[PROPOSED] Verifiable Credentials Working Group Charter

The mission of the Verifiable Credentials Working Group is to make expressing, exchanging, and verifying credentials easier and more secure on the web. delete:  delete:  Readers that are new to this work should read the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/"> latest maintain the W3C Recommendations, as well as related Notes, in the area of Verifiable Credentials Data Model delete: </a> . The delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#introduction"> Introduction delete: </a> and delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#terminology"> Terminology delete: </a> may be particularly helpful to W3C Members seeking to better understand some the terminology used in this Credentials, published under the insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html"> previous charter e.g., Credentials vs. Verifiable Credentials and Presentations vs. Verifiable Presentations. insert: </a> of the Working Group.

Join the Verifiable Credentials Working Group.

Charter Status	See the delete: `<a href="https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/vc/charters">` insert: `<a href="https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/vc/charters/">` group status page and detailed change history .
Start date	13 June 2022 TBD
End date	15 January 2025 TBD + 2 years
Chairs	Brent Zundel (mesur.io)
Team Contacts	Ivan Herman (0.20 FTE )
Meeting Schedule	Teleconferences: 1-hour calls will be held weekly, plus additional special-topic calls as needed needed, until the finalization of the Recommendations. As a maintenance Working Group, meetings will be held as needed, minimally one 1-hour call a month. Face-to-face: We will meet during the W3C's annual Technical Plenary week; additional face-to-face meetings may be scheduled by consent of the participants, usually no more than 3 per year.

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Motivation and Background insert: `</h2>`

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In the past few years the Working Group has developed a family of specifications in the area of Verifiable Credentials. They provide a mechanism to express "credentials" (driver's licenses, university degrees, government-issued residence permits, etc.) on the Web in a digital format that is cryptographically secure, privacy respecting, and machine-verifiable. These technologies are being gradually adopted by various institutions, governmental and otherwise, in different countries around the globe. insert: 

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Readers that are new to this work should read the insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-overview/"> Verifiable Credentials Overview insert: </a> W3C Note, published by the Working Group. The Note explains some of the terminology used in this charter, e.g., Verifiable Credentials and Presentations, Data Integrity, and cryptosuites. It also provides a technical overview of how the various specifications listed as insert: <a href="#deliverables"> deliverables insert: </a> relate to one another. insert: 

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Under its insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html"> charter insert: </a> , expiring in January 2025, the Working Group should finalize all its insert: <a href="#deliverables"> specifications insert: </a> , thereby completing its work. Once all Recommendations are published, this Working Group will maintain the complete family of specifications and related notes. insert: 

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Scope

Building on the experience gained through implementation, deployment and usage of Verifiable Credentials (VCs), this The Working Group will extend Verifiable Credential foundations with complete the Recommendations listed insert: <a href="#deliverables"> below insert: </a> , if applicable. Once all the planned Recommendations have been published, the Working Group will continue in maintenance mode to handle errata. No new standardized technologies to improve the use of this technology on the Web. delete:  delete:  The delete:  Recommendations are planned. insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/20231103/#class-4"> Class 4 changes insert: </a> for these Recommendations are insert:  out of scope delete:  of the Verifiable Credentials Working Group is: insert:  , insert:  insert:  except insert:  insert:  :

Addressing errata, ambiguities, and interoperability problems found Features that had been listed as insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model-2.0/#reserved-extension-points"> Reserved Extension Points insert: </a> in previous versions of the Verifiable Credentials Data Model specification, but have been developed further by the community, providing a possibly adequate consensus supporting their addition to the Recommendation. At the time of writing this charter, these terms are: the insert: <code> refreshService insert: </code> , insert: <code> evidence insert: </code> , insert: <code> confidenceMethod insert: </code> , insert: <code> renderMethod insert: </code> , and insert: <code> termsOfUse insert: </code> properties; and related classes like insert: <code> RefreshService insert: </code> and insert: <code> ConfidenceMethod insert: </code> .
A data model for Verifiable Credentials, inclusive of: delete: </li> delete: <ul> delete: <li> Credentials and Verifiable Credentials delete: </li> delete: <li> Presentations and Verifiable Presentations delete: </li> delete: <li> requests for or submissions of Verifiable Credentials or Verifiable Presentations Serious security issues that arise, requiring changes in a Recommendation.

