ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026
(Main)Information technology — Business operational view — Part 8: Identification of privacy protection requirements as external constraints on business transactions
Information technology — Business operational view — Part 8: Identification of privacy protection requirements as external constraints on business transactions
This document: provides method(s) for identifying, in Open-edi modelling technologies and development of scenarios, the extra requirements in Business Operational View (BOV) specifications for identifying the additional external constraints to be applied to recorded information in business transactions relating to personal information of an individual, as required by legal and regulatory requirements of applicable jurisdictional domains having governance over the personal information exchanged among parties to a business transaction; integrates existing normative elements in support of privacy protection requirements as are already identified in ISO/IEC 14662 and ISO/IEC 15944-1, ISO/IEC 15944-2, ISO/IEC 15944-4 and ISO/IEC 15944-5, which apply to information concerning identifiable living individuals as buyers in a business transaction or whose personal information is used in the business transaction; provides overarching operational "best practice" statements for associated (and not necessarily automated) processes, procedures, practices and governance requirements that need to act in support of implementing and enforcing mechanisms needed to support privacy/data protection requirements necessary for the implementation in Open-edi transaction environments; identifies and provides a sample scenario and implementation (use case) for one or more use cases of privacy/data protection in business transactions; provides guidelines on the need for procedural mechanisms in the event that mandatory disclosure rules of transactional information that needs to be implemented. This document does not specify the technical mechanisms needed to implement the Functional Services View. Detailed exclusions to the scope of this document are provided in Annex H.
Technologies de l'information — Vue opérationnelle d'affaires — Partie 8: Identification des exigences de protection de la vie privée en tant que contraintes externes sur les transactions d'affaires
General Information
- Status
- Published
- Publication Date
- 10-Feb-2026
- Technical Committee
- ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 - Data management and interchange
- Drafting Committee
- ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 - Data management and interchange
- Current Stage
- 6060 - International Standard published
- Start Date
- 11-Feb-2026
- Due Date
- 04-Apr-2026
- Completion Date
- 11-Feb-2026
Relations
- Effective Date
- 07-Jul-2022
Overview
ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 is an international standard developed by ISO and IEC that addresses the identification of privacy protection requirements as external constraints on business transactions. This standard is part of the larger ISO/IEC 15944 series, which provides guidance on the Business Operational View (BOV) for modeling and specifying business transactions in an Open-edi environment. ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 offers methods for recognizing additional privacy protection obligations that arise from legal and regulatory requirements within applicable jurisdictional domains when personal information is exchanged during business transactions.
The document integrates privacy protection requirements already addressed in related standards, such as ISO/IEC 14662, ISO/IEC 15944-1, and others, and introduces best practice statements for operational procedures supporting privacy and data protection enforcement. It also includes templates and guidelines for modeling these external constraints and provides scenario-based use cases relevant to compliance.
Key Topics
Privacy Protection as External Constraint: Defines how privacy requirements, dictated by laws and regulations, act as constraints in the context of business transactions, especially those involving the personal data of individuals.
Jurisdictional Domains: Emphasizes the role of jurisdictions as sources of external constraints, affecting the way privacy regulations are applied within business transaction scenarios.
Business Operational View (BOV): Focuses on the rule-based approach for modeling commercial, legal, public policy, and cultural requirements impacting business transactions.
Integration with Open-edi Standards: Ensures compatibility and alignment with previously established standards in the Open-edi reference model for electronic business.
Fundamental Privacy Principles:
- Preventing harm
- Accountability
- Purpose identification
- Informed consent
- Limiting data collection, use, retention, and disclosure
- Ensuring accuracy, safeguards, openness, individual access, and avenues to challenge compliance
Templates and Methodologies: Provides structured templates for identifying and specifying privacy protection requirements in business scenarios, supporting standardized documentation across organizations.
Data Lifecycle and Identity Management: Addresses aspects of personal data collection, retention, anonymization, pseudonymization, and the assignment/management of personal identifiers.
Applications
ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 is highly relevant for organizations engaged in electronic business transactions involving the exchange of personal information, especially in cross-border or multi-jurisdictional environments. Practical applications include:
- Scenario Modeling: Organizations can model business transaction scenarios with clear identification of applicable privacy protection constraints, ensuring compliance with diverse regulatory frameworks.
- Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Assists businesses in identifying and operationalizing requirements set forth by laws such as data protection acts, consumer protection policies, and human rights provisions relating to privacy.
- Template-Driven Documentation: Facilitates the consistent documentation of privacy protection measures through provided templates, aiding in auditability and accountability.
- Interoperability and Reuse: Supports the reuse of scenario components, making it easier for organizations to adapt and implement privacy requirements as regulations evolve.
- Best Practice Implementation: Offers overarching operational best practices to inform not just technology solutions, but also organizational processes, governance, and record management.
Related Standards
ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 builds upon and complements several foundational standards, including:
- ISO/IEC 14662: Provides the Open-edi Reference Model, outlining the conceptual architecture for electronic business transactions.
- ISO/IEC 15944-1: Establishes the Business Operational View (BOV) for electronic business, including rule-based modeling of transactions.
- ISO/IEC 15944-2, -4, -5: Clarify additional requirements and best practices for scenario development, accounting, and processing constraints, respectively.
- ISO/IEC 15944-7: Offers consolidated terminology and human interface equivalency for multilingual and cultural adaptation.
- ISO/IEC 6523: Standard for organization identification within electronic business contexts.
ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 is an essential resource for organizations needing to identify, manage, and enforce privacy protection requirements as part of business operational modeling, ensuring compliance and fostering trust in electronic transactions.
Buy Documents
ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 - Information technology — Business operational view — Part 8: Identification of privacy protection requirements as external constraints on business transactions/11/2026
Get Certified
Connect with accredited certification bodies for this standard

BSI Group
BSI (British Standards Institution) is the business standards company that helps organizations make excellence a habit.

NYCE
Mexican standards and certification body.
Sponsored listings
Frequently Asked Questions
ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Its full title is "Information technology — Business operational view — Part 8: Identification of privacy protection requirements as external constraints on business transactions". This standard covers: This document: provides method(s) for identifying, in Open-edi modelling technologies and development of scenarios, the extra requirements in Business Operational View (BOV) specifications for identifying the additional external constraints to be applied to recorded information in business transactions relating to personal information of an individual, as required by legal and regulatory requirements of applicable jurisdictional domains having governance over the personal information exchanged among parties to a business transaction; integrates existing normative elements in support of privacy protection requirements as are already identified in ISO/IEC 14662 and ISO/IEC 15944-1, ISO/IEC 15944-2, ISO/IEC 15944-4 and ISO/IEC 15944-5, which apply to information concerning identifiable living individuals as buyers in a business transaction or whose personal information is used in the business transaction; provides overarching operational "best practice" statements for associated (and not necessarily automated) processes, procedures, practices and governance requirements that need to act in support of implementing and enforcing mechanisms needed to support privacy/data protection requirements necessary for the implementation in Open-edi transaction environments; identifies and provides a sample scenario and implementation (use case) for one or more use cases of privacy/data protection in business transactions; provides guidelines on the need for procedural mechanisms in the event that mandatory disclosure rules of transactional information that needs to be implemented. This document does not specify the technical mechanisms needed to implement the Functional Services View. Detailed exclusions to the scope of this document are provided in Annex H.
This document: provides method(s) for identifying, in Open-edi modelling technologies and development of scenarios, the extra requirements in Business Operational View (BOV) specifications for identifying the additional external constraints to be applied to recorded information in business transactions relating to personal information of an individual, as required by legal and regulatory requirements of applicable jurisdictional domains having governance over the personal information exchanged among parties to a business transaction; integrates existing normative elements in support of privacy protection requirements as are already identified in ISO/IEC 14662 and ISO/IEC 15944-1, ISO/IEC 15944-2, ISO/IEC 15944-4 and ISO/IEC 15944-5, which apply to information concerning identifiable living individuals as buyers in a business transaction or whose personal information is used in the business transaction; provides overarching operational "best practice" statements for associated (and not necessarily automated) processes, procedures, practices and governance requirements that need to act in support of implementing and enforcing mechanisms needed to support privacy/data protection requirements necessary for the implementation in Open-edi transaction environments; identifies and provides a sample scenario and implementation (use case) for one or more use cases of privacy/data protection in business transactions; provides guidelines on the need for procedural mechanisms in the event that mandatory disclosure rules of transactional information that needs to be implemented. This document does not specify the technical mechanisms needed to implement the Functional Services View. Detailed exclusions to the scope of this document are provided in Annex H.
ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 is classified under the following ICS (International Classification for Standards) categories: 35.240.63 - IT applications in trade. The ICS classification helps identify the subject area and facilitates finding related standards.
ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 has the following relationships with other standards: It is inter standard links to ISO/IEC 15944-8:2012. Understanding these relationships helps ensure you are using the most current and applicable version of the standard.
ISO/IEC 15944-8:2026 is available in PDF format for immediate download after purchase. The document can be added to your cart and obtained through the secure checkout process. Digital delivery ensures instant access to the complete standard document.
Standards Content (Sample)
International
Standard
ISO/IEC 15944-8
Second edition
Information technology — Business
2026-02
operational view —
Part 8:
Identification of privacy
protection requirements as
external constraints on business
transactions
Technologies de l'information — Vue opérationnelle d'affaires —
Partie 8: Identification des exigences de protection de la vie
privée en tant que contraintes externes sur les transactions
d'affaires
Reference number
© ISO/IEC 2026
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
ii
Contents Page
Foreword .v
Introduction .vi
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 2
4 Abbreviated terms .32
5 Fundamental principles and assumptions governing privacy protection requirements
in business transactions involving individuals (external constraints perspective) .34
5.1 General . 34
5.2 Exceptions to the application of the privacy protection principles . 36
5.3 Fundamental privacy protection principles . 36
5.3.1 General . 36
5.3.2 Privacy protection principle 1: Preventing harm . 36
5.3.3 Privacy protection principle 2: Accountability .37
5.3.4 Privacy protection principle 3: Identifying purposes . 40
5.3.5 Privacy protection principle 4: Informed Consent . 40
5.3.6 Privacy protection principle 5: Limiting collection .42
5.3.7 Privacy protection principle 6: Limiting use, disclosure and retention .43
5.3.8 Privacy Protection Principle 7: Accuracy . 46
5.3.9 Privacy Protection Principle 8: Safeguards . 46
5.3.10 Privacy Protection Principle 9: Openness .47
5.3.11 Principle Protection Principle 10: Individual Access . 48
5.3.12 Privacy Protection Principle 11: Challenging compliance . 50
5.4 Requirement for tagging (or labelling) data elements in support of privacy protection
requirements . . .51
6 Collaboration space and privacy protection .52
6.1 General .52
6.2 Basic Open-edi collaboration space: Buyer and seller .52
6.3 Collaboration space: The role of buyer (as individual), seller and regulator . 54
7 Public policy requirements of jurisdictional domains .55
7.1 General . 55
7.2 Jurisdictional domains and public policy requirements . 55
7.2.1 General . 55
7.2.2 Privacy protection . 56
7.2.3 Person and external constraints: Consumer protection . 58
7.2.4 Individual accessibility .59
7.2.5 Human rights . 60
7.2.6 Privacy as a right of an “individual” and not the right of an organization or
public administration . 60
8 Principles and rules governing the establishment, management and use of identities of
an individual . 61
8.1 General .61
8.2 Rules governing the establishment of personae, identifiers and signatures of an
individual.62
8.3 Rules governing the assignment of unique identifiers to an individual by Registration
Authorities (RAs) .67
8.4 Rules governing individual identity, authentication, recognition, and use . 68
8.5 Legally recognized individual identifies (LRIIs) . 72
9 Person component — Individual sub-type .73
9.1 General . 73
9.2 Role qualification of a Person as an individual . 73
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
iii
9.3 Persona and legally recognized names (LRNs) of an individual .74
9.4 Truncation of legally recognized names of individuals . 75
9.5 Rules governing anonymization of individuals in a business transaction . 75
9.6 Rules governing pseudonymization of personal information in a business transaction .76
10 Process component .77
10.1 General . 77
10.2 Planning . 77
10.3 Identification . 78
10.4 Negotiation . . 78
10.5 Actualization . 78
10.6 Post-actualization . 78
11 Data component .79
11.1 General . 79
11.2 Rules governing the role of Business Transaction Identifier (BTI) in support of privacy
protection requirements . 79
11.3 Rules governing state of change management of business transactions in support of
privacy protection requirements . 80
11.4 Rules governing records retention of personal information in a business transaction . 80
11.5 Rules governing time/date referencing of personal information in a business
transaction . 81
12 Template for identifying privacy protection requirements on business transactions .82
12.1 Introduction and basic principles . 82
12.2 Template structure and contents . 82
12.3 Template for specifying the scope of an Open-edi scenario . 83
12.4 Consolidated template of attributes of Open-edi scenarios, roles and information
bundles .91
13 Conformance statement .94
