Digital Nation Pakistan
Standards

Standards for Sovereign Digital Infrastructure

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Introduction

Building Pakistan’s Digital Foundation

This page is the authoritative national source for Pakistan’s Digital Standards. It is the definitive reference and the trusted place to find accurate information on the framework guiding the nation’s digital transformation.

The Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) is the statutory body established under the Digital Nation Pakistan Act, 2025. Among its core mandates is the authority to issue and enforce standards, guidelines, regulations, and technical publications in support of the National Digital Masterplan.

The standards are published by Digital Nation Pakistan (DNP), the country’s national movement to build a digitally empowered Pakistan. Under the Digital Nation Pakistan Act 2025, it will carry PDA’s work to the people and turn national architecture into everyday impact for citizens.

We will be publishing frameworks, policies, regulations, standards, architecture and implementation guidelines, so that experts, peers, and the global community can review, comment on, and contribute to what Pakistan is building.

Our Design Principles

Our Design Principles

Citizen-centric

Inclusive

Open

Secure by design

Interoperable

Sovereign

Open Standards

Our Approach to Open Standards

By publishing our work as open standards, we invite scrutiny of our digital service design to ensure that it is agile, user-focused, and serves Pakistani citizens effectively. They are living standards; they evolve as we learn from deployment and stakeholder feedback.

The technological framework in this suite of standards combines global best practices with original sovereign architecture, tailored to Pakistan’s institutional and geographical context.

Published Standards

Standards

These standards are published under the PDA Standards c.001 FWK

X-Series: Cross-Cutting & General
DNP-X.001 FWK

Nomenclature, Series Structure, and Issuance Framework

Establishes the nomenclature, series structure, document typology, maturity model, lifecycle stages, and issuance procedures for all DNP standards and regulatory publications.

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D-Series: Data Governance, Management & Exchange
DNP-D.002 RA

WASL — Pakistan National Data Exchange Layer

Reference Architecture for Pakistan's secure, standards-based national data exchange platform. Citizen-consented, cryptographically data-blind, post-quantum secure.

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D-Series: Data Governance, Management & Exchange
DNP-D.250 GDL

WASL — Pakistan National Data Exchange Layer: Consent Guideline

Recommended practice for obtaining, recording, enforcing, and revoking citizen consent for the exchange of personal data through WASL.

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D-Series: Data Governance, Management & Exchange
DNP-D.300 TS

WASL — Pakistan National Data Exchange Layer: Technical Specification

Defines the protocol bindings, API specifications, message formats, token structures, consent policy formats, error codes, and conformance test requirements for WASL.

View Standard
References and standards registry

Registers

Publications
All Series

Publications Register

Browse every publication issued under the Digital Nation Pakistan standards designation. Filter by series, type, maturity, or classification.

View Register
Governance
15 Series

Series Ownership Register

Identifies the designated authority responsible for each standards series under the Digital Nation Pakistan programme.

View Authorities
References
External Standards

International Standards Reference Register

Catalogues every external standard, specification, and framework referenced by DNP publications.

View References
External
Conformity Assessment

Recognised External Standards Register

Catalogues external standards issued by other national authorities and records how each relates to the corresponding DNP publication.

View Register
Publishing Resources

Resources

Schema
JSON-LD

DNP Metadata Schema

Machine-readable metadata schema for DNP publications. Use it to read, validate, or generate DNP publication metadata.

View Schema
Schema
XML

NISO STS Schema

Standards Tag Suite schema for structured, machine-readable publishing of DNP publications.

View Schema
Template
Document

DNP Publication Template

Official fillable template for authoring DNP publications with compliant structure and typography.

View Template
Brand
Assets

Brand & Logo Assets

Official brand, logo, and typography assets for the Digital Nation Pakistan standards designation.

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About

About the Pakistan Digital Authority

The Pakistan Digital Authority was established under the Digital Nation Pakistan Act 2025 to spearhead the country’s journey toward a truly digital nation. As a statutory body, the PDA leads and coordinates digital transformation efforts across the public sector, private sector, and civil society.

PDA is mandated to build shared digital infrastructure for government, establish national standards for data, artificial intelligence, and cloud services, digitize citizen-facing services, and coordinate digital transformation across federal and provincial jurisdictions.

Pakistan Digital Authority
Digital Nation Pakistan
About

About Digital Nation Pakistan

Digital Nation Pakistan is the nationwide, multi-stakeholder digital transformation plan for the country that works across the board. It aims to create a forward-looking digital society, foster a thriving digital economy, and establish a collaborative digital governance ecosystem, with secure, inclusive, and interoperable Digital Public Infrastructure as a key enabler supporting innovation, connectivity, and seamless integration across sectors.

With DNP, Pakistan moves from a nation that uses technology to a nation that is built on it. DNP is Pakistan’s declaration, to its people and to the world, that its digital future is being built with intent.

Share Your Feedback

We welcome expert feedback, peer review, and public comment on all published standards. The PDA is committed to transparent and consultative standards development.

Proposing New Standards

Organisations, agencies, or experts may propose new standards to address gaps in the current suite. Submit a proposal to contact (at) pda.gov.pk.