AIIM 2003 RESTON, Va. & SILVER SPRING, Md.--April 9, 2003-- NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies, and the Association for Information and Image Management, International (AIIM International) today announced the formation of an international joint working group focused on developing a standard around the Portable Document Format (PDF) for document archive and preservation. The new joint working group submitted its first draft for an international standard that defines the use of PDF for archiving and preserving documents to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for review. The project, currently referred to as PDF/A, will address the growing need to electronically archive documents in a way that will ensure preservation of content over an extended period of time. In addition, it will further ensure that those documents can be retrieved and rendered with a consistent and predictable result in the future. This need exists in a growing number of international government and industry segments, including legal systems, libraries, newspapers, regulated industries, and others. The work will address the use of PDF for multi-page documents that may contain a mixture of text, raster images, and vector graphics. It will also address the features and requirements supported by reading devices that are used to retrieve and render the archived documents. The ISO Joint Working Group is responsible for the development and approval of the document as an International Standard includes members from ISO/TC 130, Graphics Technology; ISO/TC 171/SC2, Document Imaging Applications, Application Issues; ISO/TC 46/SC11, Information and documentation, Archives/Records management; and ISO/TC 42, Photography. Any individuals having interest in this work, and can contribute technical expertise, are invited and encouraged to actively participate. Interested persons can register to participate on the committee at http://www.aiim.org/pdf_a. For more information, please visit www.aiim.org/standards.