delete: <li> Registries for the data model to support extension points in the normative deliverables. delete: </li> delete: <li> Algorithms for the expression and verification of proofs that use existing cryptographic primitives delete: </li> delete: <li> Refining multilingual support in the data model delete: </li> delete: </ul> delete:  It is explicitly not a requirement that the new specifications be fully compatible with related past specifications. delete: 

Out of Scope

The following features are delete:  out of scope delete:  , scope, and will not be addressed by the Verifiable Credentials Working group: this Working Group:

The mandate of any specific style of supporting infrastructure, such as a Distributed Ledger (DLT), for a Verifiable Credentials ecosystem
The specification of new cryptographic primitives
The normative specification of APIs or protocols

Deliverables

Updated document status is available on the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/vc/publications"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/vc/publications/"> group publication status page .

Draft state indicates the state of the deliverable at the time of the charter approval. Expected completion indicates when the deliverable is projected to become a Recommendation, or otherwise reach a stable state.

Normative Specifications

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The details of all the entries will have to be updated when the charter is finalized. insert: 

The Working Group will deliver the following W3C normative specifications:

Verifiable Credentials Data Model (VCDM) 2.0

This specification defines the Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0 along with serializations of that data model. It will replace the current Verifiable Credentials Data Model 1.1 Recommendation .

Draft state: delete: <a href="https://w3c.github.io/vc-data-model/"> Editor's Draft insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model-2.0/"> Candidate Recommendation

Expected completion: 30 June 2024 delete:  delete: <dl> delete: <dt> 2025-01-31 insert: 

Adopted Draft: delete: <a href='https://w3c.github.io/vc-data-model/'> insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model-2.0/'> Verifiable Credentials Data Model 1.1 v2.0

Exclusion Draft: delete: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2021/REC-vc-data-model-20211109/'> insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/CR-vc-data-model-2.0-20240201/'> Verifiable Credentials Data Model 1.1 2.0 (CR Snapshot) Exclusion period began 11 November 2021; 2024-02-01; Exclusion period ended 08 January 2022. delete:  delete:  delete:  Other 2024-04-01. insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft Charter: delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/2020/12/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html"> https://www.w3.org/2020/12/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html delete: </a> delete:  delete: </dd> delete: </dl> https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html insert:  insert: 

Securing Verifiable Credentials (SVC) Credential Data Integrity 1.0

This family of specifications consists of documents that each define how to express and specification is a general framework to associate proofs of integrity for Verifiable Credentials and concrete serializations for each of the defined syntaxes. The Working Group would welcome the usage of these techniques for data in general, but its scope will be to solve Verifiable Credentials use cases. The specific set of concrete serializations included will be determined by the Working Group. The following are a non-exhaustive selection of expected input documents: delete:  delete:  delete:  Cryptosuites for delete: <a href="https://w3c.github.io/vc-data-model/#json-web-token"> VC-JSON Web Token (JWT) delete: </a> : delete:  delete: <a href="https://www.iana.org/assignments/jose/jose.xhtml#web-signature-encryption-algorithms"> IANA JOSE Algorithms Registry delete: </a> delete:  delete:  delete:  Cryptosuites for delete: <a href="https://w3c-ccg.github.io/data-integrity-spec/"> and cryptosuites appear as separate specification, all part of the same family of specifications. insert: 

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insert:  Draft state: insert:  insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-integrity/"> Candidate Recommendation insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Expected completion: insert:  2025-01-31 insert: 

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insert:  Adopted Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-integrity/'> Verifiable Credential Data Integrity delete: </a> : delete:  delete: <a href="https://github.com/w3c-ccg/lds-jws2020/"> 1.0 insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/CR-vc-data-integrity-20231121/'> Verifiable Credential Data Integrity 1.0 (CR Snapshot) insert: </a> Exclusion period insert:  began insert:  2023-11-21; Exclusion period insert:  ended insert:  2024-01-20. insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft Charter: insert:  https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html insert:  insert: 

