International Press
Telecommunications Council

Directory of Controlled Vocabularies external to IPTC

The IPTC creates and maintains a rich set of Controlled Vocabularies for categorising news and other news-media related content. You can find more about them - branded as IPTC NewsCodes - on the main IPTC website.

The IPTC is aware that Controlled Vocabularies (CV) created by other bodies are widely used for news exchange too. As the IPTC does not intend to duplicate existing work - which would result in having to maintain CVs with actually the same scope in parallel - the IPTC recommends to use these non-IPTC controlled vocabularies below.

The IPTC explicity acknowledges all Intellectual Property associated with these CVs and emphasizes that it only recommends their use but does not assert or claim any ownership or rights regarding these CVs.

ANPA 1312 Category Codes: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/anpa1312-category/)
Body owning this CV: This vocabulary was previously owned by NAA
Description of this CV by the owner (ANPA 1312 specs, section J): The category code of the story may be any of the single alpha characters from the vocabulary.
Homepage for this CV: https://web.archive.org/web/20150425154909/http://www.naa.org/topics-and-tools/miscellaneous/wire-service-transmission-guidelines.aspx

ANPA 1312 Priority Codes: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/anpa1312-priority/)
Body owning this CV: This vocabulary was previously owned by NAA
Description of this CV by the owner (ANPA 1312 specs, section H): The priority of a transmission is designated by any of the single alpha characters from the vocabulary.
Homepage for this CV: https://web.archive.org/web/20150425154909/http://www.naa.org/topics-and-tools/miscellaneous/wire-service-transmission-guidelines.aspx

ANPA 1312 Service Level Codes: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/anpa1312-servicelevel/)
Body owning this CV: This vocabulary was previously owned by NAA
Description of this CV by the owner (ANPA 1312 specs, section B): The wire designator code will be an upper- or lowercase single alpha character that identifies the basic nature of the service.
Homepage for this CV: https://web.archive.org/web/20150425154909/http://www.naa.org/topics-and-tools/miscellaneous/wire-service-transmission-guidelines.aspx

ANPA 1312 Version Codes: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/anpa1312-version/)
Body owning this CV: This vocabulary was previously owned by NAA
Description of this CV by the owner (ANPA 1312 specs, section O): The information in this field is designed to enable newspaper systems to distinguish new leads, inserts, corrections and adds, so that the process of automatically assembling separately transmitted portions of a story is not limited to putting the latest material at the bottom of the file.
Homepage for this CV: http://www.naa.org/topics-and-tools/miscellaneous/wire-service-transmission-guidelines.aspx

BCP47 Language Tags: (Scheme URL: http://cvx.iptc.org/bcp47/)
Body owning this CV: IETF - www.ietf.org
Description of this CV by the owner: Language tags are used to help identify languages, whether spoken, written, signed, or otherwise signaled, for the purpose of communication.
Homepage for this CV: https://tools.ietf.org/html/bcp47

CUSIP = Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/cusip/)
Body owning this CV: Owned by the American Bankers Association, and operated by S&P Capital IQ.
Body owning the format of the codes: CUSIP Global Services (CGS) - http://www.cusip.com/cusip/index.htm
Description of this CV by the owner: the CUSIP is the National Securities Identification Number for products issued from both the United States and Canada.
Homepage for this CV:http://www.cusip.com/

FIGI = Financial Instrument Global Identifier (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/figi/)
Body owning this CV: Owned by the Object Management Group (OMG), and operated by openFIGI
Body owning the format of the codes: Object Management Group (OMG) - https://www.omg.org
Description of this CV by the owner: the FIGI is a Financial Instrument Identification Framework designed to enable effective and scalable data management within organizations.
Homepage for this CV: http://www.openFIGI.com/

GICS = Global Industry Categorisation Standard: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/gics/)
Body owning this CV: GICS was developed by MSCI and Standard & Poor’s, and is maintained by MSCI
Body owning the format of the codes: MSCI Products - GICS: http://www.msci.com/products/indexes/sector/gics/
Description of this CV by the owner: The GICS classifications aim to enhance the investment research and asset management process for financial professionals worldwide. It is the result of numerous discussions with asset owners, portfolio managers and investment analysts around the world and is designed to respond to the global financial community's need for an accurate, complete and standard industry definition.
Homepage for this CV: http://www.msci.com/products/indexes/sector/gics/

