The first version of this policy became active on 1 November 2012. From this date government bodies (central government departments, their agencies, non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and any other bodies for which they are responsible) were required to adhere to the Open Standards Principles – for software interoperability, data and document formats in government IT specifications. It has been reviewed and updated in 2015 – differences are highlighted in a separate document.
The Technology Code of Practice commits the government to creating a common and secure IT infrastructure based on a suite of agreed, open standards. This commitment is supported by the Digital Strategy, the Service Design Standard and the Digital Inclusion Strategy, which focus primarily on the opportunity to harness technology to redesign and improve public service information and transactions.
Source: NIST – 2016: Download the .pdf