The European Color Initiative (ECI) ia a group of experts which is dedicated to advancing media-neutral colour data-processing in digital publishing systems. It was founded in June 1996 on the initiative of the publishing houses Bauer, Burda, Gruner+Jahr and Springer in Hamburg.
A. ECI-Goals:
1. Media-neutral preparation, processing, and exchange of color information in accordance with the Color-Management-Standards of the International Color Consortiums (ICC)
2. Standardisation of data-exchange formats between contractors and clients in the publishing process.
3. Codification of guidelines (i.e. colorspace, file formats) for the exchange of colour information for printed media.
4. Cooperation with national and international organisations and standards groups (for example in formulating practical procedures for the ICC and ISO)
5. Commiting all members to publishing those colour profiles which are relevant to their work, and to supporting the ICC-Standards and the ECI-recommendations.
6. Publishing the ICC color profiles of the members and interested companies, as well as various tools and information relevant to the goals to the organisation.
7. The establishment of ICC-based proof-processes.
8. The exchange of experiences, ideas and educational measures, as well as the support and proliferation of ICC-based colour-management processes.
9. Cooperation with relevant hard- and software producers with emphasis on the developers of standard applications, such as Quark, Adobe, Macromedia, and the providers of colour-management tools.
B. Membership
No membership is necessary to support the goals of the ECI or to publish colour profiles of the ICC server. For the exchange of ideas, technical discussions, and workflow questions about ECI subjects, a mailling list has been set up on this server.
Membership in the ECI workgroup is reserved to individual persons and is voluntary. Every member is tasked with tangible objectives. Passive members or members expressing goals contrary to those of the ECI can be excluded from the council at any time. In the interests of efficiency, the number of members in the working group will be restricted. Applications for membership are presented by the council chairman, debated in the council and then decided. The ECI council consists of the chairman and three members, all of whom are elected by the membership as a whole.