ISIN = International Securities Identifying Number (based on ISO 6166): (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/isin/)
Body owning this CV: Not a single body, by the specifications of the ISIN the NSINs (National Securities Identifying Number) is assigned by a local national body for each country.
Body owning the format of the ISIN codes: ISO - International Organization for Standardization - www.iso.org

ISO 2-letter country name codes - ISO 3166-1 alpha-2: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iso3166-1a2/)
Body owning this CV: ISO - International Organization for Standardization - www.iso.org
Description of this CV by the owner: Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions -- Part 1: Country codes. The short country names from ISO 3166-1 and the alpha-2 codes are made available by ISO at no charge for internal use and non-commercial purposes.
Homepage for this CV: https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html

ISO 3-letter country name codes - ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iso3166-1a3/)
Body owning this CV: ISO - International Organization for Standardization - www.iso.org
Description of this CV by the owner: Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions -- Part 1: Country codes. The short country names from ISO 3166-1 and the alpha-2 codes are made available by ISO at no charge for internal use and non-commercial purposes.
Note by the IPTC: the alpha-3 codes (= 3 letter codes) are not freely available, only by the ISO documents you can buy from their shop on the ISO web site.
Homepage for this CV: https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html

ISO Country subdivision codes - ISO 3166-2 (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iso3166-2/)
Body owning this CV: ISO - International Organization for Standardization - www.iso.org
Description of this CV by the owner: Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions -- Part 2: Country subdivision code. The first part is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the country. The second part is a string of up to three alphanumeric characters identifying a subdivision of the country.
Homepage for this CV: https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html

ISO Market Identifier Codes (MIC) - ISO 10383: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iso10383-mic/)
Body owning this CV: ISO - International Organization for Standardization - www.iso.org
Description of this CV by the owner: This International Standard (ISO 10383) specifies a universal method of identifying exchanges, trading platforms and regulated or non-regulated markets as sources of prices and related information in order to facilitate automated processing.
Homepage for this CV: http://www.iso15022.org/MIC/homepageMIC.htm

ISO currency codes - ISO 4217 - alpha codes: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iso4217a/)
ISO currency codes - ISO 4217 - numeric codes: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iso4217n/)
Body owning this CV: ISO - International Organization for Standardization - www.iso.org
Description of this CV by the owner: This International Standard specifies the structure for a three-letter alphabetic code and an equivalent three-digit numeric code for the representation of currencies and funds. For those currencies having minor units, it also shows the decimal relationship between such units and the currency itself.
Homepage for this CV: on the ISO website:
https://www.iso.org/iso-4217-currency-codes.html

Paralympic Sports (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/parasport/)
Body owning this CV:The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) - see https://www.paralympic.org/the-ipc/about-us
Description: Classification of sports is individually governed by each International Federation in the Paralympic Movement, within the framework of the IPC Classification Code. Based on that for each sport one to many classes may be defined.
Note on codes: The paralympic sports are grouped into about 30 sports. Each of theses sports has its specific classes. And each class of a sport has a code, typically a few characters for the sport plus digits and hyphens for the class. All spaces in these codes must be omitted for the use with the IPTC URI.
Homepage for this CV: Classification of sports at https://www.paralympic.org/classification-of-sports

SEC Submission Type - Securities and Exchange Commission Submission Types: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/secst/)
Body owning this CV: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Submission - www.sec.gov
Body owning format of the codes: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Submission.
Description of this CV by the owner: The SEC Submission Type defines the specific submission type, and implied form specification, associated with filing a document to the U.S. SEC EDGAR database.
Homepage for this CV: http://www.sec.gov/

SEDOL = Stock Exchange Daily Official List: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/sedol/)
Body owning this CV: The London Stock Exchange.
Description of this CV by the owner: A SEDOL is a Country-level Identifier issued across all asset classes in all jurisdictions globally.
Homepage for this CV: https://www.lseg.com/markets-products-and-services/data-analytics/data-solutions/sedol/documentation

Ticker: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/ticker/)
Body owning this CV: not applicable
Description of this CV: A set of alphanumeric characters allocated by a trading venue to a listed security..
Homepage for this CV: Not applicable
Note for this CV: Note: Users should not assume that a ticker symbol will uniquely identify an organisation. For example some ticker symbols identify stock indexes, or A- and B-class shares of a company, or listings on multiple exchanges.

