# EDIINT Working Group Charter

The EDIINT Working Group is chartered to update the mechanisms defined in RFC 4130 (MIME-Based Secure Peer-to-Peer Business Data Interchange Using HTTP, Applicability Statement 2 (AS2)) to reflect advances in Internet transport security, messaging reliability, and interoperability practices, while maintaining backward compatibility with existing implementations where practical.

## Background

The EDIINT Working Group developed protocols enabling secure and reliable business data interchange over the Internet, including AS1 (RFC3335), AS2 (RFC4130), and AS3 (RFC4823). These applicability statements have been widely adopted. Despite the availability of alternative technologies such as RESTful interfaces over HTTPS, AS2 remains foundational in numerous production environments and industry frameworks. Many sectors continue to depend on AS2 due to its proven reliability, strong authentication and non-repudiation capabilities, and established certification and compliance ecosystems. This update focuses on refreshing AS2 to maintain its operational relevance and interoperability in today's Internet environment.

## Goals and Scope

The Working Group will:

1. **Update RFC 4130 (AS2) to reflect recent practices and recommendations:**

- Align with current Internet and security practices (e.g., TLS 1.3, recommended cipher suites, certificate validation, MIME updates).
- Replace outdated dependencies with references to latest standards and best practices.
- Improve clarity in message structure, signatures, receipts, and error handling.

2. **Clarify Backward Compatibility Expectations:**

- Define guidance to ensure existing AS2 deployments continue operating without disruption, while recognizing that some legacy mechanisms—whether cryptographic, transport, configuration, or feature-related—may not interoperate with updated implementations.
- Clarify that backward compatibility focuses on preserving operational continuity and migration pathways, not guaranteeing interoperability across all legacy features or security levels.
- Where older algorithms or mechanisms are retained solely for compatibility, they will be designated appropriately relative to their modern alternatives.

3. **Clarify and Extend Functionality:**

- Incorporate operational experience and lessons from two decades of AS2 deployment.
- Address implementation ambiguities and interoperability challenges
- Document deployment best practices.
- Consider optional, informational extensions that improve operational usability or integration without redefining AS2 as a new protocol.

4. **Deliverables**

- A Standards Track document updating RFC 4130 ("RFC 4130bis").
- Optional Informational documents describing interoperability and transition strategies, covering best practices and implementation profiles.

## Out of Scope

- Development of new EDI or transport protocols (e.g., REST/HTTPS-based EDI messaging).
- Changes that break compatibility with existing AS2 deployments beyond what may be required for security or standards alignment.
- AS1 and AS3 will not be addressed as part of this work.
- Updating or obsoleting RFC 6017 and RFC 6362 will not be addressed as part of this work.