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Verifiable Credentials JSON Schema Specification insert: </dt>

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This specification provides a mechanism to make use of a Credential Schema in Verifiable Credential, leveraging the existing Data Schemas concept. insert: 

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insert:  Draft state: insert:  insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-json-schema/"> Candidate Recommendation insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Expected completion: insert:  2025-01-31 insert: 

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insert:  Adopted Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-json-schema/'> Verifiable Credentials JSON Schema Specification insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/CR-vc-json-schema-20231121/'> Verifiable Credentials JSON Schema Specification (CR Snapshot) insert: </a> Exclusion period insert:  began insert:  2023-11-21; Exclusion period insert:  ended insert:  2024-01-20. insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft Charter: insert:  https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html insert:  insert: 

insert: </dd>

insert: </dl> insert: <dl>

Data Integrity ECDSA Cryptosuites v1.0 insert: </dt>

insert: <dt id="ecdsa" class="spec">insert: <dd> insert: 

This specification describes a Data Integrity Cryptosuite for use when generating a digital signature using the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA). insert: 

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insert:  Draft state: insert:  insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-di-ecdsa/"> Candidate Recommendation insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Expected completion: insert:  2025-01-31 insert: 

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insert:  Adopted Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-di-ecdsa/'> Data Integrity ECDSA Cryptosuites v1.0 insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/CR-vc-di-ecdsa-20231121/'> Data Integrity ECDSA Cryptosuites v1.0 (CR Snapshot) insert: </a> Exclusion period insert:  began insert:  2023-11-21; Exclusion period insert:  ended insert:  2024-01-20. insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft Charter: insert:  https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html insert:  insert: 

insert: </dd>

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Data Integrity EdDSA Cryptosuites v1.0 insert: </dt>

insert: <dt id="eddsa" class="spec">insert: <dd> insert: 

This specification describes a Data Integrity cryptographic suite for use when creating or verifying a digital signature using the twisted Edwards Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA) and Curve25519 (ed25519). insert: 

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insert:  Draft state: insert:  insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-di-eddsa/"> Candidate Recommendation insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Expected completion: insert:  2025-01-31 insert: 

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insert:  Adopted Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-di-eddsa/'> Data Integrity EdDSA Cryptosuites v1.0 insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/CR-vc-di-eddsa-20231121/'> Data Integrity EdDSA Cryptosuites v1.0 (CR Snapshot) insert: </a> Exclusion period insert:  began insert:  2023-11-21; Exclusion period insert:  ended insert:  2024-01-20. insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft Charter: insert:  https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html insert:  insert: 

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Data Integrity BBS Cryptosuites v1.0 insert: </dt>

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This specification describes a Data Integrity Cryptosuite for use when generating digital signatures using the BBS signature scheme. The Signature Suite utilizes BBS signatures to provide selective disclosure and unlinkable derived proofs. insert: 

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insert:  Draft state: insert:  insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-di-bbs/"> Candidate Recommendation insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Expected completion: insert:  2025-01-31 insert: 

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insert:  Adopted Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-di-bbs/'> Data Integrity BBS Cryptosuites v1.0 insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/CR-vc-di-bbs-20240404/'> BBS Cryptosuite v2023 (CR Snapshot) insert: </a> Exclusion period insert:  began insert:  2024-04-04; Exclusion period insert:  ended insert:  2024-06-03. insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft Charter: insert:  https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html insert:  insert: 

insert: </dd>

insert: </dl> insert: <dl>

Securing Verifiable Credentials using JOSE and COSE insert: </dt>

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This specification defines how to secure credentials and presentations conforming to the Verifiable Credential data model with JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE), Selective Disclosure for JWTs, and CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE). insert: 

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insert:  Draft state: insert:  insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-jose-cose/"> Candidate Recommendation insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Expected completion: insert:  2025-01-31 insert: 

