SIARD
SIARD stands for Software Independent Archiving of Relational Databases. Originally the Swiss Federal Archives (SFA) have developed the SIARD format as a sustainable solution for the archiving of relations databases. It is based on converting the contents of databases into XML.
Standardisation
In early 2013 SIARD format has been adopted as an eCH Standard (eCH-0165: SIARD format specification).
eCH is the Swiss organization for standardization in the field of e-government. eCH Standards define guidelines for recurring applications and their results, as for example format definitions or procedural standards. The aim of those standards is to unify and thus facilitate the electronic collaboration between authorities as well as between authorities and organizations, educational and research institutions, firms and private organizations.