ISO/IEC 15897:2011

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 15897
Second edition
2011-10-01


Information technology — User
interfaces — Procedures for the
registration of cultural elements
Technologies de l'information — Interfaces utilisateur — Procédures
pour l'enregistrement des éléments culturels





Reference number
ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2011

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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)

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©  ISO/IEC 2011
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
Contents Page
Foreword . v
Introduction . vi
1  Scope . 1
2  Normative references . 1
3  Terms and definitions . 2
4  International Register . 3
4.1  Content . 3
4.2  Format. 3
4.3  Indices to the registrations . 3
4.4  Identification of an approved registration . 4
4.5  No modification nor deletion of registrations . 4
5  ISO/IEC supervisory body . 4
6  Registration Authority . 4
6.1  Appointment . 4
6.2  Responsibilities . 5
6.3  Identity . 5
7  Sponsoring Authority . 6
7.1  Identity . 6
7.2  Responsibilities . 6
8  Source of Information . 7
8.1  Identity . 7
8.2  Responsibilities . 7
9  The Registration Authority's Joint Advisory Committee . 7
9.1  Membership . 7
9.2  Appointment . 7
9.3  Responsibilities . 7
10  Types and relationships of Cultural Specifications . 8
10.1  Types of Cultural Specifications . 8
10.2  Relations between registration types . 8
11  Format of a Narrative Cultural Specification . 9
12  Contents of a Narrative Cultural Specification (informative) . 11
12.1  Mandatory clauses . 11
12.2  Optional clauses . 12
13  Format of a Repertoiremap . 15
14  Rules for Cultural Specifications . 15
15  Specification of the token identifier . 17
16  Initial registration procedures . 18
17  Processing of an approved application . 19
18  Appeal procedures . 20
18.1  Appeals against rejection . 20
18.2  Appeals against registration . 20
18.3  Invalid reasons for an appeal . 20
18.4  Procedure for filing an appeal . 20
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
18.5  Resolution of an appeal .20
19  Revisions .21
20  Additions of token identifiers to an existing registration .21
21  Withdrawal .21
21.1  Withdrawal of an application for registration .21
21.2  Withdrawal of an entire existing registration .21
21.3  Procedures for parts .22
Annex A (normative) Application form for a Cultural Specification .23
Annex B (informative) Sample application for a Cultural Specification .24
Annex C (normative) External references to Cultural Specifications .25
Annex D (informative) Example of a Narrative Cultural Specification .26
Annex E (normative) "reorder-after" construct in LC_COLLATE .35
Annex F (informative) Information on "reorder-after" construct in LC-COLLATE .37
Annex G (informative) Sample POSIX Locale specification for Danish .39
Annex H (informative) Differences from ISO/IEC 15897:1999 and CEN ENV 12005:1996 .42
Bibliography .44

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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC 15897 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 35, User interfaces.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/IEC 15897:1999), which has been technically
revised. ISO/IEC 15897:1999 was the result of a “fast-track” adoption of ENV 12005:1996.
This second edition adds support for registering specifications meant for machine processing, such as
ISO/IEC TR 14652 specifications, SGML and XML. It enlarges the group of organizations that may be
Sponsoring Authorities, and an effort has been made to align it with the registration procedures of
ISO/IEC 2375. The changes to the first edition are outlined in Annex H.
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
Introduction
Cultural differences throughout the world make it necessary to adapt IT equipment to each local culture.
Standard methods being developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 35 make such adaptation easier. Registering the
local conventions in a globally available registry makes it still easier. CEN/TC 304 was the first committee to
start work on such a registry and the European prestandard ENV 12005:1996 was the result.
ISO/IEC 15897:1999 was the result of the “fast-track” adoption of DS/ENV 12005, a Danish Standards
Association standard publication equivalent to ENV 12005.
This International Standard registers amongst other items Narrative Cultural Specifications and
Repertoiremaps, POSIX Locales and POSIX Charmaps as defined in ISO/IEC/IEEE 9945, and other machine-
parsable Cultural Specifications such as ISO/IEC TR 14652 FDCC-sets, Charmaps and Repertoiremaps, and
Cultural Specifications in SGML or XML.
The registration will be free-of-charge and the registered cultural elements will also be freely available on the
Internet (see 6.3). This will make information on cultural conventions freely and easily available to producers
in the IT market. Some of these specifications may even be applied without any change by downloading the
formatted specifications and processing them, for example by POSIX-compliant software.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)

