Members of OASIS Open, the international open source and standards consortium, have approved Code List Representation (genericode) v1.0 as an OASIS Standard, a status that signifies that highest level of ratification. Developed by the OASIS Code List Representation Technical Committee (TC), the format, known as “genericode,” is a single semantic model for code lists and accompanying XML serialization that is designed to IT-enable and standardize the publication of machine-readable code list information and its interchange between systems.
A code list in its simplest form is a set of strings that represent an item or idea. Standardized code lists include country abbreviations, currency abbreviations, shipping container descriptors, and airport codes, while nonstandardized code lists used between trading partners include financial account types, workflow status indicators, and any set of values representing the semantics of related concepts known between the parties involved in information interchange. Genericode, a standardized code list representation, is a complete description of a code list, including alternate codes, and any other associated data. Genericode also describes how new code lists are derived from existing code lists, so that the derivation is repeatable, automatable, and auditable.