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insert:  Adopted Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-jose-cose/'> Securing Verifiable Credentials using JOSE and COSE insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/CR-vc-jose-cose-20240425/'> Securing Verifiable Credentials using JSON Web Signature 2020 delete: </a> , delete: <a href="https://w3c-ccg.github.io/lds-ed25519-2020/"> EdDSA delete: </a> , delete: <a href="https://w3c-ccg.github.io/di-ecdsa-secpr1-2019/"> NIST ECDSA delete: </a> , delete: <a href="https://w3c-ccg.github.io/lds-ecdsa-secp256k1-2019/"> Koblitz ECDSA Tokens (CR Snapshot) insert: </a> Exclusion period insert:  began insert:  2024-04-25; Exclusion period insert:  ended insert:  2024-06-24. insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft Charter: insert:  https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html insert:  insert: 

insert: </dd>

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Bitstring Status List v1.0 insert: </dt>

insert: <dt id="bitstring" class="spec">insert: <dd> insert: 

This specification describes a privacy-preserving, space-efficient, and high-performance mechanism for publishing status information such as suspension or revocation of Verifiable Credentials through use of bitstrings. insert: 

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insert:  Draft state: insert:  insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-bitstring-status-list/"> Candidate Recommendation

Expected completion: 30 June 2024 2025-01-31 insert: 

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insert:  Adopted Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-bitstring-status-list/'> Bitstring Status List v1.0 insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/WD-vc-status-list-20230427/'> Verifiable Credentials Status List v1.0 (CR Snapshot) insert: </a> Exclusion period insert:  began insert:  2024-05-21; Exclusion period insert:  ended insert:  2024-07-20. insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft Charter: insert:  https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html insert: 

delete: </section> delete: <section id="conditional-normative"> delete: <h3> Conditional Normative Specifications delete: </h3> delete:  Depending on progress in the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/community/credentials/"> W3C Credentials Community Group delete: </a> , the delete: <a href="https://www.ietf.org/"> IETF delete: </a> , and the delete: <a href="https://identity.foundation/"> DIF delete: </a> , the Working Group may also produce W3C Recommendations based on the following documents: delete:  delete: <table> delete: <tr> delete: <th> Specification delete: </th> delete: <th> Description delete: </th> delete: <th> Input insert: <dl>

Controller Documents delete: </th> delete: </tr> delete: <tr> delete: <td> PGP Cryptosuite delete: </td> delete: <td> 1.0 insert: </dt>

insert: <dt id="controller" class="spec">insert: <dd> insert: 

A controller document is a set of data that specifies one or more relationships between a controller and a set of data, such as a set of public cryptographic digital signature suite that utilizes Pretty Good Privacy [ delete: <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4880"> RFC4880 delete: </a> ]. delete: </td> delete: <td> delete: <a href="https://or13.github.io/lds-pgp2021/"> PGP Cryptosuite delete: </a> delete: </td> delete: </tr> delete: <tr> delete: <td> BBS+ Cryptosuite delete: </td> delete: <td> A cryptographic digital signature suite supporting selective disclosure. delete: </td> delete: <td> delete: <a href="https://w3c-ccg.github.io/ldp-bbs2020/"> BBS+ Cryptosuite delete: </a> delete: </td> delete: </tr> delete: <tr> delete: <td> Verifiable Credential Protection Using JWPs delete: </td> delete: <td> A cryptographic container format for expressing JWT-like proofs for selective disclosure and other modern cryptographic schemes. delete: </td> delete: <td> delete: <a href="https://json-web-proofs.github.io/json-web-proofs/"> VC-JSON Web Proof (JWP) delete: </a> delete: </td> delete: </tr> delete: <tr> delete: <td> Koblitz ECDSA Recovery Cryptosuite delete: </td> delete: <td> A cryptographic digital signature suite supporting elliptic curve public key recovery. delete: </td> delete: <td> delete: <a href="https://identity.foundation/EcdsaSecp256k1RecoverySignature2020/"> Secp256k1 Recovery Cryptosuite delete: </a> delete: </td> delete: </tr> delete: </table> delete:  Other cryptographic suites for delete: <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8017"> NIST RSA delete: </a> , delete: <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4490"> EASC DSA delete: </a> , delete: <a href="https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/1363.3/3822/"> SM9 IBSA delete: </a> , delete: <a href="https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/post-quantum-cryptography"> NIST post-quantum cryptography delete: </a> , or other externally standardized cryptographic primitives may be produced under the same conditions as the table above. delete:  delete: </section> delete: <section id="normative"> delete: <h3> Registries delete: </h3> delete:  The Working Group may create a set of delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#registries"> registries delete: </a> including delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#registry-definition"> registry definitions delete: </a> and delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#registry-table"> registry tables delete: </a> to support extension points in the above normative deliverables. Registries for extension points that are mandatory to use, for any of the above normative deliverables (for example, Verifiable Credential properties that MUST be included in a Verifiable Credential), must have at least one standardized entry. delete:  keys. insert: 

