Nexus Standards · Governance

Councils, status and change

Governance of the Nexus Standards

How the Nexus Standards are governed: councils decide the reserved matters, working groups draft, and everything else is open to any person without membership or fee. The working model is designed as a polycentric, multi-scale adaptive system, with National Nexus Consortiums, their councils and National Working Groups, regional consortiums and the global bodies coupled by open gateways and by feedback loops from evidence to correction. This page shows who decides what, the process with its gates and review windows, the open gateways and calls, the balance rules and a benchmark against other standards bodies. GCRI Canada, as Secretariat, maintains the records and publishes the standards.

Take part Develop a standard

01Overview

Summary

Governanceworking model

National architecturesection
Stewardship, national adoption and the open boundarysection
Stewardshipsection
Status of a standardsection
Changing codessection
Changing the record schemasection

Nexus Standards · proposed

02National architecture

National architecture

The Global Standards Council (GSC) is the governing body of the Nexus Standards. In each participating country, a National Nexus Consortium (NNC), formed by national host and anchor institutions under national law, carries the standards nationally through three pillars: standards, leadership and delivery. National adoption is a national decision.

Body	Role	Decides
Global Standards Council (GSC)	Governing body of the Nexus Standards.	Adoption of each standard after last call.
National Nexus Consortium (NNC)	National institutional pillar in each participating country, formed by national host and anchor institutions under national law.	Its national institutional arrangements, under national law.
National Standards Council (NSC)	Standards function of the NNC. Maintains the national application profile and works with competent national authorities through its public-authority liaison and the national host institution.	Adoption, adaptation or reference of each standard in its jurisdiction.
National Leadership Council (NLC)	National leadership pillar, composed of individual leadership seats and distinct from the NSC.	National leadership priorities and engagement.
National Working Groups (NWGs)	National delivery pillar. Drafts national inputs and runs field simulations and exercises with host institutions.	The content of national inputs and the design of field exercises.
Technical committees and working groups	Draft and revise the standards in the open process of NS-13.	Draft texts submitted to review and last call.
Secretariat (GCRI Canada)	Maintains the records and publishes the standards.	Publication and record-keeping.

Competent national authorities are engaged through official channels: the public-authority liaison of the NSC and the national host institution. The GSC has no veto over a national decision; national law and language prevail.

03Earth observation

Population, settlement and hazards in Africa

The map frames Africa as an example geography for national participation through National Nexus Consortia; the frame gives context and is not a statement of where the standards apply. Shown at first: population density, 2020 (Gridded Population of the World v4.11, NASA SEDAC, CIESIN, Columbia University) and night-time lights, daily (VIIRS Black Marble, VNP46A2, NASA LAADS DAAC). The layer drawer adds flood water, 3-day composite (VIIRS Global Flood Product); active fires and thermal anomalies, last day (VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m, FIRMS); and true colour (VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance). NASA products are served through NASA GIBS under NASA's open data policy, with acknowledgement; population density is GPW v4.11 by CIESIN, Columbia University, under CC BY 4.0; coastlines, boundaries and place names come from NASA GIBS reference layers (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) and Natural Earth (public domain). Each layer shows its own observation date; full credits are given under the map.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

People and hazards

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Where people live, night-time lights and the floods and fires public institutions answer to, framed on Africa.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
Optional layers (3 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
Active fires and thermal anomalies, last day: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

04Governing bodies

Global Standards Council, divisions and technical committees

The Global Standards Council (GSC) governs the Nexus Standards and adopts each standard after public last call; technical committees and working groups draft; the Secretariat, GCRI Canada, maintains the records and publishes.

Four Technical Management Divisions coordinate the technical work of the thirteen technical committees: they confirm new work items after a reuse check, run timebox reviews and coordinate liaison. Each comprises the co-chairs of its committees and a lead appointed by the Global Standards Council; it decides by consensus with dissent recorded, and its minutes are public.
A technical appeal goes from the co-chairs to the technical committee, the Technical Management Division and, on the record, the Global Standards Council; the chairs record each objection and its disposition.
Adoption decisions of the Global Standards Council are recorded and cited in the front matter of the standard concerned; the Technical Management Divisions do not adopt standards.

05Working groups

Working groups and charters

Element	Rule
Scope	At most one working group per programme area; a group may cover several areas.
Charter	Public, stating scope, exclusions, deliverables, meeting cadence and decision rule.
Chairs	Two co-chairs from different organisations, supported by a roster of editors.
Issues	A public issue tracker; each draft and each comment disposition is public.
Contributions	Contributions are made under the Developer Certificate of Origin, with a sign-off on each contribution and a royalty-free patent commitment.

