ISO Publishes New Compatibility Policy for ISO 16739-1 (IFC): A Major Step for Stable Evolution of the Standard

buildingSMART International is pleased to share important news with the openBIM community: ISO/TC 59/SC 13 has published the new Compatibility Policy for ISO 16739-1, the international standard for IFC. 

This policy provides for the first time a formal, shared framework for how future revisions of IFC will be handled, ensuring predictable, transparent, and stable evolution of the standard. 

 

Why the Policy Was Created 

As the global use of IFC continues to expand, ISO recognised the need for clearer rules on how the standard should evolve without disrupting existing projects, software, and long-term data. To address this, ISO/TC 59/SC 13 initiated the development of a compatibility policy to define: 

  • what constitutes a breaking change, 
  • how extensions or corrections should be managed, 
  • how deprecation and removal must be handled, and 
  • how compatibility must be assessed during revisions. 

The goal was simple: support innovation while protecting stability for the global user base. 

 

buildingSMART’s Role 

During the development of the policy, ISO invited buildingSMART International to collaborate as a liaison. 

bSI contributed practical insight from active IFC development, implementation experience, and community use cases. This ensured that the policy aligns with real-world needs while remaining fully grounded in ISO’s standardisation processes. 

This collaboration reinforces the strong partnership between ISO and bSI in stewarding the IFC standard. 

 

What the Policy Achieves 

The new ISO policy brings: 

  • Clear definitions of compatible, incompatible, and deprecated changes 
  • A structured process for evaluating impacts before revisions are approved 
  • Predictability for software vendors, who can plan updates with confidence 
  • Protection for long-term asset data, ensuring IFC remains reliable across decades 
  • A stable foundation for new IFC developments, including future extensions and modularisation 

 

Why This Matters for the openBIM Community 

The compatibility policy strengthens IFC’s role as a dependable, long-term, open standard. It gives users, implementers, and owners the assurance that future changes will be managed responsibly and transparently. 

For the wider openBIM ecosystem, it means a more robust, more predictable path forward. 

 

Next Steps 

buildingSMART will continue supporting ISO in applying the policy to future revisions of ISO 16739-1 and will provide guidance to the community on what to expect as IFC continues to evolve. 

 

Author: Evandro Alfieri

Posted in Blog, News