13.1 General . 94
13.2 Conformance to the ISO/IEC 14662 Open-edi Reference Model and the multipart ISO/
IEC 15944 eBusiness standard. 95
13.3 Conformance to ISO/IEC 15944-8 . 95
Annex A (normative) Consolidated controlled vocabulary definitions and associated terms,
as human interface equivalents (HIEs), with cultural adaptability: English and French
language equivalency in an IT standardization context .96
Annex B (normative) Consolidated set of rules in existing parts of ISO/IEC 15944 of particular
relevance to privacy protection requirements as external constraints on business
transactions .99
Annex C (normative) Business Transaction Model (BTM): Classes of constraints .111
Annex D (normative) Integrated set of information life cycle management (ILCM) principles in
support of information law compliance .115
Annex E (normative) Key existing concepts and definitions applicable to the establishment,
management, and use of identities of a single individual .118
Annex F (normative) Coded domains for specifying state change and record retention
management in support of privacy protection requirements .120
Annex G (informative) Abstract of ISO/IEC 15944-8 . 128
Annex H (Informative) Exclusions to the scope of ISO/IEC 15944-8 .129
Annex I (Informative) Aspects not currently addressed in this document .130
Bibliography .132
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
iv
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.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described
in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types
of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/
IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives or www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs).
ISO and IEC draw attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the
use of (a) patent(s). ISO and IEC take no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any
claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO and IEC had not
received notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers
are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent
database available at www.iso.org/patents and https://patents.iec.ch. ISO and IEC shall not be held
responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions
related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
In the IEC, see www.iec.ch/understanding-standards.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC1, Information technology, Subcommittee
SC 32, Data management and interchange.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/IEC 15944-8:2012), which has been technically
revised.
The main changes are as follows:
— Clause 1 (Scope) has been amended to move the detailed description of "Exclusions" and "Aspects
currently not addressed" to two separate informative annexes;
— definitions in Clause 3 have been updated to be aligned with other referenced source definitions;
— clauses and annexes have been aligned to changes in ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2;
— minor edits of Clause 5, Clause 9, Clause 12, all annexes and the bibliography.
A list of all parts in the ISO/IEC 15944 series can be found on the ISO and IEC websites.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards
body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html and
www.iec.ch/national-committees.
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
v
Introduction
0.1 Purpose and overview
0.1.1 General
Modelling business transactions using scenarios and scenario components is done by specifying the
applicable constraints on the data content using explicitly stated rules. The Open-edi Reference Model
identified two basic classes of constraints, "internal constraints" and "external constraints". External
constraints apply to most business transactions. (See Clause 0.4 and Annex C.)
Jurisdictional domains are the primary source of external constraints on business transactions. Privacy
protection requirements in turn are a common requirement of most jurisdictional domains, although they
may also result from explicit scenario demands from, or on, the parties involved in a business transaction.
This document is a BOV-related standard which addresses basic (or primitive) requirements of a privacy
protection environment, as legal requirements represented through jurisdictional domains, on business
transactions, and also integrates the requirements of the information technology and telecommunications
environments.
This document contains a methodology and tool for specifying common classes of external constraints
through the construct of "jurisdictional domains". It meets the requirements set in ISO/IEC 15944-1 and
ISO/IEC 15944-2 through the use of explicitly stated rules, templates, and Formal Description Techniques
(FDTs).
In addition to the existing strategic directions of "portability" and "interoperability", the added strategic
direction of ISO/IEC JTC 1 of "cultural adaptability" is also supported in this document. The external
constraints of jurisdictional domains as a primary factor in choice and use of language and application of
public policy are also addressed.
