GHENT, BELGIUM – December 2, 2002 – The Ghent PDF Workgroup has granted full membership in its organization to The Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications Association (DDAP), Enfocus Software and DDAP reported today. Together DDAP and the Ghent PDF Workgroup will cooperate to develop and promote best practice guidelines for international PDF (Portable Document Format) file exchange. The Ghent PDF Workgroup is an international assembly of industry associations whose goal is to develop and maintain best practice guidelines for PDF quality assurance in the publishing and print production industry. The DDAP Association is the U.S. based, user-driven organization working toward universal exchange of digital advertising through open process integration and use of accredited standards.  DDAP officially joins the Ghent PDF Workgroup after participating as an observer at the Group’s inaugural and subsequent meetings.  The practical application and benefit of this cooperation means that anyone using the specifications the Ghent PDF Workgroup is developing, such as the associated Certified PDF/X Plus Profiles to create an ad, can now be assured that the ad will retain PDF/X compliance as the file is shared and produced within and across Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.S. Alan Darling, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Quality House of Graphics (NY), and Chairman of DDAP, says, “Since its inauguration in June, the Ghent PDF Workgroup has demonstrated a real commitment towards developing open, accredited standards-based profiles that will enable seamless PDF exchange between countries in Europe and the U.S.” The Ghent PDF Workgroup is drafting 9 different specifications and corresponding guidelines for creating and exchanging ads and commercial print jobs using PDF.  All of these specifications are based on PDF/X-1a:2001 (ISO 15930-1:2001) and have additional checks where appropriate for particular industry segments or processes.  Consequently, any files created according to these PDF Profiles and guidelines will be PDF/X-1a -compliant. “Instantly we have a common platform for universal ad exchange! This is great news for those who are working with PDF/X-1a compliant workflows including Certified PDF/X-1a, as the files will pass verification.” Darling says.  Peter Camps, CEO of Enfocus Software and Chairman of the Ghent PDF Workgroup, comments, “The Workgroup is very pleased to have DDAP join as an official member.  In the last ten years DDAP has been instrumental in the development of standard accredited file formats for data interchange such as PDF/X-1a and TIFF/IT, which have received approval from both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Organization for Standards (ISO).  The organization, represented by Alan Darling, unquestionably brings valuable knowledge and input to the Workgroup as it continues its endeavors.” Ghent PDF Workgroup Action Items/Winter 2002 As a member of the Ghent PDF Workgroup, DDAP will be actively involved in testing the Workgroup’s 9 PDF/X Plus Profiles and job options of which a beta version was specified at its November meeting, and work toward the Workgroup’s goal to publish those Profiles with all corresponding guidelines and documentation in the first quarter of 2003.  Additionally, DDAP will make the Ghent PDF Workgroup PDF/X Plus Profiles available to its membership via its new PDF-X.com website and has invited a representative of the Ghent PDF Workgroup to speak at its annual DDAP Conference (March 12 - 15, 2003, in New Orleans). Reference Implementation based on Enfocus Technology Enfocus Certified PDF workflow technology is used as a reference implementation for the Workgroup’s PDF Profiles.   In recent months other publishing industry vendors such as Lantana and Quite each have announced support for Certified PDF technology. Enfocus’ commitment to open up Certified PDF technology was further reinforced by its autumn introduction of PitStop Library and its subset, Certified PDF Reader Library, offering further means for vendors to support Enfocus Certified PDF workflows. Says Darling, “DDAP is pleased to see Enfocus opening up their technology with the release of the free Acrobat Reader plug-in to read Certified PDF tags and the announcement of the availability of libraries to allow other software vendors to code to Certified PDF workflows. Additionally, the organization is happy that Enfocus is moving forward with development of preflight metadata for the JDF initiative through CIP4.” About the Ghent PDF Workgroup Formed in June 2002, the Ghent PDF Workgroup is comprised of representatives of eight industry associations from Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Switzerland and now the U.S.  They are: * Cebuco - the marketing services organization of Dutch Newspapers. Cebuco represents the regional as well as the national newspapers. * DDAP - the U.S. user-driven organization working towards enabling the universal exchange of digital ads through open process integration and the use of accredited standards. * Febelgra - the Federation of the Belgian Graphics Industry. * DAL TC - the Dutch technical commission governing digital supply of data files. * KVGO - the Royal Dutch Association for the Printing and Allied Industries. * Medibel+ - unites all the Belgian companies active in the world of advertising, such as the media exchange, advertising agencies, lithographers, publishers and printers. * Sicogif is the French National Association of Graphical Communication and Printing Industries. * VSD - the “Verband der Schweizer Druckindustrie” (Swiss Printing Industries Federation) represents the interests of its members primarily in the prepress, printing, and carton and paper processing industries. Each of these associations has, over the past 21 months, defined specifications for PDF files exchanged in a print production process.  Specifications have been set for digital ad exchange and for commercial print work for sheet offset.  A willingness to collaborate is resulting in common specifications across the different countries. In addition to the official members of the Ghent PDF Workgroup, several observers representing such organizations as Time, Inc. (USA & UK), PPA (UK), DDPFF/DRB (DENMARK), GFF (SWEDEN), IFRA (Europe), BVDM (Germany), and ERA (European Rotogravure Association) have attended meetings.