OASIS has set up a technical committee to create a Universal Business Language (UBL) which will standardise common business data structures and allow businesses of all sizes to enjoy the benefits of electronic commerce. UBL is being developed in harmony with the OASIS ebXML specifications but also takes into account the recommendations and standards issued by ISO, IEC, ITU, UN/ECE, W3C, IETF, OASIS, and other relevant standards bodies and organisations. The vocabulary and structures of UBL will be aligned with the vocabulary and structures of existing XML business libraries.

When UBL was announced on October 17, 2001, it was stated that xCBL will be the starting point. The UBL Charter states that the UBL Technical Committee will ... "Begin with xCBL 3.0 as the starting point ... to develop the standard UBL library by mutually agreed-upon changes to xCBL 3.0 based on industry experience with other XML business libraries and with similar technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange."

Information on UBL can be found at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/