0.1.2 ISO/IEC 14662
1)
ISO/IEC 14662 states the conceptual architecture and framework necessary for carrying out electronic
business transactions among autonomous parties. That architecture identifies and describes the need to
have two separate and related views of the business transaction.
The first is the Business Operational View (BOV). The second is the Functional Service View (FSV).
ISO/IEC 14662:2010, Figure 1 illustrates the Open-edi environment. (For definitions of the terms used in
Figure 1, please see Clause 3.)
1) The ISO/IEC 14462 Open-edi Reference Model serves as the basis of the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) among ISO, IEC, ITU and the UN/ECE concerning standardization in the field of electronic business. {See
https://www.itu.int//ITU-T/e-business/files/mou.pdf }
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
vi
Figure 1 — Open-edi environment — Open-edi Reference Model
ISO/IEC 14662:2010, Clause 5 states:
"The intention is that the sending, by an Open-edi Party, of information from a scenario, conforming to Open-
edi standards, shall allow the acceptance and processing of that information in the context of that scenario
by one or more Open-edi Parties by reference to the scenario and without the need for agreement.
However, the legal requirements and/or liabilities resulting from the engagement of an organization in any
Open-edi transaction may be conditioned by the competent legal environment(s) of the formation of a legal
interchange agreement between the participating organizations. Open-edi Parties need to observe rule-based
behaviour and possess the ability to make commitments in Open-edi, (e.g. business, operational, technical,
legal, and/or audit perspectives)".
In addition, ISO/IEC 14662:2010, Figure A.1 illustrates the Relationships of Open-edi standardization areas
with other standards and importance of the legal environment. This document is a BOV standard which
focuses on the legal environment for the application of privacy protection from an Open-edi perspective,
and, as required follow-up standards development in support of the "Open-edi Reference Model".
ISO/IEC 15944-5 is used to identify the means by which laws and regulations impacting scenarios and
scenario components, as external constraints, may be modelled and represented. The primary source of
these external constraints is jurisdictional domains.
ISO/IEC 15944-1 creates rules for creating the specification of external constraints when modelling
business transactions through scenarios, scenario attributes and scenario components. Several parts of the
ISO/IEC 15944 series are used as input to this document. The rules are consolidated in this document in
Annex B.
ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, 7.1 states:
"The approach taken is that of identifying the most primitive common components of a business transaction
and then moving from the general to the more detailed, the simplest aspects to the more complex, from no
external constraints on a business transaction to those which incorporate external constraints, from no
special requirements on functional services to specific requirements, and so on".
This document focuses on addressing commonly definable aspects of external constraints that relate to
privacy protection when the source is a jurisdictional domain. A useful characteristic of external constraints
is that, at the sectoral level, national and international levels, etc., focal points and recognized authorities
often already exist. The rules and common business practices in many sectoral areas are already known.
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
vii
Use of this document (and related standards) addresses the transformation of these external constraints
(business rules) into specified, registered, and re-useable scenarios and scenario components.
0.1.3 ISO/IEC 15944-1“Business Operational View (BOV)”
ISO/IEC 15944-1 states the requirements of the BOV aspects of Open-edi in support of electronic business
transactions. They need to be taken into account in the development of business semantic descriptive
techniques for modelling e-business transactions and components thereof as re-useable business objects.
They include:
— commercial frameworks and associated requirements;
— legal frameworks and associated requirements;
— public policy requirements particularly those of a generic nature such as consumer protection, privacy,
accommodation of handicapped/disabled;
— requirements arising from the need to support cultural adaptability. This includes meeting localization
and multilingual requirements, (e.g. as may be required by a particular jurisdictional domain or desired
to provide a good, service and/or right in a particular market. Here, one needs the ability to distinguish,
the specification of scenarios, scenario components, and their semantics, in the context of making
commitments, between:
a) the use of unique, unambiguous and linguistically neutral identifiers (often as composite identifiers)
at the information technology (IT) interface level among the IT systems of participation parties on
the one hand; on the other;
b) their multiple human interface equivalent (HIE) expressions in a presentation form appropriate to
the Persons involved in the making of the resulting commitments.
