45th plenary meeting — Berlin
The committee returns to Berlin, hosted by DIN — site of the 1997 13th plenary.
Committee history · since 1972
Five decades of standardising trade data
A curated record of the committee's milestones — from the most recent decisions back through the EDIFACT era and the ISO 8601 split, to its 1972 founding.
- 43
- distinct years
- 72
- curated milestones
- 45
- plenary meetings
- 8
- standards milestones
- 2020s
Plenary meetings Leadership Pan Wei becomes Chair
Pan Wei (SAC, China) is appointed Chair and convenor of the CAG.
Structure ANSI and SCC end P-membership
The United States (ANSI) and Canada (SCC) conclude their terms as P-members of ISO/TC 154.
Leadership Shi Yu concludes term as Chair
Shi Yu's term ends after four years leading the committee.
Plenary meetings 44th plenary meeting — Raleigh
Hosted by OAGi (an A-liaison) and ANSI in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Notable as one of the last plenaries with ANSI as a P-member.
Plenary meetings 43rd plenary meeting — Seongnam (Bundang)
Hosted by KATS with RRA and TTA as co-organizers in Bundang, Republic of Korea. 18 resolutions adopted.
Structure WG 2 — Statistics data exchange established
TC 154 establishes Working Group 2 to develop statistics-data-exchange standards. Glenn Tice (BSI) is appointed convenor.
Plenary meetings 42nd plenary meeting — Hong Kong
Hosted by ITCHKSAR and CalConnect in Hong Kong SAR, China.
Plenary meetings 41st plenary meeting — Geneva
Hosted in the Palais des Nations, Geneva — the committee's first return to ISO's home city in over a decade.
Leadership Shi Yu becomes Chair
Shi Yu (SAC, China) is appointed Chair and convenor of the CAG following Judy Zhu's tenure.
Plenary meetings 40th plenary meeting — Hybrid
The committee returns to a hybrid format.
Plenary meetings 39th plenary meeting — Fully virtual
The committee's first fully virtual plenary, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 26 resolutions adopted — record for the era.
- 2010s
Plenary meetings 38th plenary meeting — Luxembourg
Hosted by ILNAS at the University of Luxembourg.
Standards ISO 8601-1 and ISO 8601-2 published
The single-part ISO 8601:2004 is split into two complementary standards. ISO 8601-1 covers fundamental representations; ISO 8601-2 extends them with disambiguated intervals, recurring intervals, and sets.
Cooperation Business Plan N1001 published
The final 2018 Business Plan (document N1001) is approved by ballot following N993, codifying the committee's vision, three strategies, and three action points through the current term.
Plenary meetings 37th plenary meeting — Hangzhou
Hosted by SAC in Hangzhou, China. 35 resolutions adopted.
Plenary meetings 36th plenary meeting
25 resolutions adopted — one of the heaviest-resolution plenaries of the decade.
Leadership Hongru (Judy) Zhu becomes Chair
Hongru (Judy) Zhu (SAC, China) is appointed Chair and convenor of the CAG, becoming the first SAC-affiliated chair of the committee.
Structure WG 7 — Digital Business established
TC 154 creates Working Group 7, "Business" (later renamed "Digital Business"), and appoints Klaus-Dieter Naujok as its first convenor.
Plenary meetings 35th plenary meeting — Berlin
Hosted by DIN in Berlin — the committee's return to in-person plenaries after the virtual 34th, and the fourth Berlin plenary overall.
Plenary meetings 34th plenary meeting — Fully virtual
The committee's first fully virtual plenary, held via WebEx.
Plenary meetings 33rd plenary meeting — Incheon
Hosted by KATS in Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Structure WG 6 — Trusted eCommunications established
TC 154 establishes Working Group 6, "Trusted eCommunication," taking on the trusted-communication-platform projects. WG 6 covers legally-binding e-transactions and trusted e-communications across mobile, IoT, and cloud environments.
Structure WG 3 and WG 4 disbanded
With work items completed, WG 3 (CCTS) and WG 4 (e-documents) are disbanded at the 33rd plenary.