06National architecture

National participation and adoption

In each participating country, a National Nexus Consortium (NNC) is formed by national host and anchor institutions under national law. Its National Standards Council (NSC) decides on adoption, adaptation or reference in its jurisdiction and maintains the national application profile; the National Leadership Council (NLC) holds the individual leadership seats; and National Working Groups (NWGs) draft national inputs and conduct field simulations and exercises with host institutions.
Competent national authorities are engaged through official channels: the public-authority liaison of the National Standards Council and the national host institution. A National Nexus Consortium is listed on this site only after the competent national institution has confirmed it in writing; a listing implies no governmental status or mandate.
National adoption is a national decision. The Global Standards Council has no veto over a national decision, and national law and language prevail. Regional groupings follow the UN M49 region names.
Translations are informative, not normative, and are published with the name of the translator and the date.

07Liaison

Liaison with other standards bodies

Liaison categories A, B and C follow the structure of the ISO liaison categories without claiming them. A liaison is listed only once the body concerned has confirmed it.

Category	Meaning	Recorded
A	joint work	none
B	observer	none
C	information exchange	none

GCRI Canada seeks participation in the following order: a W3C Community Group and Research Data Alliance working groups; OGC Associate membership and participation in an OASIS Open Project; and ISO liaison through the national member body (the Standards Council of Canada) once two Nexus Standards have been adopted with two independent implementations each.

08Notices

Notices and response times

Notice	Route	Response time
Trademark, copyright, attribution, takedown	GCRI Canada Secretariat, contact@therisk.global (legal notices)	fourteen days
Erratum	a proposal under NS-13, with a fourteen-day last call	fourteen days
Privacy	contact@therisk.global (privacy)	fourteen days

GCRI Canada is the publisher and rights holder of record. An identifier for GCRI Canada has been requested from the Research Organization Registry; until it is issued, pages show the legal name only. Sending a notice is not tracked.

09Horizontal review

Horizontal review of each standard

Accessibility

WCAG 2.2 AA

Each page, figure and instrument of a standard is reviewed against level AA.

Internationalisation

Translation

Terms, dates, units and the translation record.

Privacy

Data protection

What a record, a clause or a data feed may contain about a person.

Security

Zero trust

Signing, attestation, logging and verification, with reference to NIST SP 800-207.

Claims

Accuracy of statements

Each statement is reviewed against the Nexus claim registry.

10Stewardship, national adoption and the o

Stewardship, national adoption and the open boundary

The structure of stewardship (Global Standards Council, committees, editors, registrar, panels, Secretariat), the National Standards Councils that adopt and adapt the standards in each jurisdiction, the line between the open commons and every implementation, the legal instruments, the disclaimers and the launch gates are in governance/ and registry/governance.yaml. This file states the rules for changing the standards, codes, schemas and catalogue in this repository.

11Stewardship

Stewardship

The Secretariat (GCRI Canada) maintains and versions the Nexus Standards; the Global Standards Council adopts them; each National Standards Council decides adoption in its jurisdiction. the trust and assurance system is only the UNI scope code of the trust-and-assurance functional system class. Any implementation, organisation site or agent may apply the standards; none forks the registry or allocates codes outside it.

The canonical copy of a standard, the machine registry, the record schema and the STD-scope catalogue live in this repository. A consuming repository vendors or references them and keeps its own artifact catalogue for its own scopes.

12Status of a standard

Status of a standard

Status	Meaning
OPEN	Named in the index, not drafted.
PROPOSED	Drafted here; consumers may apply it; no authority has adopted it.
ADOPTED	A decision of the Global Standards Council is recorded (decision reference in the standard's front matter and in the Council's decisions register). Only then may public material call it "the Nexus standard".
SUPERSEDED	Replaced; the record points to `supersededBy`.
WITHDRAWN	Withdrawn; the record stays.

A status change is a pull request that edits the standard's front matter, standards/INDEX.md, the catalogue record and CHANGELOG.md, and that cites the decision. No status is a readiness, certification or production claim.

13Changing codes

Changing codes

Scope and category codes are append-only. A code is never renamed, deleted or reused. A code that is no longer

wanted is marked deprecated: true with a note and stays parseable.

A new code needs: a pull request, a Zenodo and DataCite mapping (categories), a systemId and neutralId for a

system scope, and a line in CHANGELOG.md.

