ done (finance domain) |
| IATA ONE Record (air-cargo logistics ontology) | transport-domain classes: movement, means, equipment, booking, consignment/shipment, package, item, leg, service, charge | skos:closeMatch (class↔class). Air-only conveyance (Vessel/Truck/Aircraft) and concepts absent from ONE Record (TransportCall, TransportRoute, Seal, markings, DangerousGoods) are left unmapped | ✅ done (10 of 19 transport classes) |
| WCO Data Model | regulatory concepts (declarations, LPCO, procedures) | skos:*Match | planned |
| GS1 Web Vocabulary + GS1 EPCIS | production-domain classes: Product→gs1:Product, ProductPackage→gs1:PackagingDetails; and the lifecycle events → GS1 EPCIS (MakeEvent→TransformationEvent, MoveEvent/ModifyEvent→ObjectEvent, LifecycleEvent→EPCISEvent) | skos:closeMatch (class↔class) | ✅ done (production) |
| UN SDGs | conformity topics | skos:relatedMatch (imported with the conformity-topics taxonomy) | ✅ in place |
Where the mappings live
Tier-A mappings are in the TTL (each term’s skos:exactMatch/closeMatch), so they ship with the vocabulary and are queryable. The register above is the human-facing index; the machine-readable truth is the graph. The full provenance and validation trail is on the Governance page.
Dependency policy: external vocabularies are treated as peers, not dependencies — the versions above are pinned and mapped to a stable subset, so an upstream change never silently breaks the Vocab.