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insert:  Draft state: insert:  insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/controller-document/"> Working Draft insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Expected completion: insert:  2025-01-31 insert: 

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insert:  Adopted Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/controller-document/'> Controller Documents v1.0 insert: </a> insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft: insert:  insert: <a href='https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/WD-controller-document-20240523/'> Controller Document v1.0 (First Public Working Draft) insert: </a> Exclusion period insert:  began insert:  2024-05-23; Exclusion period insert:  ended insert:  2024-07-22. insert: 

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insert:  Exclusion Draft Charter: insert:  https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html insert:  insert: 

insert: </dd>

insert: </dl>

Other Deliverables

Other non-normative documents may be created as time, attention, and resources permit. The following list is a non-exhaustive selection of documents the Working Group may wish to produce. The Working Group will use its discretion to decide which, if any, to work on, and may publish WG Notes or other documents not listed here. created, such as:

Test suites for all normative deliverables
Presentation Request Data Model
Storage and Sharing of Verifiable Credentials
Privacy Guidance for Verifiable Credentials
Extensions for binding multilingual resources for localized user interfaces
A Developer Guide consisting of one or more notes related to general implementation guidance and best practices for working with Verifiable Credentials, including but not limited to:
- One or more HTTP protocol definitions for Verifiable Credential Exchange (such as the VC-API )
- Guidance on Verifiable Credential Exchange over OpenID Connect
- Verifiable Credential Exchange over Grant Negotiation and Authorization Protocol (GNAP)
- Other protocols as time, attention, and resources permit.
Guidance to enhance Verifiable Credential interoperability:
- Verifiable Credential Extension Vocabularies (e.g., ISO 18013-5 Mobile Driver's License)
- Implementation Guides
- Test Suites

The Working Group may also update Notes published under previous charters.

Timeline

June 2022: First teleconference January 2025: Publication of all Recommendation Track documents
September 2022: FPWD for VCDM 2.0 delete: </li> delete: <li> September 2022: First face-to-face meeting delete: </li> delete: <li> January 2023: FPWD for SVC 1.0 delete: </li> delete: <li> September 2023: CR for VCDM 2.0 delete: </li> delete: <li> January 2024: CR for SVC 1.0 delete: </li> delete: <li> June 2024: REC for all standards-track documents February 2025: Working Group starts operating in maintenance mode.

Success Criteria

In order to advance to delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#RecsPR" title="Proposed Recommendation"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#RecsPR" title="Proposed Recommendation"> Proposed Recommendation , each normative specification is expected to have delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#implementation-experience"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#implementation-experience"> at least two independent interoperable implementations of every feature defined in the specification. delete:  delete:  Each specification should contain separate sections detailing all known security and privacy implications for implementers, Web authors, and end users. specification, where interoperability can be verified by passing open test suites.

There should be testing plans for each specification, starting from the earliest drafts.

In order to advance to Proposed Recommendation, each normative specification must have an open test suite that tests every feature defined in the specification. Additionally, two or more implementations should demonstrate interoperability for each feature by passing these open test suites, and by showing that these implementations may interoperate with each other. For example Verifiable Credentials produced by implementations must be consumed by other implementations and behave as specified.

