ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2
Coded Character Sets
September 2025
Scope
Standardization of graphic character sets and their characteristics, including string ordering, associated control functions, their coded representation for information interchange and code extension techniques. Excluded: audio and picture coding.
History
1961
Established as a working group of ISO/TC 97 (ISO/TC 97B: Character sets and coding) at the 1st Plenary Meeting of ISO/TC 97.
1962
Renamed to ISO/TC 97/SC 2 at the 2nd Plenary Meeting of ISO/TC 97.
1987
Establishment of JTC 1/SC 2 (transferred from ISO/TC 97/SC 2). The title was ” Character sets and information coding” and the Area of work was “The standardization of the bit and byte coded representation of information for interchange including among others, sets of graphic characters, of control functions, of picture elements and audio information coding of text for processing and interchange; code extension techniques; implementation of these coded representations on interchange media and transmission systems”. The Secretariat was AFNOR and the Chairman was Mr. Jean Dubos. The working groups existed were: WG 1: Code Extension Techniques [Convenor: Mr. Dara Hekimi], WG 2: Multiple-octet Coded character set [Convenor: Mr. Jerry J. Andersen], WG 3: 7-bit and 8-bit Codes [Convenor: Mr. Dara Hekimi], WG 6: Control Functions [Convenor: Mr. Joachim Friemelt] and WG 8: Coded Representation of Picture and Audio Information [Convenor: Dr. Hiroshi Yasuda].
1988-10
Mr. Bernard Marti was endorsed as its Chairman. Mr. Mike Ksar was appointed as the WG 2 Convenor. SC 2 recommended JTC 1 to establish a new SC to which the functions and activities of SC 2/WG 8 were transferred. Pending the formation of the new SC, SC 2 redefined the terms for reference of WG 8 and raised the subgroups of WG 8 to Working Group status. As a result, Working Groups 7 to 12 were created.
1991-10
The title and scope were modified. The new title was “Coded Character Sets” and scope was “Standardization of graphic character sets and their characteristics, associated control functions, and their coded representation for information interchange; excluding audio and picture coding”. WG 1 and WG 6 were disbanded and their projects were re-assigned to WG 3. The terms of reference of WG 2 and WG 3 were updated. Mr. J. van den Beld was appointed as the WG 3 Convenor. Working Groups 7 to 12 were terminated and their activities were transferred to JTC 1/SC 29.1992-07 The Secretariat was transferred from AFNOR to SNV.
1993-05
Ideographic Rapporteur Group (IRG) was established under the authority of WG 2. The rapporteur was Mr. Zhang Zhoucai.
1993-05 Publication of the first edition of ISO/IEC 10646-1 (UCS — Part 1: Architecture and basic Multilingual Plane) (34,153 characters)
1994-02 Mr. Sten Lindberg was appointed as the SC 2 Chairman. The scope was modified to “Standardization of graphic character and their characteristics, associated control functions, their coded representation for information interchange, and code extension techniques. Excluded: audio and picture coding.
1997-01
The SC 2 Secretariat was transferred from SNV to JISC.
1997-07
Mr. Evangelos Melagrakis was appointed as the WG 3 Convenor.
1997-09
Prof. Kohji Shibano was appointed as the SC 2 Chairman.
2000-09
Publication of the Second edition of ISO/IEC 10646-1. (49,170 characters)
2003-11
Project for ISO/IEC 14651 was transferred from SC 22.
2000-09
Maintenance responsibility for ISO 1073-1/-2 and ISO 1831 were transferred to JTC 1/SC 31.
2001-11
Publication of the first edition of ISO/IEC 10646-2 (UCS — Part 2: Supplementary Planes)
2003-12
Publication of the first combined edition of ISO/IEC 10646 (UCS) (96,248 characters)
2004-06
WG 3 was disbanded and its responsible projects were placed directly under SC 2. An editing group for ISO/IEC 14651 was created. Mr. Alain LaBonte was appointed as the Convenor of the Editing Group. The IRG Rapporteur was replaced by Dr. Lu Qin.
