OASIS Members Form Technical Committee to Develop International Standard for Controlled Trade

Boston, MA, USA; 18 June 2002 — OASIS, the XML interoperability consortium, today announced its members have formed the OASIS Controlled Trade Markup Language (CTML) Technical Committee to develop an international standard for the tracking of controlled materials as they move through trading processes. CTML will allow governments, industry, and non-governmental organizations to unambiguously identify essential business and legal documents that need to be exchanged, including trade applications, cases, licenses, and delivery verification certificates. “Currently, there is no single, unified, and open means to manage the international transfer of sensitive and strategic goods in a structured and meaningful way,” said Todd Harbour, chair of the OASIS CTML Technical Committee. “CTML will enable both government and industry to share data more efficiently so that companies can remain competitive and governments can protect truly sensitive goods.” Governments and suppliers around the world are participating in CTML development at OASIS. John Borras, Assistant Director of Technology Policy for the United Kingdom’s Office of the e-Envoy, commented, “The area of work being addressed by the OASIS CTML Technical Committee is something which the UK government sees as very important, and we are happy to co-sponsor and support its activities. The more we can standardize the vocabulary in this area, the better it will be for the exchange of information between governments and industry.” Steven Saboe, Director of the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund at the US Dept of State, agreed. “Creating the means by which government and industry can communicate to control trade in dangerous materials is a worthwhile goal and strongly supported by the United States government. CTML will serve as a lingua franca, allowing the exchange of vital information in real time–in a way that is cost effective for industry and that, above all, allows governments to assure the safety of their citizens.” CTML will incorporate features of other XML business vocabularies and provide a clearly articulated interface to mutually supporting specifications. The OASIS CTML Technical Committee will align its work with other OASIS libraries and frameworks, such as ebXML, Universal Business Language (UBL), Business Transactions Protocol (BTP), and Customer Information Quality (CIQ). Participation in the OASIS CTML Technical Committee remains open to all organizations and individuals interested in advancing a unified trade control vocabulary. OASIS will host an open mail list for public comment on CTML, and completed work will be freely available to the public without licensing or other fees. Information on joining OASIS can be found on http://www.oasis-open.org/join. About OASIS (http://www.oasis-open.org) OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces. OASIS has more than 400 corporate and individual members in 100 countries around the world. OASIS and the United Nations jointly sponsor ebXML, a global framework for e-business data exchange. OASIS operates XML.org, a community clearinghouse for XML application schemas, vocabularies and related documents. OASIS hosts The XML Cover Pages, an online reference collection for interoperable markup language standards. For more information: Carol Geyer Director of Communications OASIS www.oasis-open.org carol.geyer@oasis-open.org +1.978.667.5115 x209