A feature should be understood as a property or set of properties that are normatively required.

insert: 

Each specification should contain separate sections detailing all known security and privacy implications for implementers, Web authors, and end users. insert: 

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This Working Group expects to follow the insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/design-principles/"> TAG Web Platform Design Principles insert: </a> . insert: 

Coordination

For all specifications, this Working Group will seek horizontal review for accessibility, internationalization, performance, privacy, and security with the relevant Working and Interest Groups, and with the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/2001/tag/" title="Technical Architecture Group"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/groups/other/tag/" title="Technical Architecture Group"> TAG . Invitation for review must be issued during each major standards-track document transition, including delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#RecsWD" title="First Public Working Draft"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#RecsWD" title="First Public Working Draft"> FPWD . The Working Group is encouraged to engage collaboratively with the horizontal review groups throughout development of each specification. The Working Group is advised to seek a review at least 3 months before first entering delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#RecsCR" title="Candidate Recommendation"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#RecsCR" title="Candidate Recommendation"> CR and is encouraged to proactively notify the horizontal review groups when major changes occur in a specification following a review.

Additional technical coordination with the following Groups will be made, per the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#WGCharter"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#WGCharter"> W3C Process Document :

W3C Groups

insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/rch/"> RDF Canonicalization and Hashing Working Group insert: </a>: To synchronize on canonicalization output expression mechanisms that might be used by the VC Data Integrity specification.
Decentralized Identifier Working Group: To synchronize on cryptography-related vocabularies and definitions.
delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/WoT/WG/"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/WoT/wg/"> Web of Things Working Group: To synchronize on the needs and requirements of the WoT community, in particular on the subject of WoT Thing Descriptions, regarding digital signatures.
Credentials Community Group: Coordination on other specifications incubated by the Credentials Community Group that might utilize the output of this Working Group.
delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/APA/"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/about/groups/apawg/"> Accessible Platform Architecture (APA) Working Group: Coordinate on accessibility use cases for verifiable credentials, and work jointly on a successor publication to inaccessible CAPTCHAs. insert: </dd>
insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/fedid/"> Federated Identity Working Group insert: </a> insert: </dt>: Contribute to the development, by that group, of a Threat Model of Digital Credentials-related technologies.

External Organizations

Internet Engineering Task Force: The Working Group will seek security review from the IETF, coordinated through the Liaison.
Internet Engineering Task Force Crypto Forum Research Group: To perform broad horizontal reviews on the output of the Working Group and to ensure that new pairing-based and post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and parameters can be integrated into the Data Integrity ecosystem.
insert: <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/spice/about/"> Internet Engineering Task Force Secure Patterns for Internet CrEdentials insert: </a> insert: </dt>: Ensure that the draft standards being modeled and expressed by the IETF SPICE WG are compatible with the work of the W3C Verifiable Credentials WG. insert: </dd>
National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce: To coordinate in ensuring that new pairing-based and post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and parameters can be integrated into the Data Integrity ecosystem.
delete: <a href="https://www.hyperledger.org/use/aries"> insert: <a href="https://www.hyperledger.org/projects/aries"> Hyperledger Aries: To coordinate on broad horizontal reviews and implementations related to the specifications developed by the Working Group.
The American Civil Liberties Union: To coordinate on ensuring that the deliverables of the Working Group are a net positive for civil liberties.
Decentralized Identity Foundation Interoperability Working Group: To coordinate on broad horizontal review and integration of the specifications developed by the Working Group into the Decentralized Identity Foundation's ecosystem.
European Telecommunications Standards Institute - Electronic Signatures and Infrastructure Technical Committee: To coordinate in ensuring that eIDAS -compliant systems can be built on top of the specifications developed by the Working Group.
delete: <a href="https://www.imsglobal.org/"> insert: <a href="https://www.1edtech.org/"> 1EDTECH insert: </a> (formerly IMS Global delete: </a> Global): Ensure that the badges being modeled and expressed by the Open Badges community are compatible with the Verifiable Credentials WG.
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 17/WG 10
: Ensure that the mobile driving licenses being modeled and expressed by the ISO SC17 WG10 community are compatible with the work of the Verifiable Credentials WG.
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 17/WG 4
: Ensure that the 23220-2 data model expressed by the ISO SC17 WG4 community is compatible with the work of the Verifiable Credentials WG.