2004-10
The scope of SC 2 was modified to include “string ordering”. Mr. Tatsuo Kobayashi was appointed by JTC 1 as the SC 2 Chairman.
2006-04
Editing group for ISO/IEC 14651 was renamed to OWG-SORT.
2009-10
Prof. Yoshiki Mikami was endorsed as the SC 2 Chairman.
2011-06
The 17th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in Helsinki, Finland.
2011-08
The third edition of ISO/IEC 14651 was published.
2012-06
The third edition of ISO/IEC 10646 was published. (110,181 characters)
2012-10
The 18th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in Chiang-Mai, Thailand.
2014-09
The 19th Plenary Meeting was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. OWG-SORT was disbanded and its project was transferred to directly under SC 2. Mr. Michel Suignard was appointed as WG 2 Convenor.
2014-09
The fourth edition of ISO/IEC 10646 was published. (120,585 characters)
2015-10
The 20th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in Matsue, Shimane, Japan.
Dr. Shuichi Tashiro was endorsed as the new Chairman of SC 2.
2016-09
The21st Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in San Jose, CA, USA.
2016-11
At the JTC 1 Lillehammer Plenary Meeting, Dr. Tashiro was appointed as the new SC 2 Chairman.
2017-09
The 22nd Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. The 5th edition of ISO/IEC 10646 was published. (132.797 characters)
2018-06
The 23rd Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in London, UK.
2019-01
The fifth edition of ISO/IEC 14651 was published.
2019-06
The 24th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in Redmond, WA, USA. The name of the ad hoc group under WG 2 for ideographic characters was changed to “Ideographic Research Group” (IRG)
2020-08
The 25th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held virtually. The 25th meeting was originally planned to be held in Japan in June, but it was postponed and then decided to be held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020-12
The sixth edition of ISO/IEC 10646 was published. (143,925 characters)
The sixth edition of ISO/IEC 14651 was published.
2021-06
The 26th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held virtually.
2022-06
The 27th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held virtually.
2022-11 At the JTC 1 Tokyo Plenary Meeting, Mr. Masaru Takechi was appointed as the new SC 2 Chairman starting from 2023-01.
2023-06 The 28th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
2024-06 The 29th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in Prague, Czech Republic.
2024-07 ISO/IEC TR 2375 was published.
2025-06 The 30th Plenary Meeting of SC 2 was held in Niigata, Japan.
2025-07 The seventh edition of ISO/IEC 14651 was published.
Annex
A: Chair
| Mr. Jean Dubos (1987 – 1988), |
| Mr. Bernard Marti (1988 – 1997) |
| Prof. Kohji Shibano (1997 – 2004) |
| Mr. Tatsuo Kobayashi (2004 – 2009) |
| Prof. Yoshiki Mikami (2009 – 2016) |
|
Dr. Shuichi Tashiro (2016 – 2022) Mr. Masaru Takechi (2023 – ) |
B: Secretariat:
| AFNOR ( – 1992) | |
| SNV (1992 – 1996) | Mr. Jan van den Beld (1992-1996) |
