Caveat: the definitions below are to be considered only as a general description with the sole purpose of providing an indication of the types of documents that may belong to each class and subclass.

Function Formal provisions concerning commands, recommendations, opinions or expressions of will issued or entered into by a principal or a subsidiary organ or other empowered bodies.

Structure Usually articulated in hierarchical structures in which the text is subdivided into higher and lower subdivisions.

Charter

Description: foundational treaty outlining the conditions under which a body is organised, and defining its rights and privileges.

Code of Conduct

Description: rules outlining the responsibilities of, or proper practices for, individuals, parties, organizations, or countries on specific issues.

Code of Practice

Description: defines correct procedures on how to implement principles and/or standards.

Constitution

Description: a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a body is acknowledged to be governed.

Convention

Description: mandatory regulations subject to ratification. Instruments usually negotiated under the auspices of an international organization.

Protocol

Description: international agreement that supplements a previous treaty or international agreement.

Recommendation

Description: provides guidance and may create reporting obligations for parties.

Rules

Description: prescribe principles governing conduct or procedure within a particular area of activity.

Rules of Procedure

Description: prescribe guides for conduct or actions, such as rules for conducting business within a body, as well as for the financial administration of organizations and their members.

Regulation

Description: sets guides to enforce a statutory instrument or regulate activities.

Standard

Description: set of guides established by consensus outlining the responsibilities of, or proper practices for, individuals, parties, organizations or countries on specific issues.

Treaty

Description: international agreements concluded between States, and bilateral or multilateral agreements governed by international law to which international organizations are parties.

Function formal expressions of the opinion or will of a principal or subsidiary organ or other empowered bodies.

Structure open structure documents, sometimes articulated in hierarchical structures in which the text is subdivided into higher and lower subdivisions, generally including a preamble and operative paragraphs.

Resolution

Description: formal expressions of the will of a principal or subsidiary organ or other empowered bodies.

Decision

Description: formal action regarding administrative and procedural matters of principal or subsidiary organ or other empowered bodies. They are sometimes also used to record the adoption of a text representing the consensus of the members of a given organ.

Function administrative instructions and circulars.

Structure structures vary widely across organizations and traditions but may have the format of a formal communication with a title and content in unnumbered or numbered paragraphs or be divided into sections.

Administrative Instruction

Description: prescribes instructions and procedures for the implementation of rules and regulations, as well as formally communicated decisions on, for example, appointment, promotion, transfer and change of duty station.

Administrative Circular

Description: general information of administrative nature as well as clarifications of established rules, policies and procedures.

Function documents listing agenda items of a meeting or a series of meetings, at times with brief description of agenda items, citation of related documents, and other announcements, such as consultations, informal meetings or side events, as well as summaries of the previous day's meetings.

Structure structures vary widely across organizations and traditions.

Agenda Listing

Description: documents listing agenda items to be considered at a specific meeting/s or session/s. They may report time, location, etc.

Annotated Agenda

Description: agenda with a brief description of agenda items, citation of related documents as well as information and other announcements.

Function documents containing full first-person records of a meeting (verbatim).

Structure reflects the different section of the debates and/or alternation of questions and answers that take place during meeting discussions.

Verbatim Record

Description: first-person accounts of meetings.

Function documents containing summarized accounts of meetings.

Structure structures vary widely across organizations and traditions.

Meeting Minute

Description: third-person accounts of meetings.

Meeting Report | Conference Report | Council Report

Description: summaries of discussions held during meetings. They may also contain full text of resolutions or decisions, either proposed or adopted; recommended actions to be taken by other organs, etc. in the body of the document or as annexes.

Function court of law or adjudicating authority formal decision or specific determination following a legal proceedings.

Structure typical narrative of judgments is often divided in background, introduction, motivation and decision.

Judgment / Order

Description: formal decision or specific determination following a legal proceeding. Structures are highly formalized.

Advisory Opinion

Description: Opinion rendered by a court or adjudicating body upon request.

Function official document that provides information about a particular subject or a detailed account of issues, policies or outcomes of, for example, inquiries or scientific investigations.

Structure structures vary widely across organizations and traditions

Policy

Description: general course or principle of action adopted or proposed by the official authorities or bodies.

Position Paper

Description: essays detailing facts and opinions regarding specific issues.

Progress Report

Description: assessment on projects or processes.

Budgetary Document

Description: documents related to the planning, programming, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation cycle of organizations.

Function official communication used to formally inform the UN community of events and of the outcome of non-UN meetings, to transmit reports or communications, and for a variety of other purposes.

Structure structures vary widely across organizations and traditions but generally assume the format of a formal communication with title and content in unnumbered paragraphs.

Address

Description: keynote speeches and opening addresses and messages.

Bulletin

Description: information not requiring any action by the addressees.

Circular

Description: specialized information of specific interests.

Memoranda

Description: official communication issued to disseminate information.

