Initial Deposit

A specification may be deposited before its first use. The dossier must present sufficiently explicit rules, conformance criteria and the technical examples required by the selected module. Information about uses and implementations is optional. Empty usage sections are omitted from publication.

Technical examples may be constructed to illustrate the specification. Present the inputs, expected results and rules applied. These examples explain the specification; documented uses identify activities that used it, with the version, dates and references where known. Information about uses may be added later.

The submitter is a private administrative contact. Historical deposits describe provenance, authorship and responsibilities from the available sources; active maintenance is not required. The submitter must have the authority and rights necessary for the deposit and publication of the submitted materials.

Proposing a Supplement

During review and after registration, open the dossier’s private tracking link and choose Propose a documentary supplement. The system already identifies the dossier and specification version. Complete one or both sections:

  • Documented uses and implementations: publications, corpora, software, projects and other documented uses of this version.
  • Subsequent developments and related specifications: later specifications, adaptations, incorporation into other standards or documented external recognition, explaining the relationship.

Include references and known dates directly in the text. Distinguish the date of a use or publication from the date on which the information reaches the Registry. The initial submission form is reserved for specification deposits, revisions, new versions and corrigenda; documentary additions are made through the private dossier.

Supplements may document uses, publications, corpora, references or subsequent developments. They are reviewed before publication and have their own date and identifier and status within the existing dossier. A documentary supplement retains the specification’s version number: adding a bibliographic reference does not turn version 1.0 into version 1.1.

Deposit a specification

Keep the private link securely. Anyone possessing it can consult the dossier and propose additions. It may be shared with the documentary or library service following the deposit. Possession of the link does not identify the contributor, and additions are not automatically attributed to the initial submitter. The Registry cannot reconstruct a lost link.

Review

A strictly documentary supplement may receive simplified review by an independent documentary reviewer and a decision by the Registry officer. This is an explicit exception to the ordinary requirement for two independent reports. Confidentiality and conflict-of-interest rules continue to apply.

The review verifies the target record and version, the additions or corrections, source verifiability, dates and publication rights. A technical reviewer is consulted if the effect on the specification is uncertain. Changes to rules, mandatory fields, values, scope or conformance criteria require a new specification version and the ordinary technical review with two independent reports.

During the main review, additions remain available to reviewers and may inform their decision. They become public only when both the dossier and the addition are approved. After registration, supplements are reviewed independently. Their acceptance or rejection does not change the specification’s decision. An addition to a declined dossier does not reopen its review.

To correct an accepted supplement, submit a new addition identifying the one being corrected. Its review is recorded separately; earlier texts and decisions remain in the history.

Publication and Preservation

The original deposit, decision and published PDF remain preserved and accessible. Accepted additions appear in the public notice and at the end of a supplemented PDF. The specification’s version number remains unchanged. Each documentary edition is explicitly labelled and dated, and each addition displays its receipt and decision dates. Earlier editions remain accessible.

Bibliographic or editorial errors are handled as logged notice corrections or identified corrigenda, depending on whether they affect the PDF. Changes to the rules require a new specification version. Published files are not silently replaced.

Approved supplements form part of the public record and are preserved with the notice, PDF and version history for the duration of the Registry’s mission. Private administrative details, internal reports and tracking credentials remain in the private dossier under the applicable retention rules. Clearing working materials after 24 months preserves the minimal private access record and its link to the registered version, so later documentary additions remain possible.

For example, a supplement accepted in 2026 may document a use in a corpus published in 2023 of specification 1.0 registered in 2015. The record distinguishes the 2023 use from the 2026 addition, retains version 1.0 and preserves the original 2015 PDF.

Related policies (French): deposit conditions, Registry framework, review procedure, and publication and preservation.