ISO/IEC 19794-14:2013 specifies a data interchange format for the exchange of DNA data for person identification or verification technologies that utilize human DNA.

It will provide the ability for DNA profile data to be exchanged and used for comparison (subject to privacy regulations) with DNA profile data produced by any other system that is based on a compatible DNA profiling technique and where the data format conforms to ISO/IEC 19794-14:2013.

ISO/IEC 19794-14:2013 is intended to cover current forensic DNA profiling or typing techniques that are based on short tandem repeats (STRs), including STRs on the Y chromosome (Y-STRs), as well as mitochondrial DNA.

A single DNA data record for a subject may require data resulting from more than one of these different DNA techniques. ISO/IEC 19794-14:2013 enables data for multiple DNA techniques to be presented in a single record for a given subject.

This data format has been prepared in light of ongoing efforts to reduce human involvement in the processing (enrolment and comparison) of DNA. In anticipation of the data format requirements for automated DNA techniques ISO/IEC 19794-14:2013 will describe a format for both processed and raw (electrophoretic) DNA data. Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) encoding of the data is used to specify DNA data interchange. A normative XML Schema Definition (XSD) specification is provided in Annex B.

ISO/IEC 19794-14:2013 is not intended for any other purposes than exchange of DNA for biometric verification and identification of individuals; in particular it does not exchange medical and other health-related information.