Akoma Ntoso V2.0 Approved as OASIS Standard for Machine-Readable Legal and Legislative Documents

Publications Office of the European Union and Others Advance Broader Judicial and Multilingual Support in Latest Release

BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, October 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- OASIS Open, the international open source and standards consortium, announced that Akoma Ntoso Version 2.0. Part 2: Specifications, defining AKN 3.1, has been approved as an OASIS Standard, the highest level of ratification. Developed by OASIS LegalDocumentML Technical Committee (LegalDocML TC) members from industry, government, and academia, Akoma Ntoso reflects real-world requirements gathered directly from the field.

Akoma Ntoso, which means “linked hearts” in the Akan language of West Africa, defines an XML vocabulary for parliamentary, legislative, and judicial documents. By standardizing legislation, debate records, minutes, and judgments, it forms a vital foundation for open access to government information worldwide.

This year marks 20 years since the project’s founding in South Africa, supported by UNDESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs), and with contributions from Prof. Fabio Vitali and Prof. Monica Palmirani of the University of Bologna, who serve as co-chairs of the OASIS LegalDocML TC. Driven by two decades of global adoption, this OASIS Standard reflects the continuous refinement and contributions of many stakeholders across parliaments, courts, and legal publishers.

AKN 3.1 refines and expands the AKN V3.0 framework with new elements, attributes, and structural models that broaden coverage and improve HTML interoperability, without changing the vocabulary’s overall architecture. Key additions include:
- New structural containers, including schedules, annexes, appendices, and cross-headings.
- New witness, court, and judgmentSummary elements, plus a more structured table of contents for judicial documents.
- Richer multilingual support, including non-Gregorian calendar dates and a new element for foreign-language passages.
- More precise, expanded metadata across definitions, recitals, and citations.

“AKN 3.1 is a significant step forward for Akoma Ntoso. The new judicial elements and richer legal definition structure reflect years of real-world feedback from courts and legislative publishers who needed the standard to capture more of the structure already present in their documents,” said Prof. Monica Palmirani, co-chair of the OASIS LegalDocML TC. “This release makes Akoma Ntoso a more complete foundation for machine-readable law. For this reason, we have enriched the metadata of the modification attributes, enabling the modelling of complex changes in the text and guaranteeing a robust legal temporal representation.”

“The Publications Office of the European Union welcomes the approval of Akoma Ntoso v2.0 Part 2 (AKN3.1) as an OASIS Standard,” said Marc Vanderperren, Head of Unit, Data and Format Standardisation Services, Publications Office of the European Union. “This is an essential milestone which allows the European Institutions to further develop Akoma Ntoso for European Union (AKN4EU) as the machine-readable structured format for the exchange of legal documents in the EU decision-making process.”

The OASIS Standard and related files are available for download. The TC welcomes participation from parliaments, courts, legal publishers, contract management organizations, ICT vendors, and other interested organizations. Participation is open to all through OASIS membership; contact join@oasis-open.org to learn more.

About OASIS Open

One of the most respected, nonprofit open source and open standards bodies in the world, OASIS advances the fair, transparent development of open source software and standards through the power of global collaboration and community. OASIS is the home for worldwide standards in identity, IoT, cybersecurity, blockchain, privacy, cryptography, cloud computing, urban mobility, emergency management, and other content technologies. Many OASIS standards go on to be ratified by de jure bodies and referenced in international policies and government procurement. More information can be found at www.oasis-open.org.

Media Inquiries: communications@oasis-open.org

Mary Beth Minto
OASIS Open