ISO IEC 6523-1-2023 PDF

Full title and description

Information technology — Structure for the identification of organizations and organization parts — Part 1: Identification of organization identification schemes. Specifies a uniform structure for globally and unambiguously identifying organizations and their parts to support information interchange, and gives recommendations for cases where prior agreements between interchange partners are used. It does not mandate file formats, storage media or languages for implementation.

Abstract

This standard defines a component-based structure that enables the consistent representation of organization identification across systems and domains. It describes the International Code Designator (ICD) used to identify an organization identification scheme, the organization identifier (OI) within a scheme, organization part identifiers (OPI), and the organization part identifier source indicator (OPIS). The document includes rules for forming and associating these elements, lists reserved ICD values, and provides normative attributes and illustrative examples.

General information

• Status: Published
• Publication date: 14 August 2023
• Publisher: ISO/IEC (joint international standard)
• ICS / categories: 35.040.50 (Automatic identification and data capture techniques)
• Edition / version: Edition 2 (2023)
• Number of pages: 10

Scope

Defines a structured, interoperable model for identifying organizations and organization parts for the purpose of information interchange. It specifies the data elements and relationships needed to reference organizations unambiguously across different identification schemes, and provides recommendations for use when parties rely on prior agreements. The standard explicitly excludes specification of file organization techniques, storage media, encodings and natural languages used to carry the identifiers.

Key topics and requirements

• Definition and role of the International Code Designator (ICD) to name an organization identification scheme.
• Specification of the Organization Identifier (OI) — the identifier for an organization within a given scheme, unique within that scheme.
• Specification of Organization Part Identifier (OPI) for identifying parts or subunits of an organization, with rules for usage.
• Definition of the Organization Part Identifier Source indicator (OPIS) to indicate the source or authority of an OPI.
• Rules and mechanisms for associating ICD, OI, OPI and OPIS values in exchange messages and data elements.
• Reserved ICD values and guidance on how to handle them.
• Normative attributes for ICD and OPIS (described in an annex) and illustrative examples demonstrating common use cases.

Typical use and users

Used by systems integrators, enterprise architects and software developers implementing cross‑organizational data exchange (B2B, B2G), message and document standard designers (EDI, XML/JSON schemas), registration authorities and standards bodies that manage identification schemes, public sector agencies, financial institutions, logistics and supply‑chain platforms. It is applied where unambiguous organization identifiers reduce reconciliation effort, automate routing and processing, and lower integration costs.

Related standards

Part of the ISO/IEC 6523 series. Closely related to ISO/IEC 6523-2 (registration and administration of organization identification schemes and ICD values). Also interoperates with metadata and character-set standards and registries (for example ISO/IEC 11179 for metadata registries and ISO/IEC 10646 for character repertoire guidance) and with messaging/document standards that reference external organization identifiers.

Keywords

International Code Designator; ICD; ICD value; organization identifier; OI; organization part identifier; OPI; OPIS; identification scheme; organization identification; data interchange; B2B; B2G; registry; metadata; automatic identification.

FAQ

Q: What is this standard?

A: ISO/IEC 6523-1:2023 defines the structure for identifying organizations and organization parts by specifying the components and rules (ICD, OI, OPI, OPIS) needed for globally unambiguous organization identification in information interchange.

Q: What does it cover?

A: It covers the definition and composition of the identification structure, how to represent which identification scheme is in use (ICD), how to express an organization identifier within that scheme, how to identify organization parts, the source indicator for part identifiers, reserved ICD values, and normative attributes and examples. It does not prescribe file formats, storage media, encodings or languages for implementation.

Q: Who typically uses it?

A: Implementers of interoperability solutions — systems integrators, enterprise architects, developers, standards and registry operators, public authorities, financial and logistics organizations, and any organization needing consistent organization identifiers for automated processing and data exchange.

Q: Is it current or superseded?

A: This edition (Edition 2) was published in August 2023 and is the current Part 1. It supersedes the earlier 1998 edition of ISO/IEC 6523-1. Related Part 2 (registration/administration of ICD values) has a newer edition in the ISO/IEC 6523 series.

Q: Is it part of a series?

A: Yes — it is Part 1 of the ISO/IEC 6523 series (structure for the identification of organizations and organization parts). Part 2 covers registration and administration of identification schemes and ICD values; other related metadata standards integrate with this series.

Q: What are the key keywords?

A: International Code Designator (ICD), organization identifier (OI), organization part identifier (OPI), OPIS, identification scheme, organization identification, registry, data interchange, metadata.