Editing ITU-T (section)

== History ==
At the initiative of [[Napoleon III]], the French government invited international participants to a conference in Paris in 1865 to facilitate and regulate international telegraph services. A result of the conference was the founding of the forerunner of the modern ITU.<ref name="ITUhistory">{{cite web|title=ITU's History|url=http://www.itu.int/history/|publisher=International Telecommunication Union|access-date=2011-03-20}}</ref>

At the 1925 Paris conference, the ITU created two consultative committees to deal with the complexities of the international telephone services, known as {{Langx|fr|CCIF|label=none|italic=unset}} ({{Langx|fr|Comité Consultatif International Téléphonique|label=none}}) and with long-distance telegraphy {{Langx|fr|CCIT|label=none|italic=unset}} ({{Langx|fr|Comité Consultatif International des Communications Téléphoniques à grande distance|label=none}}).<ref name="50years-page8">{{cite web|title=CCITT – 50 Years of Excellence – 1956–2006|url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/50/docs/ITU-T_50.pdf|page=8|publisher=[[International Telecommunication Union]]|access-date=2011-03-20|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607203152/http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/50/docs/ITU-T_50.pdf|archive-date=2011-06-07}}</ref>

In view of the basic similarity of many of the technical problems faced by the {{Langx|fr|CCIF|label=none|italic=unset}} and {{Langx|fr|CCIT|label=none|italic=unset}}, a decision was taken in 1956 to merge them into a single entity, the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee ({{Langx|fr|CCITT|label=none|italic=unset}}, in {{Langx|fr|Comité Consultatif International Téléphonique et Télégraphique}}).<ref name="50years-page8"/> The first Plenary Assembly of the new organization was held in Geneva, Switzerland in December 1956.

In 1992, the [[Plenipotentiary Conference]] (the top policy-making conference of ITU) saw a reform of ITU, giving the Union greater flexibility to adapt to an increasingly complex, interactive and competitive environment. The {{Langx|fr|CCITT|label=none|italic=unset}} was renamed the Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), as one of three Sectors of the Union alongside the Radiocommunication Sector ([[ITU-R]]) and the Telecommunication Development Sector ([[ITU-D]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=CCITT – 50 Years of Excellence – 1956–2006|url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/50/docs/ITU-T_50.pdf|page=14|publisher=[[International Telecommunication Union]]|access-date=2011-03-20|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607203152/http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/50/docs/ITU-T_50.pdf|archive-date=2011-06-07}}</ref>

Historically, the Recommendations of the {{Langx|fr|CCITT|label=none|italic=unset}} were presented at plenary assemblies for endorsement, held every four years, and the full set of Recommendations were published after each plenary assembly. However, the delays in producing texts, and translating them into other working languages, did not suit the fast pace of change in the telecommunications industry.<ref>{{cite web|title=CCITT – 50 Years of Excellence – 1956–2006|url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/50/docs/ITU-T_50.pdf|publisher=International Telecommunication Union|access-date=2011-03-20|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607203152/http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/50/docs/ITU-T_50.pdf|archive-date=2011-06-07}}</ref>