Information technology — User interfaces — Procedures for the
registration of cultural elements
1 Scope
This International Standard specifies the information that can appear in a Cultural Specification and defines
the procedures for registering such specifications. The Cultural Specifications can include freeform Narrative
Cultural Specifications and Repertoiremaps as described in this International Standard, POSIX Locales and
Charmaps conforming to ISO/IEC/IEEE 9945, and other machine-parsable specifications such as FDCC-sets,
Repertoiremaps and Charmaps following the recommendations of ISO/IEC TR 14652, and Cultural
Specifications formatted using SGML or XML. The registry is in printed and electronic form.
Each cultural convention registration has unique identifiers in a particular standard format defined in this
International Standard. A numeric identifier and a token identifier are assigned to each registered cultural
convention specification, POSIX Locale, POSIX Charmap and Repertoiremap, FDCC-set and
ISO/IEC TR 14652 Charmap, and other machine-processable descriptions of cultural conventions. These
identifiers are for unique identification of the Cultural Specification, and are intended to be used with POSIX
Locale handling mechanisms and possibly other Locale and Charmap usage, such as in programming
languages, database handling and communication protocols and for identification and specification by human
operators.
The field of application of this International Standard is to provide reference for implementers, procurers,
users, and standardization organizations to determine cultural requirements in a given cultural environment.
Registered items using certain POSIX formal specification methods can also be used by POSIX-conformant
operating systems and other software capable of using such specifications.
NOTE The title of this International Standard contains the term “cultural elements”. The preferred term in this
International Standard is “cultural conventions”, but the term “cultural elements” is retained in the title for consistency with
earlier versions of this International Standard.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 639-1, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 1: Alpha-2 code
ISO 639-2, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code
ISO/IEC 646, Information technology — ISO 7-bit coded character set for information interchange
ISO 3166 (all parts), Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions
ISO 4217, Codes for the representation of currencies and funds
ISO 8601, Data elements and interchange formats — Information interchange — Representation of dates and
times
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
ISO/IEC 8824 (all parts), Information technology — Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1)
ISO/IEC 8825 (all parts), Information technology — ASN.1 encoding rules
®
ISO/IEC/IEEE 9945, Information technology — Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX ) Base
Specifications, Issue 7
ISO/IEC 10646, Information technology — Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (UCS)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1
Locale
definition of the subset of a user's environment that depends on language and cultural conventions
NOTE See Clause 7 of ISO/IEC 9945-1:2003 for a specification of the Locale file format.
3.2
FDCC-set
set of Formal Definitions of Cultural Conventions
definition of the subset of a user's information technology environment that depends on language, territory, or
other cultural customs
NOTE See Clause 4 of ISO/IEC TR 14652:2004 for a specification of the FDCC-set format.
3.3
Charmap
text file describing a coded character set
NOTE See 6.4 of ISO/IEC 9945-1:2003 for a description of the POSIX Charmap file format.
3.4
text file
human-readable file that contains characters organized into one or more lines
3.5
cultural convention
cultural element
data item for computer use that may vary depending on language, territory, or other cultural circumstances
3.6
Cultural Specification
Narrative Cultural Specification, POSIX Locale, FDCC-set, POSIX Charmap, Repertoiremap, or other
machine-processable description of cultural conventions such as ISO/IEC TR 14652 FDCC-sets, Charmaps or
Repertoiremaps, or Cultural Specifications in SGML or XML
3.7
Narrative Cultural Specification
narrative description of culturally dependent information pertaining to information technology
NOTE Such information may be useful when designing computer systems and software. See Clauses 10, 11 and 12.
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
3.8
Repertoiremap
definition of a mapping between character names and characters for the repertoire of characters used in a
Locale
NOTE This is further described in Clause 13.
3.9
profile
of a standard set of specifications of values of parameters in the standard, selections of optional items of the
standard, or the recommendations concerning implementation-related matters of the standard
3.10
token identifier
