Purpose

The TrustBridge InterGov codebase is a Proof Of Concept (POC) implementation of the edi3 Inter Customs Ledger (ICL) Specification.

The specific goal of this codebase is to create infrastructure for an independant ICL “Node”.

This node is as it would be operated by a Country. It provides the interfaces required by the regulated community, (i.e. B2G interfaces) and it interfaces with “Channels” which are are used for communicating with other countries (i.e. G2G interfaces). It provides a suite of microservices that reliably route and deliver messages between the two.

Prototype edi3 standards

See https://edi3.org/icl/ for details of the interfaces that are implemented here.

This software is organised using a microservice architecture. The file DEPLOYMENT.rst contains instructions for running these components together in a local workstation.

There are three basic types of deployable component:

  • Microservices, that provide REST web services and depend on statefull backing services.

  • Backing Services, which are responsible for shared state between API Microservices and Worker Processes.

  • Worker Processes, which perform asynchronous tasks.

A very high level description of the design looks like this; Each country operates a suite of services, that provides the following types of integration surface:

  • Government to Government (G2G) “channels”, These may use distributed ledger technology, but the details are hidden behind a “Channel API”.

  • Regulated Community APIs. These are used by members of the regulated community to interact with their Government (B2G/G2B). These interactions are are either direct with the API or indirect, through some commuity systems and identity provider.

  • The Document API. This is accessed by the regulated community, but also (as policy allows) by the counterparty of associated messages on the G2G channels. This also implies the use of an identity provider.

Support the UN process

The business case and background of the edi3 work is published at https://uncefact.unece.org/display/uncefactpublic/Cross+border+Inter-ledger+exchange+for+Preferential+CoO+using+Blockchain

Open Source Reference Implementation

The purpose of the POC is to use a real working system to evaluate the edi3 specification design decisions. We believe this will lead to a superior design than just developing the specifications on a theoretical basis, before trying to apply them.

This implementation is tracking the specifications on the edi3 web site. As the specifications change, we intend to modify this software to keep up. This software will remain a POC status as long as the specifications are considered a working draft, however, the software microservice architecture should support future large scale deployment and long term maintainability.

The status of the software will be updated to BETA when it is considered appropriate for pilot implementation. In the meantime, contributions are welcome at https://github.com/trustbridge