| JISC (1997 – ) | Ms. Toshiko Kimura (1997 – 2014) Ms. Ayuko Nagasawa (2014 – 2015) Ms. Toshiko Kimura (2015 – 2018) Ms. Ayuko Nagasawa (2018 – ) |
C: Working Groups
| Status | Title | Convenor | |
| WG 1 | Disbanded: 1991-10 | Code Extension Techniques | Mr. Dara Hekimi (1987 – 1991) |
| WG 2 | Active | Universal Coded Character Set | Mr. Jerry J. Andersen (1987 – 1988) Mr. Mike Ksar (1988 – 2013) Mr. Michel Suignard (2014 – ) |
| Active | WG 2/ Ideographic Research Group (IRG) Name changed from “Ideographic Rapporteur Group (IRG)” in 2019 | Mr. ZHANG Zhoucai (1993 – 2004) Dr. LU Qin (2004 – 2024) Dr. Ken Lunde (2024 – ) | |
| WG 3 | Disbanded: 2004-06 |
7-bit and 8-bit Codes | Mr. Dara Hekimi (1987 – 1991) Mr. Mr. J. van den Beld (1991 – 1997) Mr. Evangelos Melagrakis (1997 – 2004) |
| WG 6 | Disbanded: 1991-10 | Control Functions | Mr. Joachim Friemelt (1987 – 1991) |
| WG 7 to 12 | Transferred to SC 29 (Res. 16 of the 2nd SC 2 plenary) | WG 7: Coding of Computer Graphic Image WG 8: Coded Representation of Picture and Audio Information WG 9: Coding of Bi-Level Image WG 10: Coding of Photographic Image WG 11: coding of Moving Picture Image and Associated Audio WG 12: Coding of Multimedia and Hypermedia Information | WG 8: Dr. Hiroshi Yasuda (1987 – 1991) |
| OWG-SORT | Disbanded: 2014-09 | Maintenance of ISO/IEC 14651 | Mr. Alain LaBonté (2004 – 2014) |
| AHG 1 | Active | Work Process Review for ISO/IEC 10646 | Dr. Shuichi Tashiro (2024 – ) |
D: SC 2 Plenary Meetings:
# Date Place Resolutions
1 1988-10-17/20 London, UK SC 2 N 1977
2 1990-04-09/12 Washington DC, USA SC 2 N 2166
3 1991-10-14/17 Rennes, France SC 2 N 2296
4 1993-05-24/26 Athens, Greece SC 2 N 2466
5 1995-06-26/28 Helsinki, Finland SC 2 N 2616
6 1996-08-20/21 Quebec, Canada SC 2 N 2749
7 1997-07-08/09 Iraklion – Crete, Greece SC 2 N 2940
8 1998-03-24/25 Redmond, Washington, USA SC 2 N 3077
9 1999-03-16 Fukuoka, Japan SC 2 N 3296
10 2000-09-25/26 Athens, Greece SC 2 N 3492
11 2001-10-18/19 Singapore, Singapore SC 2 N 3574
12 2002-12-12 Tokyo, Japan SC 2 N 3668
13 2004-06-24/25 Markam, Ontario, Canada SC 2 N 3755
14 2006-04-27/28 Mountain View, CA, USA SC 2 N 3865
15 2008-04-25 Redmond, WA, USA SC 2 N 4021
16 2009-10-30 Tokyo, Japan SC 2 N 4112
17 2011-06-10 Helsinki, Finland SC 2 N 4194
18 2012-10-26 Chiang Mai, Thailand SC 2 N 4263
19 2014-09-30, 10-01 Colombo, Sri Lanka SC 2 N 4377
20 2015-10-19, 23 Matsue, Japan SC2 N 4439
21 2016-09-26, 30 San Jose, CA, USA SC 2 N 4498
22 2017-09-25, 29 Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China SC 2 N 4566
23 2018-06-18, 22 London, UK SC 2 N 4629
24 2019-06-17, 21 Redmond, WA, USA SC 2 N 4686
25 2020-08-24, 26 Virtual SC 2 N 4733
26 2021-06-18, 30 Virtual SC 2 N 4762
27 2022-06-20, 24 Virtual SC 2 N 4811
28 2023-06-19, 23 Waterloo, Ontario, Canada SC 2 N 4870
29 2024-06-10, 14 Prague, Czech Republic SC 2 N 4929
30 2025-06-23, 27 Niigata, Japan SC 2 N 4994
ISO/IEC SC 2 Plenary #28, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2023
ISO/IEC SC 2 Plenary #29, Prague, Czech Republic, 2024
ISO/IEC SC 2 Plenary #30, Niigata, Japan, 2025
“See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_JTC_1/SC_2.”