This International Standard will evolve through the publication of corrigenda and amendments, as well as revision. In a similar manner, EDCS items registered for use with this International Standard will need to evolve. EDCS "items", as used in this annex, refer to those EDCS dictionary entries, their associated fields, and profiles of EDCS identified in 4.15.
Of particular concern is when an EDCS item needs to be either changed or declared obsolete. Declaring an EDCS item obsolete is called deprecation. This annex defines a process for change and deprecation of both standardized and registered EDCS items to ensure the long term coherence and orderly evolution of the concepts in this International Standard. It also defines how a deprecated EDCS item may be reinstated.
Redefinition of an EDCS dictionary entry means changing that entry to such an extent that it would require either amendment or revision. That is, the entry would no longer represent the same concept and/or the EDCS code and/or EDCS label would no longer denote the same concept.
Modification of an EDCS item is a change that does not alter the semantic or technical meaning of the item. A modification does not result in a change in the status of an item.
Reuse of an EDCS code and/or EDCS label means assignment of that EDCS code and/or EDCS label to denote a different concept than originally assigned.
To ensure stable evolution while protecting the investment of users, care shall be taken when changes are made to EDCS items, whether they were originally defined in this International Standard or later by registration.
The following rules apply to changes to standardized and registered EDCS items:
Changes in the form of modification to a standardized EDCS item to the extent allowed in corrigenda shall be made in this International Standard using the appropriate template in Annex I with Justification describing why the modification is required. Such proposals shall be processed and, if approved, shall be incorporated at the next opportunity.
Changes to a standardized EDCS item to the extent not allowed in corrigenda shall be accomplished by deprecation following the procedure defined in F.3.2.
Changes to a registered EDCS item shall be made in accordance with ISO/IEC 9973. The provisions for modification of registered items are the same as those for any EDCS item as specified above.
No EDCS code and/or EDCS label shall be redefined and/or reused except by the process of reinstatement defined in F.4.
EDCS profiles shall not be modified.
Deprecation provides an orderly process whereby either this International Standard or the International Register of Items may retain deprecated EDCS items and indicate to users that these deprecated EDCS items should not be used in new applications. Distinctly different procedures are used to change International Standards from those used to change registered EDCS items. Therefore, two different deprecation procedures are specified.
The following rules apply to deprecation of standardized EDCS items:
An EDCS item may be proposed for deprecation through the registration process either when a new item is submitted as a replacement or through the use of the appropriate deprecation form in Annex I.
A deprecated EDCS item shall be moved by amendment and/or revision to an annex containing a table of deprecated entries for the applicable EDCS item within this International Standard. This International Standard contains Annex A for this purpose.
The row(s) in the tables that previously defined the standardized EDCS item shall be removed by amendment and/or revision. There shall be no indication in the table itself that the entry that once occupied that row is now deprecated. Note that by F.2(d), removed EDCS labels and/or EDCS codes shall not be re-used except by reinstatement.
Once an EDCS item has been published in Annex A of this International Standard for a period of at least five years, it may be deleted from that annex (and therefore this International Standard) by amendment and/or revision.
A registered EDCS item to be deprecated shall follow the procedures defined in ISO/IEC 9973.
Reinstatement provides an orderly process whereby this International Standard may promote previously deprecated EDCS items back to standardized status.
A deprecated EDCS item may be reinstated by moving it from Annex A back into the appropriate main table defining such an item in this International Standard. The process of amendment and/or revision of this International Standard shall be used to accomplish this move.
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