Apply now! Technical Committee for Standardisation (TC4S)

We are pleased to announce that applications are now open for the Technical Committee for Standardisation (TC4S) 2026.

Purpose

The Technical Committee for Standardisation (TC4S) is the central body of the Catena-X Association for all standardisation matters, embedded in the Working Model as part of the governance structure. Its objective is to be the central point in the standardisation process and the gatekeeper for standard candidates before formal approval by the Executive Board, operating under strict compliance with the Operating Model, antitrust law, and IP regulations.

Formal responsibility for standard governance and compliance rests with the Association — directly with the Management Board and indirectly with the designated Process Owner. TC4S’s focus, in support of that mandate, is standard quality and antitrust compliance. Under the new Release Process 2.0, that focus splits into two layers: a clean standard (formally and technically correct) and a good standard (strong in content and domain fit). For the clean standard, TC4S supports the Process Owner by running the operational review layer — the QG-1 Completeness Check and the QG-2 gate that closes the Quality Assurance phase. For the good standard, TC4S does not review technical substance itself, but involves and coordinates the relevant technical Committees and Experts, the Architecture Management Committee (AMC), and Expert Groups.

Key Goals

• Standardisation Governance: Strengthen the standardisation process using consolidated learnings from previous cycles, balancing quality, efficiency, and compliance across the roughly six-month standardisation cycle — including refined quality gates (QG-1 intake, QG-2 verification), a rules and gate framework, stewardship of the review schedule, review tooling (rules workbook to YAML pipeline), and coordinated review organisation with balanced workload across TC4S, AMC, and Committees.
• Process Compliance & Guidance: Act as the Association’s anchor point and gatekeeper for all Standard and Change Request candidates — systematically assessing and reviewing submissions, providing feedback and guidance to Expert Groups and Committees, and coordinating the Committees and Experts needed for the Quality Assurance phase’s content review.
• Standard Quality Assurance: Evaluate every candidate against established requirements, guidelines, and best practices to identify gaps and inconsistencies ahead of formal review, collaborate with the AMC on long-term architectural integrity, and maintain the Standard Quality Criteria Catalogue (SQCC) and the Guardrails for Normative Writing (GRNW).

All quality criteria and gates are tested against real Standard and Change Requests before they are formalised.

Why participate?

• Early Visibility: Gain early insight into the latest Standard and Change Request pipeline, ahead of publication.
• Shape Quality Criteria: Influence Catena-X’s standard quality criteria, guardrails, and review tooling.
• Close Collaboration: Work closely with Expert Groups, Domain Committees such as the AMC, and the Executive Board.
• Deep Process Insight: Gain deep insight into the standardisation process and its evolution.

Who should apply?

TC4S seeks members with core expertise in at least one of technical specifications, interoperability, or certification, and ideally domain knowledge across at least two of the Association’s Platform Capabilities or Business Domains.

• Standard Landscape Overview: A broad overview of the Catena-X standard landscape; domain expertise in standardisation is an advantage.
• Technical Depth: Core expertise in technical specifications, interoperability, or certification.
• Domain Breadth: Ideally familiarity across at least two Platform Capabilities (Sovereign Data Exchange, IAM, Business Partner Data Management, Data Chains, Data Discovery Services) or Business Domains (Industry Core, Sustainability, Supply Chain & Quality, Engineering, Onboarding).
• Process Rigor: Comfortable evaluating candidates against established requirements, guidelines, and quality criteria — not creating technical content.
• Collaborative Mindset: Work within TC4S, coordinate with Expert Groups, Committees, and the AMC, and help the Executive Board reach informed decisions.

Applications are particularly encouraged from members whose process rigor and technical depth strengthen the Committee’s role as quality gatekeeper for the standardisation process.

Commitment

A minimum availability of approximately 4 to 8 hours per week is required, peaking during the QG-1 and QG-2 review phases, along with regular, active participation in group activities and meetings. During the Verification Stage, the focus lies on the review and coordination of Standard Requests and Change Requests; between review cycles, it shifts to advancing the process, tooling, governance foundation, and organisation of TC4S itself.

Target Membership

Composition follows the Association’s continuity rule: at least 25% of the prior committee composition is retained across cycles. Non-German applicants are explicitly welcomed. The final seat count for the 2026 cycle is to be confirmed.

Association Contact: Jan Seidel

How to apply

All registered members received an email from info@catena-x.net on July 21, 2026 regarding the call for applications, including a link to the application form.

If you are a member of the association and have not received this email, please contact the primary contact person in your organisation. If you can’t reach this person, in urgent cases, please write an email to info@catena-x.net.

Please submit your application by August 17, 2026.

We look forward to your application.