Figure 2 shows an integrated view of these business operational requirements. It is based on
ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, Figure 3. Since the focus of this document is that of external constraints for which
jurisdictional domains are the primary source, these primary sources have been shaded in Figure 2.
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
viii
Figure 2 — Integrated view — Business operational requirements: External constraints focus
0.2 Introducing the use of "Person", "organization" and "party" in the context of business transaction
and commitment exchange
In electronic business transactions, whether undertaken on a for profit or not-for-profit basis, the key
element is commitment exchange among Persons made among their Decision Making Applications (DMAs)
2)
of the Information Technology Systems (IT Systems) acting on behalf of "Persons". "Persons" are the only
3)
entities able to make commitments . ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, 0.4 states:
2) See further "Functional Services View" in ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 5.2.
3) The text in this clause is based on existing text in ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, 0.3 and ISO/IEC 14662.
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
ix
“When the ISO/IEC 14662 Open-edi Reference Model standard was being developed, the "Internet" and
"WWW" were in an embryonic stage and their impact on private and public sector organizations was not
fully understood.”
The Business Operational View (BOV) was therefore defined as:
“perspective of business transactions limited to those aspects regarding the making of business decisions
and commitments among organizations which are needed for the description of a business transaction".
The ISO/IEC 6523-1 definition of "organization" was used in the first edition (1997) of ISO/IEC 14662.
The fact that today Open-edi, through the Internet and WWW, also involves "individuals" has been taken
nd
into account in the development of the 2 and subsequent editions. ISO/IEC 15944-1 defines the term
"commitment”. However, the definition of the term "Open-edi Party" previously used proved not to be
specific enough to satisfy scenario specifications, including scenario specification attributes when the legal
aspects of commitment were considered. In many instances commitments were noted as being actually
among IT systems acting under the direction of those legally capable of making commitment, rather than
actual individuals acting in their own capacities. It was also recognized that in some jurisdictional domains
a commitment could be made by "artificial" persons such as corporate bodies. Finally, it was noted that there
are occasions where agents act, either under the instruction of a principal, or as a result of requirement(s)
laid down by a jurisdictional domain, or where an individual is prevented by a relevant jurisdictional domain
from being able to make a commitment in their own right (e.g. a minor), and this is incorporated into this
document.
To address these extended requirements the additional concept and term of "Person", has been defined.
A Person is defined such that they are capable of having the appropriate legal and regulatory constraints
applied to them.
There are three categories of Person as a role player in Open-edi, namely: (1) the Person as "individual",
(2) the Person as "organization", and (3) the Person as "public administration". There are also three basic (or
primitive) roles of Persons in business transactions, namely: "buyer", "seller", and "regulator".
When modelling business transactions, jurisdictional domains prescribe their external constraints in the
role of "regulator" and execute them as "public administration". (See further 6.3.)
While “public administration” is one of the three distinct sub-types of Person, most of the rules applicable to
“organization” also apply to “public administration”. In addition, an unincorporated seller is also deemed to
function as an “organization”. Consequently, the use of “organization” throughout this document also covers
“public administration”. Where it is necessary to bring forward specific rules, constraints, properties, etc.,
which apply specifically to “public administration”, this is stated explicitly.
The requirements of jurisdictional domains are specified through the use of sets of "Codes representing
X.” Such sets of codes are created and maintained by Source Authorities via a rulebase with resulting
coded domains in the form of data elements whose permitted values represent predefined semantics in a
structured form, i.e. as a type of semantic component. Jurisdictional domains serve as Source Authorities for
such coded domains.
These three categories of Person also identify the possible Source Authorities for coded domains. Source
Authorities for coded domains are therefore either "organizations" or "public administrations".
Throughout this document:
— the use of Person with a capital "P" represents Person as a defined term, i.e. as the entity within an Open-
edi Party that carries the legal responsibility for making commitment(s);
— "individual", "organization", and "public administration" are defined terms representing the three
common sub-types of "Person";
— the words "person(s)" and/or "party(ies)" are used in their generic contexts independent of roles
of "Person" as defined in the ISO/IEC 14662 and ISO/IEC 15944-1 standards. A "party" to a business
transaction has the properties and behaviours of a "Person".