Note

Description: communication to transmit comments or reports.

Official Letter

Description: official correspondence; communications or notes verbale concerning issues under the authority of the organization to provide information, requiring specific action by the addressees or stating a position.

Official Statement

Description: Pronunciation of officers in their official capacity.

Press Release

Description: communications to the public for information purposes only and that are not considered official documents.

Function formal proposals for modifications, as single instruction or as a collection of instructions, of previously issued documents issued by the same body that approved the original document.

Structure structures vary widely across organizations and traditions.

Amendment

Description: provide modifications to other normative documents. The modifications could appear in different structured texts like normative and deliberative documents, debate records, etc.

Please note that modificatory provisions may also be part of several other document classes, like resolutions, protocols, debate reports, etc.

Function: publications of standalone autonomous documents, formal authoritative compilation of official autonomous documents and collection of different autonomous documents. By "publication” we mean the documentary output of the process meant to share information in any form or medium.

Structure: a collection of individual autonomous documents.

Publication

Description: a generic type of collection document used to present and publish standalone documents.

Collection

Description: collection of individual autonomous documents.

Official Compilation

Description: authoritative compilations of official documents.

Amendment List

Description: document listing proposals for modifications submitted to official deliberative bodies for discussion. Provide modifications to other normative documents.

@status values

The @status attribute is mainly used to specify the status of the piece of text that an element wraps. Akoma Ntoso provides a list of possible reasons for a discrepancy between the manifestation as it should be (e.g. a faithful representation of the content of an expression), and the manifestation as it actually is. The allowed values are:

removed : the content of the element is present in the mark-up (manifestation) but is not present in the real content of the document (expression level) because it has been definitely removed (either ex tunc, as in annulments, or ex nunc, as in abrogations).

temporarilyRemoved : the content of the element is present in the mark-up (manifestation) but is not present in the real content of the document (expression level) because it has been temporarily removed (e.g. for a temporary suspension or limitation of efficacy).

translated : the content of the element is present in the mark-up (manifestation) in a different form than in the real content of the document (expression level) because it has been translated into a different language (e.g. to match the rest of the document or because of other editorial decisions).

editorial : the content of the element is present in the mark-up (manifestation) but is not present in the real content of the document (expression level) because it has been inserted as an editorial process when creating the XML mark-up.

edited : the content of the element is different in the mark-up (manifestation) than in the real content of the document (expression level) because it has been amended (e.g. to remove scurrilous or offensive remarks).

verbatim : the content of the element is present in the mark-up (manifestation) and is EXACTLY as it was in the real content of the document (expression level) because usual silent fixes and edits were NOT performed (e.g. punctuation, grammatical errors or other usually non-debatable problems).

incomplete : the content of the element or the value of a required attribute is NOT present in the mark-up (manifestation), although it should, because the missing data is not known at the moment, but in the future it might become known. This is especially appropriate for documents in drafting phase (e.g. the publication date of the act while drafting the bill).

unknown : the content of the element or the value of a required attribute is NOT present in the mark-up (manifestation), although it should, because the author of the manifestation does not know it.

undefined : the content of the element or the value of a required attribute is NOT present in the mark-up (manifestation), because the information is not defined in the original document, or it does not exist in some legal tradition (e.g. an anonymous speech cannot specify the attribute by, or some publications do not record the numbering of the items, etc.).

ignored : the content of the element or the value of a required attribute is NOT present in the mark-up (manifestation) because the information exists but the author of the manifestation is not interested in reporting it (e.g. omitted parts of the document due to editorial reasons, etc.).

@contains values

The attribute @contains is used in the root of document types to indicate whether the document is an original or modified version. The allowed and required values for the @contains attribute are:

originalVersion

singleVersion

multipleVersions

@pos values

This is the list of possible positions of the text being analysed by the element in the <analysis> section. The allowed values for the @pos attribute are:

start

before

inside

after

end

unspecified

<note> : @placement values

The element <note> is a metadata element containing the text of a footnote or endnote. The allowed and required values for the @placement attribute are:

side

left

right

bottom

inline

<opinion> : @type values

The element <opinion> is an inline element within judgments to identify where the document defines the opinion of one of the judges. The allowed values for the @type attribute are:

agreeing

dissenting

null

<efficacyMod> : @type values

The <efficacyMod> element is a metadata element specifying an (active or passive) modification in efficacy for the document. The allowed and required values for the @type attribute are:

endOfEfficacy

entryIntoEfficacy

extraefficacy

inapplication

postponementOfEfficacy

prorogationOfEfficacy

retroactivity

<forceMod> : @type values

The element <forceMod> is a metadata element specifying an (active or passive) modification in force for the document. The allowed and required values for the @type attribute are:

endOfEnactment

entryIntoForce

postponementOfEntryIntoForce

prorogationOfForce

reEnactment

unconstitutionality

<legalSystemMod> : @type values

The element <legalSystemMod> is a metadata element specifying an (active or passive) modification in force for the document. The allowed and required values for the @type attribute are:

application

conversion

coordination

deregulation

expiration

implementation

legislativeDelegation

ratification

reiteration

remaking

republication

staticReference

<meaningMod> : @type values

The element <meaningMod> is a metadata element specifying an (active or passive) modification in meaning for the document. The allowed and required values for the @type attribute are:

authenticInterpretation

termModification

variation

<scopeMod> : @type values

The element <scopeMod> is a metadata element specifying an (active or passive) modification in scope for the document. The allowed and required values for the @type attribute are:

exceptionOfScope

extensionOfScope

<textualMod> : @type values

The element <textualMod> is a metadata element specifying an (active or passive) textual modification for the document. The allowed and required values for the @type attribute are:

insertion

join

renumbering

repeal

replacement

split

substitution

<event> : @type values

The element <event> is an inline element to identify a text fragment introducing or referring to an event in the ontology. The allowed values for the @type attribute are:

amendment

generation

repeal

<remark> : @type values

The element <remark> is an inline element for the specification of editorial remarks (e.g. applauses, laughters, etc.) especially within debate records. The allowed values for the @type attribute are:

caption

phenomenon

sceneDescription

translation

<recordedTime> : @type values

The element <recordedTime> is an inline element for the specification of an explicit mention of a time (e.g. in a debate). The allowed values for the @type attribute are:

startEvent

endEvent

<restriction> : @type values

The element <restriction> specifies information about a restriction (such as a jurisdiction specification) by pointing to a specific legislative, geographic or temporal events through the @refersTo attribute. The allowed and required value for the @type attribute is:

jurisdiction

<result> : @type values

The element <result> is a metadata element specifying the overall result of the judgment. The allowed and required values for the @type attribute are:

approve

decide

deny

dismiss

remit

replaceOrder

revert

uphold

@xml:lang values

The allowed values for the @xml:lang attribute must be taken from the RFC 4646 (see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4646).

In order to avoid the proliferation of attributes names that may hamper interoperability without any benefit, AKN4UN has identify a list of attributes values that are likely to be useful across the UN system. These lists are meant to be further enriched if and when AKN4UN users will identify values that should be added for the use of all organization.

All AKN4UN attribute are prefixed with akn4un e.g. akn4un:value. The values for the attribute is “recommended” and not prescriptive, i.e. setting something other than these recommended values will still allow the XML to pass technical validation using the AKN schema and compliance with AKN4UN.

<formula> : @name values

The element <formula> is a section of the preface or preamble that contains a formulaic expression that is systematically or frequently present in a preface or a preamble and has e precise legal meaning (e.g. an enacting formula). The @name attribute is required. The @refersTo attribute may also be used to further specify the actual type of formula. The reccomended values for the @name attribute are:

akn4un:enactingAuthority

akn4un:enactingFormula

<inline> : @name values

The element <inline> is a generic element for an inline. The attribute name is required and gives a name to the element. The reccomended values for the @name attribute are:

akn4un:distribution

akn4un:from

akn4un:interval

akn4un:languageOfExpression

akn4un:meeting

akn4un:meetingName

akn4un:note

akn4un: honorifics

akn4un:originalLanguage

akn4un:subTitle

akn4un:summary

akn4un:to

akn4un:year

First page header and footer:

akn4un:firstPageHeader – states that this is the tag for the first page header

akn4un:left – states that this is the tag that indicates what is to be shown in the top left corner of the header. It contains the date to be shown on the left qualified as an Akoma-Ntoso <docDate>.

akn4un:right – states that this the tag that indicates what is to be shown in the top right corner of the header. I contains the document identifier to be shown on the top right of the page, and the number (“CL 154/2 Rev.1”) is encapsulated in a <docNumber> tag.

akn4un:horizontalLine – states that this is a horizontal line

akn4un:center – states that this is information is to be shown centered on the page. It contains an Akoma-Ntoso <img> tag which refers to the image of the full horizontal logo of FAO inclusive of the language indicator on the right.

Odd and even page headers and footers:

akn4un:oddPageHeader – the header for the odd number page.

akn4un:left – has the document identifier encapsulated in the docNumber tag. Here we have additionally qualified with a class attribute “oddLeft”. This may be useful for rendering purposes e.g. when rendering to pdf or html we may use this class to specify additional placement information.

akn4un:right – states what is shown on the right hand header of odd numbered pages, it is a page number. We need to add a custom placeholder tag to indicate to XML processor that a page number needs to be rendered here, so we use a akn4un:numPage tag.

akn4un:numPage – we do not know the page number in advance, the akn4un:numPage is a proprietary that allows us to indicate to the xml processor that this tag needs to be replaced with the current page number whenever the header of an odd-numbered page is encountered.

akn4un:evenPageHeader – follows the same pattern as the akn4un:oddPageHeader