Leadership Secretariat transfers from NEN to SAC
The Standardization Administration of China (SAC) takes over the ISO/TC 154 secretariat, with Jianfang Zhang (SAC/CNIS) as Committee Manager. SAC has held the secretariat continuously since.
Plenary meetings 32nd plenary meeting — Berlin
Hosted by DIN in Berlin — the committee's third Berlin plenary after the 8th (1987) and 13th (1997).
Plenary meetings 31st plenary meeting — Concord, California
Hosted in the San Francisco Bay Area, strengthening ties with US industry.
Plenary meetings 30th plenary meeting — Geneva
Hosted at ISO Central Secretariat, Geneva.
Leadership Klaus-Dieter Naujok becomes Chair
Klaus-Dieter Naujok (DIN, Germany) — long-time convenor of JWG 1 and a principal author of the EDIFACT syntax revision — is appointed Chair.
Plenary meetings 29th plenary meeting — McLean
Hosted by LMI (Delta Pelgrim) in McLean, Virginia, back-to-back with the TDED Joint MA meeting. Called on shorter-than-usual notice (2 months prior).
Plenary meetings 28th plenary meeting — Geneva
Hosted at ISO Central Secretariat, Geneva.
Plenary meetings 27th plenary meeting — Bangkok (cancelled)
Originally planned for Bangkok, hosted by TISI; cancelled and replaced by a virtual conference call on the same date (minutes issued as document N576).
- 2000s
Liaisons Category A liaison with UN/CEFACT
The committee establishes a Category A liaison with UN/CEFACT, disbanding earlier direct liaisons with UN, LAS, AELE, and ICOGRADA in favour of the unified UN/CEFACT channel. Also establishes an A-liaison with IATA.
Plenary meetings 26th plenary meeting — Tokyo
First plenary in Japan, hosted by JISC.
Plenary meetings 25th plenary meeting — Brussels
Hosted by NBN in Brussels. The committee notes with regret the resignation of Mr. Vuilleumier as chair and secretary.
Leadership François Vuilleumier steps down as Chair
After ten years leading the committee, Vuilleumier resigns as both Chair and Committee Manager. The secretariat transitions from SNV (Switzerland) to NEN (Netherlands).
Leadership Robert Schubenel becomes Chair
Robert Schubenel (GS1) begins a brief tenure as Chair during the NEN (Netherlands) secretariat years.
Plenary meetings 24th plenary meeting — Vancouver
Hosted by the Treasury Board of Canada (Ed Buchinski) at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver, within the framework of the 8th UN/CEFACT Forum. Adobe, SAP, and eBusiness Apps co-sponsored.
Plenary meetings 23rd plenary meeting — Brussels
Hosted by CEN/ISSS (Alain Dechamps) in Brussels, the Friday before the UN/CEFACT Forum in Lyon.
Standards ISO 7372 — Trade data elements directory
The Trade Data Elements Directory (UNTDED) reaches its 2005 edition, maintained jointly with UNECE through the ISO 7372 Maintenance Agency.
Plenary meetings 22nd plenary meeting — McLean
Hosted by LMI (Mark Crawford) in McLean, Virginia, back-to-back with the ISO 7372 Maintenance Agency meeting and the UN/CEFACT Forum in the Washington D.C. metro area.
Plenary meetings 21st plenary meeting — Gyeonggi-do
First plenary held in the Republic of Korea, hosted by KATS (Mr. Y.-G. Jung) in the Seoul region. Final resolutions and action items circulated as document N453.
Plenary meetings 20th plenary meeting — San Diego
Hosted by ANSI in San Diego, California.
Standards ISO 11180 withdrawn
After systematic review, the 1993 Postal addressing standard is withdrawn.
Plenary meetings 19th plenary meeting — Geneva
At this meeting TC 154 resolves to migrate liaisons with the EWG and CDWG to the newly-formed UN/CEFACT Forum.
Standards ISO 9735 (all parts) — UN/EDIFACT syntax
The complete ISO 9735 series published in 2002 codifies the UN/EDIFACT application-level syntax rules in nine parts, the culmination of the post-1997 editing committee work.
Plenary meetings 18th plenary meeting — Brussels
Hosted by NBN at the heart of the EU regulatory district.
