Provenance and evidence: open standards
The external open standards in the crosswalk domains of provenance and evidence. 1 package published; the remaining standards are shown by registry entry, with a link to the body. Artefacts carry a UNI (Unique Nexus Identifier).
- Nexus Standards: NS-3, NS-3b, NS-11.
- Open standards: PROV-O: The PROV Ontology; in-toto Attestation Framework; Verifiable Credentials Data Model v2.0; RFC 9162 Certificate Transparency Version 2.0 (log structure); C2PA Technical Specification.
- Data and feeds: Software Heritage archive API; Rekor public transparency log.
- Couples with: Verified intelligence and transparency; Data and datasets; Decision records and accountability.
Summary
- Registry entries29
- Packages published1
- DomainsProvenance and evidence, Data and datasets
- Further packagesin preparation
Nexus Standards · proposed
- Nexus Standards
- 3
- NS-3, NS-3b, NS-11
- Open standards
- 5
- named, never copied
- Data and feeds
- 2
- listed for reference
- Couplings
- 3
- with other areas
External standards in the area’s domains
29 registry entries in the crosswalk domains of the area.
| Standard | Body | Version | Relation | Access | Package |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sigstore (Cosign, Fulcio, Rekor) | OpenSSF (Linux Foundation); graduated project March 2024 | project; Rekor v2 general availability reported October 2025 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| in-toto Attestation Framework | in-toto project (CNCF) | 1.0 (stable per in-toto.io) | adopt | open | in preparation |
| Schema.org vocabulary | Schema.org Community Group (W3C) | 29.4 (8 December 2025); 30.0 of 25 March 2026 reported by one secondary source | adopt | open | in preparation |
| Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX); ISO 17369:2013 | SDMX sponsors (BIS, ECB, Eurostat, IMF, OECD, UN, World Bank); ISO/TC 154 | 3.0 (September 2021); ISO 17369:2013 corresponds to SDMX 2.1 | crosswalk | open | in preparation |
| FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship | Wilkinson et al. 2016; GO FAIR | 2016 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance | Global Indigenous Data Alliance | 2019 (formal publication 2020 per some sources) | adopt | open | in preparation |
| W3C Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) – Version 3 | W3C Dataset Exchange Working Group | W3C Recommendation 22 August 2024 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| W3C PROV-O: The PROV Ontology | W3C Provenance Working Group | W3C Recommendation 30 April 2013 | adopt | open | package |
| W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model v2.0 | W3C Verifiable Credentials Working Group | W3C Recommendation 15 May 2025 | crosswalk | open | in preparation |
| Croissant: A Metadata Format for ML-Ready Datasets | MLCommons Croissant Working Group | 1.0 | crosswalk | open | in preparation |
| Datasheets for Datasets | Gebru et al. (arXiv 2018; Communications of the ACM 2021) | 2018 preprint; 2021 CACM | profile | open | in preparation |
| ISO 8601-1:2019 Date and time – Representations for information interchange – Part 1: Basic rules | ISO/TC 154 | 2019 with Amd 1:2022 | adopt | paywalled | in preparation |
| ISO/IEC 30173:2023 Digital twin – Concepts and terminology | ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 41 | 2023 | compatibility profile (restricted) | paywalled | in preparation |
| ISO 23247 Automation systems and integration – Digital twin framework for manufacturing | ISO/TC 184 | 2021 | cite | paywalled | in preparation |
| ISO/IEC 22123 Information technology – Cloud computing | ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 38 | 2023 | cite | paywalled | in preparation |
| Semantic Sensor Network Ontology (SOSA/SSN) | W3C and OGC | 2017 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| IEEE 1451 Smart transducer interface standards | IEEE | series | cite | paywalled | in preparation |
| Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators (OECD and JRC) and JRC composite indicator guidance | OECD and European Commission JRC | 2008 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| ISO 22739 Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies – Vocabulary | ISO/TC 307 | 2024 | cite | paywalled | in preparation |
| C2PA Content Credentials specification | Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (Joint Development Foundation) | 2.1 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals | UN Statistical Commission | current | crosswalk | open | in preparation |
| IETF SCITT architecture (Supply Chain Integrity, Transparency and Trust) | IETF SCITT working group | draft | profile | open | in preparation |
| ESCO European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations | European Commission | 1.2 | crosswalk | open | in preparation |
| OWL 2 Web Ontology Language | W3C | 2nd edition | adopt | open | in preparation |
| SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference | W3C | 2009 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) | W3C | 2017 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| JSON-LD 1.1 | W3C | 1.1 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| Time Ontology in OWL | W3C and OGC | 2022 | adopt | open | in preparation |
| SPARQL 1.1 Query Language | W3C | 1.1 | adopt | open | in preparation |
Questions and answers.
Why are most packages still in preparation?
Around provenance and evidence.
Shape the standards for provenance and evidence.
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.
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 artefact; 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.