TIDM = Tradable Instrument Display Mnemonics: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/tidm/)
Body owning this CV: The London Stock Exchange.
Description of this CV by the owner: A TIDM identifies a security listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Homepage for this CV: Please refer to the SEDOL documentation: https://www.lseg.com/markets-products-and-services/data-analytics/data-solutions/sedol/documentation

Privacy Sandbox Topics taxonomy v1: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/googletopicsv1/)
Body owning this CV: Google
Description of this CV: Topics taxonomy created to work with the Google-led Privacy Sandbox initiative to facilitate online advertising without the use of third-party cookies.
Homepage for this CV: https://github.com/patcg-individual-drafts/topics/blob/main/taxonomy_v1.md

Privacy Sandbox Topics taxonomy v2: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/googletopicsv2/)
Body owning this CV: Google
Description of this CV: Topics taxonomy created to work with the Google-led Privacy Sandbox initiative to facilitate online advertising without the use of third-party cookies.
Homepage for this CV: https://github.com/patcg-individual-drafts/topics/blob/main/taxonomy_v2.md

IAB Content Taxonomy 2.0: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iabcontent20/)
Body owning this CV: IAB Tech Lab
Description of this CV: Version 2.0 of the IAB Content Taxonomy, released in November 2017
Homepage for this CV: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/content-taxonomy/

IAB Content Taxonomy 2.1: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iabcontent21/)
Body owning this CV: IAB Tech Lab
Description of this CV: Version 2.1 of the IAB Content Taxonomy, released in October 2020
Homepage for this CV: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/content-taxonomy/

IAB Content Taxonomy 2.2: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iabcontent22/)
Body owning this CV: IAB Tech Lab
Description of this CV: Version 2.2 of the IAB Content Taxonomy, released in December 2020
Homepage for this CV: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/content-taxonomy/

IAB Content Taxonomy 3.0: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iabcontent30/)
Body owning this CV: IAB Tech Lab
Description of this CV: Version 3.0 of the IAB Content Taxonomy, released in January 2024
Homepage for this CV: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/content-taxonomy/

IAB Audience Taxonomy 1.0: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iabaudience10/)
Body owning this CV: IAB Tech Lab
Description of this CV: Version 1.0 of the IAB Audience Taxonomy, released in January 2024
Homepage for this CV: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/audience-taxonomy/

IAB Procuct Taxonomy 1.0: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iabadproduct10/)
Body owning this CV: IAB Tech Lab
Description of this CV: Version 1.0 of the IAB Product Taxonomy, released in August 2023
Homepage for this CV: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/product-taxonomy/

IAB Procuct Taxonomy 2.0: (Scheme URI: http://cvx.iptc.org/iabadproduct20/)
Body owning this CV: IAB Tech Lab
Description of this CV: Version 2.0 of the IAB Product Taxonomy, released in February 2024
Homepage for this CV: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/product-taxonomy/

Note for NewsML-G2 users:

The corresponding aliases for the Scheme-URIs above are defined in the G2 Catalog file.

Terms of use:

The IPTC does not manage the Controlled Vocabularies listed above and cannot take any responsibility or make any warranty for any breaches of NewsML-G2 specifications by the authorities which manage these CVs. Be aware that codes should comply with URI encoding requirements, e.g. not including spaces.

The IPTC cannot guarantee that the authorities managing the above Controlled Vocabularies comply with the NewsML-G2 requirement for persistent URIs. The following actions would breach this requirement:
• Removing a code from a Controlled Vocabulary
• Reusing a code which was assigned to one concept for another concept in the same Controlled Vocabulary.

Contact the IPTC at:

Web: www.iptc.org
Email: office@iptc.org
Postal mail: 25 Southampton Buildings, London WC2A 1AL, United Kingdom

The IPTC is registered as a private company limited by guarantee at the Companies House for England. The registered name is "Comité International des Télécommunications de Presse", the registration number is 1010968 and the registered office is 25 Southampton Buildings, London WC2A 1AL, United Kingdom. The company is not registered for VAT.