Participation

To be successful, this Working Group is expected to have 6 or more active participants for its duration, including representatives from the key implementors of this specification, and active Editors and Test Leads for each specification. The Chairs, specification Editors, and Test Leads are expected to contribute half of a working day per week towards the Working Group. There is no minimum requirement for other Participants.

The group encourages questions, comments and issues on its public mailing lists and document repositories, as described in Communication .

The group also welcomes non-Members to contribute technical submissions for consideration upon their agreement to the terms of the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/patent-policy/"> W3C Patent Policy .

Participants in the group are required (by the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#ParticipationCriteria"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#ParticipationCriteria"> W3C Process ) to follow the W3C delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/cepc/"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/code-of-conduct/"> Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct .

Communication

Technical discussions for this Working Group are conducted in delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#confidentiality-levels"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#confidentiality-levels"> public : the meeting minutes from teleconference and face-to-face meetings will be archived for public review, and technical discussions and issue tracking will be conducted in a manner that can be both read and written to by the general public. Working Drafts and Editor's Drafts of specifications will be developed in public repositories and may permit direct public contribution requests. The meetings themselves are not open to public participation, however.

Information about the group (including details about deliverables, issues, actions, status, participants, and meetings) will be available from the delete: <a href=""> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/vc"> Verifiable Credentials Working Group home page.

Most Verifiable Credentials Working Group teleconferences will focus on discussion of particular specifications, and will be conducted on an as-needed basis.

This group primarily conducts its technical work on the public mailing list public-vc-wg@w3.org ( archive ) or on GitHub issues (and specification-specific GitHub repositories and issue trackers). The public is invited to review, discuss and contribute to this work.

The group may use a Member-confidential mailing list for administrative purposes and, at the discretion of the Chairs and members of the group, for member-only discussions in special cases when a participant requests such a discussion.

delete:  The group will publish minutes for each teleconference on the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/2017/vc/WG/Meetings/Minutes/"> Group's home page delete: </a> . delete: 

Decision Policy

This group will seek to make decisions through consensus and due process, per the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#Consensus"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#Consensus"> W3C Process Document (section 3.3 delete: </a> ). 5.2.1 Consensus) insert: </a> . Typically, an editor or other participant makes an initial proposal, which is then refined in discussion with members of the group and other reviewers, and consensus emerges with little formal voting being required.

However, if a decision is necessary for timely progress and consensus is not achieved after careful consideration of the range of views presented, the Chairs may call for a group vote and record a decision along with any objections.

To afford asynchronous decisions and organizational deliberation, any resolution (including publication decisions) taken in a face-to-face meeting or teleconference will be considered provisional. A call for consensus (CfC) will be issued for all resolutions (for example, via email, GitHub issue or web-based survey), with a response period of 1 week, depending on the chair's evaluation of the group consensus on the issue. If no objections are raised by the end of the response period, the resolution will be considered to have consensus as a resolution of the Working Group.

All decisions made by the group should be considered resolved unless and until new information becomes available or unless reopened at the discretion of the Chairs or the Director. Chairs.

This charter is written in accordance with the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#Votes"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#Votes"> W3C Process Document (Section 5.2.3, Deciding by Vote) and includes no voting procedures beyond what the Process Document requires.

Patent Policy

This Working Group operates under the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/patent-policy/"> W3C Patent Policy (Version of 15 September 2020). To promote the widest adoption of Web standards, W3C seeks to issue Web specifications that can be implemented, according to this policy, on a Royalty-Free basis. For more information about disclosure obligations for this group, please see the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/2004/01/pp-impl/"> W3C Patent Policy Implementation insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/vc/ipr/"> licensing information .

Licensing

This Working Group will use the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-software"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/copyright/software-license-2023/"> W3C Software and Document license for all its deliverables.

About this Charter

This charter has been created according to delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#GAGeneral"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#GAGeneral"> section 3.4 of the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/"> Process Document . In the event of a conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.

