[announce] OASIS to Develop International Standard for Controlled Trade

[Carol Geyer <carol.geyer@oasis-open.org>]

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