See below concerning how NISO is dealing with this situation. Since the US/NISO is secretariat for TC46/SC4 (for 639-2 and 3166), there is obviously much concern about this. Rebecca ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 13:46:45 -0400 From: Pat Harris <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Licensing of ISO coding standards Dear members, In late August I learned that the <http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5079256.html>ISO Council would be considering a new policy that would allow ISO to charge a licensing fee for embedding the ISO's coding standards - ISO 3166 Country Codes, ISO 639 Language Codes, and ISO 4217 Currency Codes - in software products. NISO is the U.S. Technical Advisory Group on ISO 3166 and ISO 639 so is especially concerned about the implications of this change. Today I contacted ISO and learned that the ISO's Commercial Policy Steering Group presented its proposal to the ISO Council last week. The ISO Council has asked for more information and "asked the CPSG to make a clearer case for what they want to do." The CPSG will likely report back to the Council in early-2004. At this time there is no change in ISO Policy or practice. And, we now have an opportunity to influence the CPSG and persuade them to abandon this proposal. I plan to meet with the U.S. representative on the CPSG, Bob Feghali, ANSI's VP Business Development and CIO next week. I feel strongly that all the standards developers and other organizations impacted by this proposal should work together to defeat it and have begun to contact other standards organizations to enlist their interest and support. I welcome hearing your views on this matter and will keep you informed of our progress. Pat -- ************************************ Pat Harris Executive Director National Information Standards Organization (NISO) 4733 Bethesda Avenue, Suite 300 Bethesda, MD 20814 USA T: 301-654-2512 ** Mobile: 202-258-3296 Fax: 301-654-1721 Email: [log in to unmask] url: http://www.niso.org