| Edition 33 | 9 October 2026 |
TR 21.802 asks whether 3GPP should keep writing specifications in DOCX. It has eight candidate formats and five tooling proposals, three of them Git-based. It is at v1.4.0 and has not yet gone for approval.
In 60 seconds
TR 21.802, “Study on Modernization of Specification Format and Procedures for 6G”, belongs to the SA plenary, with RAN and CT as secondary groups. Rapporteur: Dongwook Kim (ETSI). Its scope: identify shortcomings and pain-points of the existing ways
and assess feasibility of potential new specification formats
.
The problems are practical. Zahid Ghadialy (3G4G) lists manual CR merging and publication delay, conflicts when two CRs touch one section, large-file performance, and difficulty extracting structured data from DOCX. A March 2025 RAN contribution by Nokia and Ericsson delegates lists Inconsistent use of styles
, Inconsistent file formatting
and Large file size
. It proposes Automatic, error-free, instantaneous CR implementation
.
| # | Format proposal (clause 5) |
|---|---|
| 5.1 | OpenDocument |
| 5.2 | AsciiDoc |
| 5.3 | Markdown |
| 5.4 | Multiple formats, Markdown as baseline |
| 5.5 | LaTeX |
| 5.6 | DOCX with restrictions |
| 5.7 | Multiple formats, Word as baseline |
| 5.8 | Standalone ASN.1 |
Two of the eight keep Word. Clause 6 adds Git for version control, CR work in meetings using GitLab, a Git(lab) workflow, tooling for OpenDocument, and DOCX linting: keep Word, but check it automatically.
Companies are experimenting. Repositories on 3GPP’s forge include Interdigital_latex_38331 (the RRC spec in LaTeX), Apple_OpenDocument and fraunhofer_markdown_xxyyy. The Nokia/Ericsson contribution argued for Markdown plus Git, with Pandoc and WeasyPrint for rendering.
The report has an evidence base in its annexes: a stakeholder survey on CR tools, a survey of formats and CR processes in use by working groups in 2025, and an overview of GitLab and the 3GPP Forge. 3GPP Highlights Issue 12 called it a hot topic
.
Still open
The recommendation (clause 8) is not yet published. The report has been at the for-information stage since December 2025 and has not been submitted for approval. Timing matters: Release 21 normative drafting starts after package approval in March 2027.
Watch next
TR 21.802 goes for approval (v2.x) and which format it recommends.Sources
Report contents are read from FriendlySpec renders of the draft TRs. Drafts change at every meeting; nothing in a draft TR is agreed until its conclusions are. Forge repository names are from search results.