1. Formex XML Two years after introduction Dr. Holger Bagola Publications Office Directorate A ‘OJ and Access to Legislation’ ‘Methodology and development’

2. History First 3 versions in SGML Last version entered into force in April 1999 Organization of user meeting to discuss the current state and the future of Formex

3. Migration to XML Results of meeting –Proposal to migrate to XML –Proposal to replace DTDs by schema ► Redefinition of Formex Schema (W3C) instead of DTDs Version 4 entered into force on May 1, 2004

4. Experiences Availability of tools offer an easier access to contents of Formex instances ►Printers are able to prepare the Formex instances in 19/20 languages in the same time they needed for 11 languages before

5. Experiences Higher quality of the instances since the first deliveries (less rejects) Migration to Unicode (UTF-8): less problems with encoding of special characters and symbols

6. Experiences Revision of table model: –New table model based on HTML, –No longer problems with synchronizations of language dependent and language independent sections Revision of markup granularity –Less doubts for complex objects

7. Experiences Consequent markup of dates, amounts and codes: –Control mechanisms for synoptism of contents between language versions Attachment of attributes for encoding some information in a language independent format: –Control mechanisms for synoptism of structures between languages

8. Improvements Better integration into legislative processes XML markup should be introduced by authors of legislative acts Better access to the validated and archived Formex instances

9. Access to Formex Documentation (Schema, physical specifications, examples): http://formex.publications.europa.eu Direct access to schema versions: http://formex.publications.europa.eu/schema

10. Questions ?