UNI opens public inquiry on 15 drafts: IT governance and gender equality

UNI, the Italian standards body, has opened a preliminary public inquiry on fifteen draft standards: five close for comments on 30 October 2026, the remaining ten on 31 October. Two directly concern anyone working with IT management systems or gender equality: the revision of the standard on IT governance, which replaces UNI CEI ISO/IEC 38500:2020, and the new gender equality management system, successor to UNI/PdR 125:2022.

Thirteen of the fifteen drafts cover areas far from compliance and governance — from skip containers to food labelling, from oils to gears. Anyone currently relying on either of the two remaining references has about ten days to read what is changing — or to weigh in before the text is finalised.

What changes in IT governance: from UNI CEI ISO/IEC 38500:2020 to UNI1617726

Draft UNI1617726, developed by committee UNI/CT 521 – UNINFO (ICT Service Management and Governance), replaces UNI CEI ISO/IEC 38500:2020 and provides — in the words of UNI's own page — guiding principles for governing bodies «on the effective, efficient and acceptable use of information technology». It is not a niche standard for IT departments only: it applies to public, private, government and non-profit organisations of any size, regardless of how intensively they use information technology. Anyone who has built their IT governance around the 38500:2020 reference should treat this revision as an update worth following, not a technical footnote.

The draft closes for comments on 31 October 2026. UNI's page does not detail how substantial the revision is compared with the 2020 text: the extent of the change (minor adjustments versus a substantial rewrite) sits in the draft text itself, which UNI makes available only in its inquiry database, behind registration.

The new gender equality management system: from UNI/PdR 125:2022 to UNI1617724

The second relevant draft, UNI1617724, comes from committee UNI/CT 038 – Sustainability and social responsibility of organisations and replaces UNI/PdR 125:2022, until now a voluntary reference practice — not a UNI standard in the strict sense — that became, over the years, the de facto standard for Italian organisations certifying their gender equality policies, often tied to incentives and public tender requirements. UNI1617724 introduces a KPI-based management system to measure gender equality policies: a more structured framework than a simple reference practice.

Here the date matters, and it differs from the IT governance one: UNI1617724 closes for comments on 30 October 2026, one day before the other draft. The two deadlines — 30 and 31 October — are not interchangeable: assigning them to the wrong draft means missing the actual window to act.

One question remains open, and UNI's page does not settle it explicitly: whether UNI1617724 is emerging as a full UNI standard or will retain a status closer to an updated reference practice. One clue, not a confirmation: the draft carries a «UNI1617724» code, the same numbering scheme used for full standard drafts (such as UNI1617726) — compatible with a move to full standard status, but this remains an inference from the numbering, not a fact stated in the text we were able to consult.

The public inquiry window: two deadlines, not one

Anyone currently applying UNI CEI ISO/IEC 38500:2020 or UNI/PdR 125:2022 — or simply wanting to understand what will change under their management systems — has until 30 or 31 October 2026 to read the drafts and, if useful, comment on them. UNI points to its own database, in the section dedicated to participating in preliminary inquiries, as the channel; the page announcing the fifteen drafts does not, however, describe the step-by-step commenting procedure, and refers readers to the «Membership» section for practical details.

One limitation worth flagging: the full text of the two drafts is not freely accessible. It is available in UNI's inquiry portal only after registration, a step beyond simply reading the announcement page. Anyone wanting to assess the substance of the revision — not just the fact that a replacement is declared — needs to register and read the draft.

What to do now, in practice

Three concrete actions for anyone in this article's target audience:

• If you manage IT governance with reference to 38500:2020, mark 31 October and check whether your organisation wants to comment on draft UNI1617726 before it is finalised.
• If you hold a certification or are on a path with UNI/PdR 125:2022, mark 30 October — one day earlier — for draft UNI1617724.
• Either way, register with UNI's database to read the full text: the announcement page declares the replacement but not the technical scope of the change, which can only be found in the draft itself.

The other thirteen standards under inquiry — covering topics from skip containers to project management — fall outside this scope: they are not relevant to IT compliance or gender equality work, and do not carry the same urgency.

Sources

• UNI — Quindici progetti in inchiesta pubblica preliminare – 30 e 31 ottobre 2026 (primary source, in Italian).
• UNI — Partecipare alle inchieste preliminari (how to comment, in Italian).