string uniquely identifying the Cultural Specification, constructed from various key attributes of the
specification
NOTE This is further described in Clause 15.
4 International Register
4.1 Content
The International Register of Cultural Specifications (ISO-IR-15897) shall consist of two parts: a set of
registrations of Cultural Specifications, and indices to the registrations.
4.2 Format
The International Register (IR) shall be available in electronic format through the Internet, and optionally on
other electronic media. It may also be made available on paper.
Directions for access to the International Register on the Internet are given in 6.3.
4.3 Indices to the registrations
The International Register shall contain indices to the registrations by:
 the registration number;
 the token identifiers;
 the type of Cultural Specification(s) in a registration;
 the culture to which a registration applies;
 the sponsoring authority of a registration;
 other indices as deemed appropriate by the Registration Authority, or as requested by the subcommittee
with administrative responsibility for this International Standard (see Clause 5, ISO/IEC Supervisory
Body).
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
4.4 Identification of an approved registration
Each approved registration must have a unique registration number and one or more unique token identifiers.
4.4.1 Structure of the identifiers
The structure of a registration number is one or more digits, without leading zeroes. The structure of a token
identifier is given in Clause 15.
4.4.2 Reference to an approved registration
A reference to an approved registration should be made by using one of its unique token identifiers, a part of
its token identifier with for example part or all of the version number excluded as described in Clause 15, or
the prefix ISO-IR-15897 followed by a HYPHEN and the registration number, or one of the mechanisms listed
in Annex C. Examples of token identifiers are listed in Clause 14. An example of using the ISO-IR-15897
prefix with the registration number 37 is ISO-IR-15897-37.
4.5 No modification nor deletion of registrations
The contents of an individual registration shall never be changed or deleted once the application for
registration has been approved (except for name additions). Even the correction of editorial errors will make a
new registration necessary. This is contrasted with a standard which must be reviewed and/or revised
periodically. If an existing entry in the registry is based on a standard that subsequently is revised, the existing
registry entry is not changed. If a Sponsoring Authority desires recognition of such a revision, a new
registration shall be made by following the normal procedures. Withdrawal of part of an existing registration is
prohibited by 21.3.1.
A registration has a version number as part of its token identifier, defined in Clause 15. By registering a
Cultural Specification with a higher version number, a specification may be updated, and applications referring
to the registration without the precise version will get the latest update, while applications referring the precise
version, or the registration number, will get the older specification. The rules for the versioning mechanism are
specified in Clause 15.
5 ISO/IEC supervisory body
The ISO/IEC JTC1 subcommittee concerned with internationalization has administrative responsibility for this
International Standard and the content of the register.
NOTE At the time of publication, subcommittee ISO/IEC JTC1/SC35, User interfaces, has this responsibility.
6 Registration Authority
6.1 Appointment
6.1.1 The Registration Authority (RA) shall be an organization nominated by the ISO/IEC supervisory body
for this International Standard and appointed by the ISO and IEC councils to act as the Registration Authority
for this International Standard.
6.1.2 The Registration Authority shall be an organization actively participating in the work of the ISO/IEC
supervisory body for this International Standard.
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
6.2 Responsibilities
6.2.1 The Registration Authority shall maintain the International Register of Cultural Specifications and
assign their numeric and token identifiers.
6.2.2 The Registration Authority shall manage the execution of the registration procedure, including
processing of:
 applications for registration (as specified in Clauses 16 and 17);
 appeals (as specified in Clause 18);
 corrections and revisions to existing registrations (as specified in Clauses 19 and 20);
 withdrawal of existing registrations (as specified in Clause 21).
The exact responsibilities of the Registration Authority are described in detail in Clauses 16 and 17.
6.2.3 The contents of this register shall be available to ISO/IEC JTC 1 members and to the general public,
both in printed and electronic form. In particular, the contents of the register shall be made available over the
Internet.
6.2.4 One or more technical representatives of the Registration Authority may attend the meetings of the