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
x
4)
0.3 Importance and role of terms and definitions
The ISO/IEC 15944 series sets out the processes for achieving a common understanding of the Business
Operational View (BOV) from commercial, legal, ICT, public policy and cross-sectoral perspectives. It is
therefore important to check and confirm that a “common understanding” in any one of these domains is
also unambiguously understood as identical in the others.
This subclause is included in each part of ISO/IEC 15944 to emphasize that harmonized terms and definitions
are essential to the continuity of the overall standard. Definitions and their assigned terms need to be
established as early as possible in the development process. Comments on any definition/term pair need
to address the question of changes needed to avoid possible misinterpretation. Definitions may need to be
amended/improved as part of the harmonization of definitions and their assigned terms among the various
parts of ISO/IEC 15944.
In order to minimize ambiguity in the definitions and their associated terms, each definition and its
associated term has been made available in at least one language other than English in the document in
which it is introduced. In this context, it is noted that ISO/IEC 15944-7 already also contains human interface
5)
equivalents (HIEs) in Chinese, French and Russian .
0.4 Importance of the two classes of constraints of the Business Transaction Model (BTM)
The BTM has two classes of constraints; namely:
1) those which are "self-imposed" and agreed to as commitments among the parties themselves, i.e.
"internal constraints";
2) those which are imposed on the parties to a business transaction based on the nature of the good,
service and/or right exchanged, the nature of the commitment made among the parties (including
ability to make commitments, the location, information identifying the parties as living individuals, and
so on), i.e. "external constraints".
This document addresses external constraints. Jurisdictional domains are the primary source of external
6)
constraints . Privacy protection is addressed as a common set of external constraint requirements coming
from jurisdictional domains.
ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, 6.1.6 provides normative text for these two classes of constraints. It is included for
convenience in this document as Annex C.
7)
0.5 Need for a standard based on rules and guidelines
This document is intended to be used within and outside of the ISO and IEC by diverse sets of users having
different perspectives and needs. {See Figure 2 in Clause 0.2}
This Business Operational View (BOV) standard focuses on "other precise criteria to be used consistently as
rules, guidelines, or definitions of characteristics, to ensure that materials, products, processes and services
are fit for their purpose".
4) All the terms and definitions of the current editions of the ISO/IEC 14669 Open-edi Reference Model and the multipart
ISO/IEC 15944 eBusiness standard have been consolidated in ISO/IEC 15944-7. A primary reason for having “Terms
and definitions” in a standard is because one cannot assume that there exists a common understanding, worldwide, for
a specific concept. And even if one assumes that such an understanding exists, then having such a common definition
in Clause 3 serves to formally and explicitly affirm (re-affirm) such a common understanding, i.e. ensure that all parties
concerned share this common understanding as stated through the text of the definitions in Clause 3.
5) The designation ISO before a natural language refers to the use of that natural language in ISO standards.
6) For business requirements of the Functional Service View and business demands on the Open-edi support
infrastructure with respect to internal constraints, see further ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, 6.5.2 "Self-Imposed Constraints".
ISO/IEC 15944-4, which focuses on accounting and economic aspects of business transactions, does so from an "internal
constraints" perspective.
7) This introductory clause is primarily based on that found in ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, 6.1.2 titled “Standard based on
rules and guidelines”.
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
xi
Open-edi is based on rules which are predefined and mutually agreed to. They are precise criteria and
agreed upon requirements of business transactions representing common business operational practices
and functional requirements.
ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, Clause 5 defines the “Business Operational View (BOV)” type of Open-edi standards
8)
as “rule-based” standards . Of particular relevance is the first key characteristic of Open-edi is that of
actions based upon following clear, predefined rules (See further ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, 5.1). It is useful to
quote some key normative text of ISO/IEC 15944-1 so that users of this document have a clear understanding
of the nature and purpose of this BOV standard.
“Open-edi requires the use of clear and pre-defined rules, principles and guidelines. These rules formally specify
the role(s) of the parties involved in Open-edi and the available expected behaviour(s) of the parties as seen
by other parties engaging in Open-edi. Open-edi rules are applied to:
— the content of information flows;
— the order and behaviour of information flows themselves.
