ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2025

The latest version of the standard was unanimously approved by a quorum of the canvassees on January 15, 2026. The approved document, NIST SP 500-294, is available for download. Comments and corrections on the standard may be submitted in the official comment form to biometrics-editor [at] nist.gov (biometrics-editor[at]nist[dot]gov). This standard is developed under the Procedures for the Development of American National Standards, July 1, 2025, allowing this standard to achieve ANSI’s American National Standard designation.

Sunset Dates

The following Sunset dates have been adopted for all encodings of the standard:

Traditional Encoding – December 31, 2035

NIEM 2 XML – December 31, 2030 (i.e., 2025 would likely be the last major update)

NIEM 4 XML/JSON – December 31, 2035

“Latest” – 15 years from initial approval date (Whatever version this may be)

These dates may be revisited for each revision cycle and may be extended by consensus of the canvassees.

Current Work

February 2026 - current

Work on the ANSI/NIST-ITL addendum for 2026 has commenced. If you are interested in participating in the working groups, please send an email expressing your interest to biometrics-editor [at] nist.gov (biometrics-editor[at]nist[dot]gov).

The Encoding and Tooling Working Group holds biweekly meetings to create the necessary XML and JSON encodings for the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2025 revision of the standard. If you are interested in participating this work, you can request more information by emailing biometrics-editor [at] nist.gov (biometrics-editor[at]nist[dot]gov). Once complete, the work products of this group will be posted here for public comment.

Older Work

September 3, 2025: NIST extends heartfelt thanks for your participation in the ANSI/NIST-ITL virtual workshop on August 25-29, 2025 to update the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard, with special gratitude for our presenters. The agenda and the results of the workshop are available for review.

August 12, 2025: Draft ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2025 Redlines document is available for review in advance of the August Workshop, where the changes will be discussed. Comments may be submitted by filling out the official comment form (included) and emailing it to biometrics-editor [at] nist.gov (biometrics-editor[at]nist[dot]gov). The deadline to submit comments is September 19, 2025.

February 3, 2023: NIST would like to welcome your participation in the upcoming ANSI/NIST-ITL Standard Update Workshop. This event is open to all biometric subject matter experts (SMEs), biometric system developers and integrators from government, academia, and industry alike, who wish to participate in the update of the existing document. We welcome, along with registration, and completion of the Canvassee application, suggestions and topics of interest to be included in the agenda for discussion and consideration for the update or next iteration of the ANSI/NIST-ITL Standard. Register here.