ViDA Base Layer Given Boost as OASIS Approves UBL V2.5 Standard
Friday 28th August 2026
OASIS Open, the international open source and standards consortium has announced the approval of Universal Business Language (UBL) V2.5 as an OASIS Standard. Developed by UBL Technical Committee members from industry, government, and academia, UBL remains the leading interchange format for business documents.
This new version reflects real-world requirements from global trade, logistics, and the public sector, expanding support for e-commerce, retail transactions, and circular economy compliance. It also maintains backward compatibility with all UBL 2.x implementations.
UBL 2.5 introduces eight new document types. Together, these updates further improve interoperability while supporting evolving business requirements:
- Improved invoice and procurement status management
- Enhanced payment referencing
- Third-party collections support
- New element deprecation mechanism (to phase out fields while preserving compatibility)
- Standardized framework for exchanging compliance data internationally
- Support for ISO 14000 environmental standards
A major focus of the release is support for the circular economy. New Waste Movement and Waste Notification documents provide a standardised digital framework for cross-border waste management, helping organisations exchange compliance data more efficiently while supporting international and regional regulatory requirements.
“UBL 2.5 is our most significant release since UBL 2.1,” said Kenneth Bengtsson, Chair of the UBL TC. “It introduces mechanisms to progressively improve interoperability while preserving backward compatibility, expands UBL’s environmental and circularity capabilities with support for ISO 14000, and lays the foundation for JSON and other syntax bindings in future releases.”
“The Publications Office of the European Union works actively with the OASIS UBL Technical Committee and is pleased to see its continuous evolution that helps adopters improve the quality of their data exchanges. This contributes to transparency, re-use and data quality in public procurement,” said Franck Noël, Director, Access to and Reuse of Public Information, Publications Office of the European Union.
UBL 2.1 already underpins many einvoicing mandates across the globe and this latest release will provide the base for the compliant implementation of the new European eInvoicing standard (EN 16931-1:2026) that will power ViDA e-invoicing mandates in the EU.
Related News: OASIS Issues Universal Business Language (UBL) Draft for Review
