ISO 9144:1991 証券—光学式文字認識ライン—位置と構造 | ページ 2

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

Draft International Standards adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.

International Standard ISO 9144 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 68, Banking and related financial services, Sub-Committee SC 4, Securities.

Annexes A, B, C and D form an integral part of this International Standard.

Introduction

The optical reading of securities is an important step towards the further rationalization of securities processing since it results in lower handling costs, faster and more reliable processing, and thus facilitates controls. However, optical reading does not release the recipient from carrying out customary authenticity checks.

The definition of the location and structure of an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) line as contained in this International Standard must satisfy both visual and machine readable requirements.

The specific needs of the securities administration, securities printing, and OCR reading techniques are taken into account.

Benefits of OCR processing can only be achieved when a sufficiently high volume of OCR readable securities has been issued.

1 Scope

The purpose of this International Standard is

• a) to define the location and size of one or more areas on the securities (sheets, coupons, talons) for the printing of a line of characters readable by OCR equipment;
• b) to define the position of this line within the above-mentioned areas;
• c) to define the structure and the contents of this line.

This International Standard applies to all types of printed securities (both bearer and registered), such as bonds, shares, stock certificates, warrants, coupons and talons, whether they are circulating internationally or domestically.

Wherever this International Standard permits options, it is recommended at a national level to select and standardize one of them. At the time of its issuance, securities were in existence with OCR lines which do not fully conform with this International Standard, e.g. Eurobonds and French"Certificats Représentatifs". Examples are given in annex A.

2 Normative references

The following standards contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of this International Standard. At the time of publication, the editions indicated were valid. All standards are subject to revision, and parties to agreements based on this International Standard are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent editions of the standards indicated below. Members of IEC and ISO maintain registers of currently valid international Standards.