The combination of both of these provides a complete definition of the relationships among the parties since
it requires them to achieve a common semantic understanding of the information exchanged. They should
also have consistent generic procedural views on their interaction. Therefore, rule sets have to be agreed to
in advance and captured in Open-edi scenarios. This is a major component of the agreement required among
parties.”
NOTE Here and elsewhere where this document speaks of data, information flows, electronic data interchange
(EDI), etc. it pertains to data (in a business transaction).
These rules also serve as a common set of understanding bridging the varied perspectives of the commercial
9)
framework, the legal framework, the information technology framework, standardizers, consumers, etc.
For ease of reference, common rules have been sequentially enumerated, and are presented in bold font.
Where guidelines associated with a rule are provided, they are numbered sequentially after that rule and
10)
are shown in bold and italic font . Choice of words in the rules, the guidelines and the terms and definitions
are governed by maximizing the ability to map, on the one hand, to all the sources of requirements of
the Business Operational View (BOV) of any e-business transaction (e.g. commercial, legal, public policy,
cultural adaptability, sectoral, etc.), frameworks of the day-to-day world of business, and, on the other hand,
those pertaining to the Functional Services View (FSV) in support of BOV requirements, (e.g. that of those
providing information technology and communication services in support of commitment exchange of any
kind and among all parties involved in a business transaction).
0.6 Use of "jurisdictional domain", and "jurisdiction" (and "country") in the context of business
transaction and commitment exchange
The term "jurisdiction" has many possible definitions. Some “jurisdictions” have accepted international
legal status while others do not. It is also common practice to equate "jurisdiction" with "country", although
the two are by no means synonymous. It is also common practice to refer to states, provinces, länder,
cantons, territories, municipalities, etc., as "jurisdictions", and in contract law it is customary to specify a
particular court of law as having jurisdiction or a defined national body, or an international body as having
8) The key characteristics of Open-edi are (as stated in ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, Clause 5) are: a) actions based on
following predefined rules; b) commitment of the parties involved; c) communications among parties are automated;
d) parties control and maintain their states; e) parties act autonomously; f) multiple simultaneous transactions can be
supported.
9) The working principle is that of "coordinated autonomy", i.e. all parties are autonomous. Therefore, the extent to
which they cooperate, agree on common needs, business rules, constraints, practices, etc., and reach agreement on the
same in form of precise rules, terms and definitions, etc., is a key influence on the creation of necessary standards as well
as common scenarios, scenario attributes and scenario components.
10) For example, “Guideline 5G2” equals the second Guideline under Rule 5.
© ISO/IEC 2026 – All rights reserved
xii
jurisdiction (even if that is not legally enforceable), and so on. Finally, there are differing "legal" definitions
of "jurisdiction". Readers of this document need to understand that in this document:
— the use of the term "jurisdictional domain" represents its use as a defined term;
— the use of the terms “jurisdiction(s)” and/or “country(ies)” represents their use in their generic contexts
and do not imply that this document has any legal effect per se.
At the same time, a set of external constraints of a jurisdictional domain lends itself to being modelled
through scenarios and semantic components. For example, ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, Annex H is a scenario of
an external constraint of a jurisdictional domain, i.e. the USA, that provides a business process framework
for the enterprise process required for a telecommunications service provider. Here, the fact that external
constraints of jurisdictional domains are a primary factor in choice of language and application of public
policy are also addressed in this document.
11)
0.7 Use of "identifier" as "identifier (in business transaction)" to prevent ambiguity
ISO/IEC 15944-1:2025, 6.1.4 focuses on the requirement for the unambiguous identification of entities in
business transactions. "Unambiguous" is a key issue in business transactions because states of ambiguity and
uncertainty are an anathema from commercial, legal, consumer and information technology perspectives.
Issues of unambiguousness apply to all aspects of a business transaction and even more so to those which
are EDI-based. Open-edi transactions anticipate that all entities are fully and clearly identified prior to the
transaction.
The ISO/IEC 15944 series of standards se
...




Questions, Comments and Discussion
Ask us and Technical Secretary will try to provide an answer. You can facilitate discussion about the standard in here.
Loading comments...