Unicode Consortium Policies

This page documents official policies maintained by the Unicode Consortium. The Consortium may add further policies as appropriate in the future. The Technical Committees also have established Procedures that govern the workings of those committees.

Resolutions of the Technical Committees on external issues of particular public importance to the computing industry are documented on Unicode Consortium Public Positions.

 

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Technical Stability

Stability

The Unicode Consortium has a number of stability policies regarding the various standards, registries, and repositories that it develops or maintains. These policies are put in place to assure the continued reliability of these resources and to provide implementers guarantees about the limits of allowed kinds of changes for any updates and new versions.

Character Encoding Stability

Unlike many other standards, the Unicode Standard regularly requires updating to expand its repertoire of characters. New characters are added to meet a variety of uses, ranging from technical symbols to letters for regional scripts or for archaic languages. Character properties are also expanded or revised to meet new implementation requirements. However, changes to the standard must be constrained by the requirements of backward compatibility between versions. To that end, the Unicode Character Encoding Stability Policy limits the ways in which the Unicode Standard and related Unicode specifications can change. The Unicode Technical Committee is responsible for the technical adherence of its standards and specifications to this policy.

Collation Stability

The Unicode Technical Standard #10, Unicode Collation Algorithm, is regularly updated to keeps its definitions and tables in synch with the Unicode Standard. The Unicode Collation Stability Policy limits the ways that algorithm and its associated data tables can change. The Unicode Technical Committee is responsible for the technical adherence of that standard to this policy.

Registered Code Stability

The Unicode Consortium is the registration authority for the ISO 15924 standard for script codes. Changes to the set of registered codes must be constrained by the requirements of backward compatibility. To that end, the Unicode Registered Code Stability Policy limits the ways in which the registrar administers the registry.

Locales Stability

The Unicode Locales Project develops and maintains the Unicode LDML standard and the associated data repository, the Unicode Common Locales Data Repository (CLDR). Changes to the standard and repository are constrained to ensure backward compatibility. The Unicode Locales Stability Policy spells out those constraints. The Unicode CLDR-TC is responsible for the technical adherence of its standard and repository to this policy.

 

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Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual Property Rights Policy

The Consortium has a policy governing intellectual property rights governing submission of documents or materials.

Confidential Data

The Consortium has a policy regarding handling company confidential and private data submitted via e-mail or into technical committee document registers.

Terms of Use

The use of this site is subject to the Terms of Use & Unicode Copyright.

Font Submissions

Fonts submitted to the Consortium as part of standardization related work are subject to the Font Submission Policy.

Patents

The Unicode Consortium Patent Policy is based on the ANSI Patent Policy. The only changes are to adapt the policy to refer to the Unicode Consortium, The Unicode Standard and Unicode Technical Reports and Standards.

Trademark and Logo

Policies governing the Unicode Consortium’s marks and logos are explained in the Trademark Policy page.

 

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Corporate Governance

Conflict of Interest Policy

Policies governing conflicts of interest for directors and officers of the Consortium are explained in the "Unicode Conflict of Interest Policy" document.

Mail List

The use of e-mail lists maintained by the Unicode Consortium is subject to the Mail List Policy as well as the General Privacy Policy.

General Privacy

The Unicode Consortium maintains a privacy policy. The details of this policy can be found at General Privacy Policy page.

Translations

Translations of certain web pages are allowed by the Consortium, subject to the conditions set forth on the Translation Policies page.

Whistleblower Policy

Policies governing the reporting of violations of ethics and legal requirements for directors, officers, and employees of the Consortium are explained in the "Unicode Consortium Whistlerblower Policy" document.

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