History and traditions

The DLM Forum was created though an initiative of the European Commission in 1997 with support from the public archives of European Union member states.  Until 2002 the DLM Forum was an inter-disciplinary cooperative effort led by the EU member states and the European Commission.  Subsequently, the DLM Forum has evolved to become a wider community of interested parties in archive, records, document and information lifecycle management throughout Europe.

From the third triennial conference in Barcelona in 2002 the DLM Forum has been an independent body and attracted members from both the public and private sector.  It now includes suppliers, end users, consultants, regulatory bodies and associations.  The DLM Forum is well established as an influential European centre, setting standards and guidelines within the disciplines of electronic information archiving and management.

The acronym "DLM" means "Document Lifecyle Management"

Until 2002 it stood for the French “Données Lisible par Machine” (in English "Machine Readable Data")

The first DLM Forum meeting was held in 1996 and the second in 1999.  Both these meetings were hosted by the European Commission in Brussels and established the tradition of a large triennial conference.  The DLM Forum now meets for a two day members meeting twice a year (in Spring and Autumn), with a longer three day forum in place of one of the members meetings every third year.  Meetings are traditionally hosted by whichever European country holds the current EU presidency.

The last biannual members meeting was in Härnösand, Sweden in November 2009

The last triennial conference was in Toulouse, France in December 2008

Navigating the Web site

You have reached the official Web site for the DLM Forum and from these pages you can see who our members are

If you or your organisation is interested in joining the DLM Forum then you will also find information on becoming a member

You can find out about upcoming DLM Forum events and keep abreast of the latest DLM Forum news

In 2001 the DLM Forum published the European standard MoReq, Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records.  In 2008, MoReq2 was published which now includes a testing programme and certified compliance.  Information about the standard and the related certification programme can be found in the MoReq area of the Web site

You can download a full history of the DLM Forum and MoReq in PDF format from the download pages

In addition to MoReq, the DLM Forum is interested in progressing a number of other activities and projects

If you would like to contact the DLM Forum for any reason, or take part in one of the DLM Forum activities, or if you have any feedback or suggestions then we are keen to hear from you.  Please use the contact form