Plenary meetings 17th plenary meeting — Prague
The committee resolves that all documents will be distributed electronically only — closing the paper era and establishing the all-digital working method still in use today.
Cooperation Chair Advisory Board created
JISC (JP), BSI (GB), DIN (DE) and AFNOR (FR) form a Chair Advisory Board to progress inter-sessional work. The board has no decision-making authority and acts as a steering body for the Chair.
- 1990s
Plenary meetings 16th plenary meeting — Geneva
Hosted at the ISO Central Secretariat, Geneva. The committee closes the decade with back-to-back Geneva plenaries.
Plenary meetings 15th plenary meeting — Paris
Hosted by AFNOR in Paris, chaired by Ingeborg Burger-Balogh. The committee resolves to create a Working Group for the BSR (Basic Semantic Repository).
Plenary meetings 14th plenary meeting — Geneva
Hosted at the ISO Central Secretariat, Geneva.
Leadership François Vuilleumier becomes Chair and Committee Manager
François Vuilleumier (SNV, Switzerland) begins a decade-long tenure as both Chair and Committee Manager, anchoring the committee's late-1990s restructuring around UN/EDIFACT and ISO 8601.
Standards ISO 8601 — Date and time representations
The foundational standard unifying calendar dates, ordinal dates, times, durations, and time intervals into a single interchange format. TC 154 would later split it into the multi-part ISO 8601-1 / ISO 8601-2 structure.
Plenary meetings 13th plenary meeting — Berlin
Hosted by DIN in Berlin. The committee resolves to establish an editing committee for the revision of ISO 9735 (EDIFACT syntax), with Don Trafford as chair and Bernd Boesler as secretary.
Structure ISO/TC 154/SC 2 disbanded
Subcommittee SC 2 is disbanded, consolidating the committee's work programme directly under the TC.
Plenary meetings 12th plenary meeting — Paris
Hosted by AFNOR in Paris — the second plenary of 1996, following the March Geneva meeting.
Plenary meetings 11th plenary meeting — Geneva
Hosted at the ISO Central Secretariat, Geneva.
Plenary meetings 10th plenary meeting — Cologne
Hosted by DIN in Cologne. The committee expresses its appreciation to DIN, the chairman, and the secretary for their work.
- 1980s
Plenary meetings 9th plenary meeting — London
Hosted by BSI in London — the city of the 2nd plenary in 1974.
Plenary meetings 8th plenary meeting — Berlin
Hosted by DIN in Berlin — the committee's first Berlin plenary.
Standards ISO 8440 — Location of codes in trade documents
Establishes where UN/EDIFACT and other trade codes are placed in paper and electronic trade documents. A 1999 corrigendum made the standard Y2K-compatible.
Plenary meetings 7th plenary meeting — Gaithersburg
First plenary held in the United States, hosted by ANSI at NIST in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Plenary meetings 6th plenary meeting — Paris
Hosted by AFNOR in Paris.
Plenary meetings 5th plenary meeting — Stockholm
The committee returns to Stockholm, hosted by SIS — the city of its founding meeting in 1973.
- 1970s
Plenary meetings 4th plenary meeting — Geneva
Hosted at ISO Central Secretariat, Geneva.
Plenary meetings 3rd plenary meeting — Ottawa
First plenary outside Europe, hosted by SCC (Standards Council of Canada).
Standards ISO 3307 — Time of day
Representation of the time of day for information interchange, complementing ISO 2711 and ISO 2014 in the foundational date-and-time suite.
Plenary meetings 2nd plenary meeting — London
Hosted by BSI in London.
Plenary meetings 1st plenary meeting — Stockholm
The committee meets for the first time in Stockholm, hosted by SIS.
Standards ISO 2711 — Ordinal dates
One of the committee's first published standards: a fixed representation of ordinal dates (day-of-year) for information interchange.
Founding ISO/TC 154 established
ISO Council establishes ISO/TC 154, "Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration," to carry forward the EDI and trade-data work previously run under ISO/TC 154's predecessor remit. The SNV (Switzerland) secretariat hosts the first meetings.