Akoma Ntoso (from the Akan phrase meaning linked hearts) is an open XML standard designed for the digital representation of parliamentary, legislative, and judicial documents. It provides a machine-readable, semantically rich framework that enables governments, international organizations, and institutions to structure, exchange, and preserve legal texts in a consistent and interoperable way.

Developed under the auspices of the United Nations and later standardized by the OASIS LegalDocML Technical Committee, Akoma Ntoso has become one of the most widely recognized standards for legal documents worldwide. It is based on principles of transparency, interoperability, and long-term preservation, offering a precise mapping of textual structures, a comprehensive metadata framework, and a robust model for tracking the evolution of legal texts across time and jurisdictions.

As of 2026, Akoma Ntoso remains the official OASIS LegalDocML standard (version 1.0, approved in 2018). A new revision is scheduled for approval by the end of July 2026, reflecting more than a decade of experience with large-scale implementations in parliaments, courts, and international bodies.

Akoma Ntoso is an initiative of “Africa i-Parliament Action Plan“, a programme of UN/DESA.

 Challenge open for UN General Assembly Resolutions. Automatic Information Extraction and Knowledge Elicitation
Deadlines for submitting the initial idea: Feb. 8th, 2019.
https://uniteideas.spigit.com/unga-resolutions/Page/Home

OFFICIAL VERSION: NOW AKOMA NTOSO IS AN OASIS STANDARD AUGUST 2018