Artifact categories and risk record kinds (NS-3) never share a code (node tools/nexus-id.mjs catalog validate enforces it).
The grammar (identifier.pattern) changes only with a new major version of NS-1 and a crosswalk for every existing

UNI. Existing UNIs are never invalidated (NS1-R3).

14Changing the record schema

Changing the record schema

The schema is versioned by file name (nexus-artifact-record.v1.json). Additive optional fields are a minor change inside v1; a required field or a removed field is v2 with a migration note. The registry's record.requiredFields, statuses, legalStates, claimCeilings and registryStates must equal the schema's enums (node tools/nexus-id.mjs catalog validate).

15Allocation

Allocation

Serials are allocated by a catalogue (artifacts) or by the allocation service of an implementation (risk records, NS-3), never typed by hand (NS1-R2). This repository's catalogue allocates only STD scope. A consumer allocates its own scopes in its own catalogue with node tools/nexus-id.mjs mint --root <repo> or its vendored copy of the CLI. Two catalogues never allocate the same scope. A UNI issued for a record that this repository does not publish stays under allocated in the catalogue, so its serial is never issued again.

16Honesty rules (binding on every change)

Honesty rules (binding on every change)

A UNI identifies and resolves. It never certifies truth, readiness, approval or authority.
legalState defaults to LEGAL_REVIEW_REQUIRED; claimCeiling never exceeds the consumer's claim registry.
Codes are classification, never product names. Public names follow the marks policy

(governance/OPEN_BOUNDARY_IPR_AND_LICENSING.md, section 7).

No fabricated evidence: a surface or consumer status is WIRED only when the hook exists and is tested in that

repository.

17Canonical record

Canonical record

This repository is the canonical record of the STD scope. Any implementation that keeps a copy of a register or of STD-scope records treats this repository (at a pinned commit or release) as the source and never the reverse. No UNI changes when a copy is retired.

18Questions

Questions and answers.

Who maintains the Nexus Standards?

The editors of the canonical repository maintain and version them under the trust and assurance scope, and GCRI Canada, as Secretariat, maintains the records and publishes them. Implementations apply the standards without modifying them.

How does an external body or expert comment?

By a proposal, or a comment on one, in the canonical repository under NS-13. Every comment receives a written disposition, last call is announced to the stakeholder groups named on the proposal, and a liaison of a standards body is recorded as a participant with its organisation identifier.

How are errors, errata and translations handled?

An erratum is a proposal with a fourteen-day last call. A translation is a catalogued artifact that cites the English version it renders; the English text remains normative. A trademark or attribution concern is submitted through the contact routes and recorded as a proposal against the register entry.

Who adopts a standard?

The Global Standards Council adopts a standard after last call and implementation evidence, and the decision reference is cited in the front matter of the standard. In each activated country, the National Standards Council decides whether the standard is adopted, adapted or referenced in its jurisdiction; national law and language prevail, and the Council has no veto.

What do the National Leadership Council and the National Working Groups do?

The National Leadership Council sets national priorities that become proposals for new work, proposes National Working Groups and audits balance; it takes no standards decision. National Working Groups mirror the global committees: they form national comments, draft national profiles and editions and run pilots.

Do I need to be a member to take part?

No. Anyone may propose, comment, submit an implementation report, lodge a formal objection, appeal or observe an open session, without membership or fee. Joining a working group is through an open call.

NRNexus Reports gateway · GW-STD

Contribute to Nexus Reports from this page.

Nexus Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Nexus Standards

Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.

Across the Consortium

The same subject across the Consortium.

Around the Nexus Standards.

Nexus Standards

Take part in the standards.

Governments, regulators, standards bodies, industry, academia and communities are invited to shape the catalogue ahead of its first official release, targeted for 2030: comment on a draft, propose a change, join a working group or host a field exercise.

Propose a change Roadmap to 2030 Adopt and implement

Status and use. The Nexus Standards are proposed standards developed through an open process under NS-13 and published for voluntary use; they do not constitute certification, accreditation or regulatory approval, and adoption remains a decision of the Global Standards Council and, in each country, of its National Standards Council. A UNI (Unique Nexus Identifier) identifies an artifact; it does not certify it. Names of standards bodies and their standards belong to their stewards and are used only to identify the documents; no text of an external standard is reproduced here. Nexus Standards is not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by any standards body named here.

Licences: CC BY 4.0 for standards text, registries, schemas and data; Apache-2.0 for reference code. External standards are cited by name, number and link under their own licences. Third-party data, libraries and fonts keep their own licences: see Third-party notices.