Charter History

The following table lists details of all changes from the initial charter, per the delete: <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/#CharterReview"> insert: <a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#CharterReview"> W3C Process Document (section 4.3, Advisory Committee Review of a Charter) :

insert: <td>insert: <td>insert: <td>insert: </tr>insert: <tr>insert: <th>insert: <tr>insert: </tr>insert: <tr>insert: <th>insert: <td>insert: <td>insert: <td>insert: <td>insert: </tr>insert: <tr>insert: <th>insert: <td>insert: <td>insert: <td>

Charter Period	Start Date	End Date	Changes
Initial Charter	14 April 2017	31 March 2019
Update			2018-08-01 (plh): Updated Chairs and Team Contacts
Update			2018-09-12 (coralie): Updated Chairs
Charter Extension	1 April 2019	30 September 2019	2019-03-29 (kaz): Charter period extended till 30 September 2019
Proposed	15 November 2019	30 December 2021	(plh): AC vote for maintenance mode charter
Initial charter for maintenance mode WG	20 January 2020	30 December 2021	2020-01-10 (ivan): The Group is in maintenance mode (AC Vote ended)
Update			2020-06-15 (ivan): Removed Matt Stone as a co-chair .
Update			2020-07-24 (xueyuan): Daniel Burnett re-appointed as group Chair.
Rechartered	15 December 2020	30 December 2021	New Patent Policy
Charter Extension	30 December 2021	30 April 2022	2021-12-20: Charter extended till 30 April 2022
New charter work started	20 December 2021	05 May 2022	2021-12-20 (Ivan): Proposed work on an update of the VC Data model, and a new deliverable on VC Data Integrity. See the Advanced Notice , and the changes on the proposed charter in the advanced notice period.
New charter proposed	06 May 2022	03 June 2022	2022-05-05 (Ivan): AC Vote for the new charter
Work starts with new charter	13 June 2022	15 June 2024	2022-06-13 (Ivan): AC Vote ends, WG is not in maintenance mode any more; Kristina Yasuda replaces Wayne Chang as co-chair.
Staff contact assignment updated	28 Apr 2023	15 June 2024	2023-04-28 (Ivan): staff contact assignment was increased to 0.20 (from 0.15).
insert: `<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/WD-vc-di-bbs-20230518/">` "BBS Cryptosuite" insert: `</a>` becomes officially a normative specification deliverable insert: `</th>`	18 May 2023 insert: `</td>`	insert: `</td>`	The document has fulfilled the criteria for insert: `<a href="https://www.w3.org/2022/06/verifiable-credentials-wg-charter.html#conditional-normative">` conditional normative specification insert: `</a>` to be added to the official deliverables of the Working Group. insert: `</td>`
Update	31 October 2023	15 June 2024	2023-10-31 (Xueyuan): Brent Zundel is re-appointed and Kristina Yasuda steps down as co-chair of the group.
Update	1 April 2024	15 June 2024	2024-04-01 (Ivan): Brent Zundel is re-appointed as chair of the group.
Working on new charter insert: `</th>`	2024-03-27 insert: `</td>`	insert: `</td>`	2024-03-27 (Ivan): Work started on extension of the previous charter. insert: `</td>`
Charter Extension	21 April 2024 delete: `</td>` delete: `<td>` 15 January 2025 2024-04-21 insert: `</td>`	2025-01-15	2024-05-21 (Ivan): Charter extension extended until 15 of January. 2025-01-15. insert: `</td>`
New charter proposed insert: `</th>`	21 August 2024 insert: `</td>`	insert: `</td>`	2024-08-21 (Ivan): AC Vote for the new charter

[PROPOSED] Verifiable Credentials Working Group Charter

Motivation and Background insert: </h2>

Scope

Out of Scope

Deliverables

Normative Specifications

Other Deliverables

Timeline

Success Criteria

Coordination

W3C Groups

External Organizations

Participation

Communication

Decision Policy

Patent Policy

Licensing

About this Charter

Charter History

Motivation and Background insert: `</h2>`