IBM, Logius, Publications Office of the European Union, U.S. Department of Defense, and Others Advance Open Standard for Digital Trade and Supply Chain Interoperability

Boston, MA – 26 August 2026 – OASIS Open, the international open source and standards consortium, announced the approval of Universal Business Language (UBL) V2.5 as an OASIS Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification. Developed by UBL Technical Committee (TC) members from industry, government, and academia, UBL remains the leading interchange format for business documents. This new version reflects real-world requirements from global trade, logistics, and the public sector, expanding support for e-commerce, retail transactions, and circular economy compliance while maintaining backward compatibility with all UBL 2.x implementations.

UBL 2.5 introduces eight new document types, along with new capabilities for invoice and procurement status management, enhanced payment referencing, third-party collections, waste transport documentation, and element deprecation. Together, these updates further improve interoperability while supporting evolving business requirements.

A major focus of the release is support for the circular economy. New Waste Movement and Waste Notification documents provide a standardized digital framework for cross-border waste management, helping organizations exchange compliance data more efficiently while supporting international and regional regulatory requirements.

“UBL 2.5 is our most significant release since UBL 2.1,” said Kenneth Bengtsson, Chair of the UBL TC. “It introduces mechanisms to progressively improve interoperability while preserving backward compatibility, expands UBL’s environmental and circularity capabilities with support for ISO 14000, and lays the foundation for JSON and other syntax bindings in future releases.”

“The Publications Office of the European Union works actively with the OASIS UBL Technical Committee and is pleased to see its continuous evolution that helps adopters improve the quality of their data exchanges. This contributes to transparency, re-use and data quality in public procurement,” said Franck Noël, Director, Access to and Reuse of Public Information, Publications Office of the European Union. 

The UBL Technical Committee welcomes participation from enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors, software and service providers, public sector organizations, procurement and trade communities, e-invoicing networks, supply chain professionals, and logistics organizations. Through OASIS, these stakeholders collaborate to shape the future of structured business document exchange and ensure UBL continues to meet the evolving needs of global commerce. Participation is open to all through OASIS membership. For more information, contact [email protected]. 

About OASIS Open

One of the most respected, nonprofit open source and open standards bodies in the world, OASIS advances the fair, transparent development of open source software and standards through the power of global collaboration and community. OASIS is the home for worldwide standards in identity, IoT, cybersecurity, blockchain, privacy, cryptography, cloud computing, urban mobility, emergency management, and other content technologies. Many OASIS standards go on to be ratified by de jure bodies and referenced in international policies and government procurement. More information can be found at www.oasis-open.org.

Media Inquiries
[email protected]