The publication of the UK guidelines for ONIX 3.0 this morning marks the end of a long process, which began three years ago with the proposal that BIC should publish nationally-agreed guidelines for suppliers of ONIX (though it was version 2.1 then) rather than just a list of the elements required for accreditation.
They are significant for a number of good reasons:
- they are published with the endorsement of Nielsen, Bowker and BDS;
- they coincide with the point in which a number of major publishers are embarking on ONIX 3.0 development: later than it was originally hoped, it's true, but it looks as if there will be real progress with the new version in 2011;
- they have identified failings in the way in which ONIX has been used to define territorial sales rights in the past, enabled these to be addressed in the ONIX documentation, and opened the way to a common approach internationally;
- they are the work of David Martin, whose huge contribution to BIC over the years has included all our original EDI implementation guidelines, the ONIX specification itself, and much more besides. We in the 'standards community' are much in his debt.
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