subcommittee with administrative responsibility for this International Standard and of appropriate working
group(s) reporting to this subcommittee if required.
6.3 Identity
The identity of the designated Registration Authority and where the Registration Authority has published the
ISO/IEC 15897 Register on the Internet is available at:
http://www.iso.org/mara (In English)
http://www.iso.org/mara-fr (In French)
NOTE The initial Registration Authority was designated to be:
The Danish UNIX-systems User Group (DKUUG)
Fruebjergvej 3
DK-2100 København Ø
Danmark
email: culturalregister@dkuug.dk
The data of the cultural register was initially available at:
http://www.dkuug.dk/cultreg/
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
7 Sponsoring Authority
7.1 Identity
A Sponsoring Authority is an organization that may submit applications for registration of Cultural
Specifications to the Registration Authority. Applications for registration of Cultural Specifications may be
made by the following bodies:
a) any Member Body of ISO/IEC JTC1, for applications limited to the territory or territories for which they
have authority;
b) any National Member, Associate, or Affiliate of CEN, for applications limited to the territory or territories
for which they have authority;
c) ISO/IEC JTC 1 and its Subcommittees and Working Groups, for any applications;
d) any other organisation, for any applications.
7.2 Responsibilities
The responsibilities of a Sponsoring Authority shall be:
a) to receive applications concerning Cultural Specifications from a Source of Information (see Clause 8)
operating in the area over which the Sponsoring Authority has jurisdiction;
b) to prepare applications for the registration of the Cultural Specifications according to the procedures and
specifications in Clause 15;
c) to assure that free distribution of the Cultural Specification is permitted without charge;
d) if any material in an application is under copyright, to obtain copyright clearance for the copyrighted
material from the copyright holder, including permission to redistribute the copyrighted material as part of
the Cultural Specification without restriction and without charge by the copyright holder;
e) Sponsoring Authorities may submit any applications for registration of the types Charmaps,
Repertoiremaps, and Machine-parsable character set descriptions to support their other Cultural
Specifications;
f) to effect such rationalization or coordination of all applications under consideration as the Sponsoring
Authority may desire;
g) to submit applications for the registration of Cultural Specifications to the Registration Authority;
h) to announce the result of the registration procedure within its respective country, region, or organizations.
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
8 Source of Information
8.1 Identity
The Source of Information is the organization or individual responsible for the Cultural Specification.
8.2 Responsibilities
The responsibilities of a Source of Information shall be:
a) to prepare a Cultural Specification;
b) if any material in a Cultural Specification is under copyright, to assure that free distribution of the Cultural
Specification is permitted;
c) to submit the Cultural Specification to an appropriate Sponsoring Authority.
9 The Registration Authority's Joint Advisory Committee
9.1 Membership
The Joint Advisory Committee (RA-JAC) shall consist of a representative of the Registration Authority and four
other members who shall be representatives from the national member bodies on the subcommittee
concerned with the maintenance of this International Standard or representatives from organizations with a
liaison membership to this subcommittee.
The chair of the RA-JAC shall be the representative of the Registration Authority.
9.2 Appointment
The subcommittee responsible for maintaining this International Standard shall appoint the members of the
RA-JAC, except for the RA representative, which is appointed by the RA.
The subcommittee responsible for maintaining this International Standard shall appoint or confirm the
members of the RA-JAC at its plenary meetings, except for the representative of the RA.
9.3 Responsibilities
The responsibilities of the RA-JAC shall be as follows:
a) to determine whether an application for registration meets the technical requirements of Clause 14;
b) to provide expert technical advice on comments if requested by the Registration Authority;
c) to consider and vote on appeals received by the Registration Authority;
d) to act as a mediator between the Registration Authority and the appealing party, or parties.
e) In addition, the RA-JAC may add comments to a registration.
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ISO/IEC 15897:2011(E)
10 Types and relationships of Cultural Specifications
10.1 Types of Cultural Specifications
A number of types of Cultural Specifications can be registered according to this International Standard:
1) Narrative Cultural Specification
2) POSIX Locale
3) POSIX Charmap
4) Repertoiremap
5) Machi
...