The “Cooperation Committee Automated Data Processing Federal Republic of Germany/ Federal States/ municipal bodies” (German abbr. KoopA ADV) approved on March 19th, 2010 the XÖV handbook  recommending its application. The XÖV handbook comprehends about 200 pages of conformity requirements constituting for the first time verifiable criteria, which an XÖV standard has to meet for the electronic data exchange in public administration. A total of 17 in detail described characteristics refer to the duty of provision and information as well as to technical regulations for the development of the standards.

The XÖV handbook is part of the Germany Online Project “Standardization”. It is published by the OSCI Central Office Bremen and the Commission of the Federal Government for Information Technology (Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Informationstechnik, German abbr. BfIT), and supported by the Federal Office for Information Technology (Bundesstelle für Informationstechnik, German abbr. BIT).