# What each data card standard asks a dataset to document

> 6 published standards and legal templates say what a dataset's documentation must contain, each quoted from its own text, read 8 October 2026.

Data Card Generator · https://datacardgenerator.com/datasets/datacardgenerator-rules-from-primary-source/ · computed 2026-10-08

**Standards read field by field:** 6 standards (11 texts read; 15 named).

## The answers, question by question

- **Binding or voluntary:** a voluntary standard or format 3, a legal obligation 2, not stated 1
- **Asks where the data came from:** asks for the data's sources or provenance 4, not stated 2
- **Asks about personal data:** not stated 4, asks whether personal data is included 2
- **What it asks the card to contain:** stated 6

## Every standard

| Standard | Binding or voluntary | Asks where the data came from | Asks about personal data | What it asks the card to contain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California AB 2013 | a legal obligation | asks for the data's sources or provenance | asks whether personal data is included | A high-level summary of the datasets used in the development of the generative artificial… |
| Croissant (MLCommons) | a voluntary standard or format | asks for the data's sources or provenance | not stated | It provides a vocabulary for dataset attributes, streamlining how data is loaded across… |
| Data Cards (Google Research) | not stated | asks for the data's sources or provenance | asks whether personal data is included | A clear and thorough understanding of a dataset's origins, development, intent, ethical… |
| Datasheets for Datasets | a voluntary standard or format | asks for the data's sources or provenance | not stated | we propose that every dataset be accompanied with a datasheet that documents its… |
| EU AI Act training-content summary (Art. 53(1)(d) and template) | a legal obligation | not stated | not stated | The Template annexed to this Explanatory Notice aims to provide a common minimal baseline… |
| Hugging Face dataset card | a voluntary standard or format | not stated | not stated | A dataset repo will render its README.md as a dataset card. |

## The sentence each answer rests on (44)

- California AB 2013, [California AB 2013 bill text](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2013), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: "On or before January 1, 2026, and before each time thereafter that a generative artificial intelligence system or service"
- California AB 2013, [California AB 2013 bill text](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2013), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: "(1) The sources or owners of the datasets."
- California AB 2013, [California AB 2013 bill text](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2013), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: "(7) Whether the datasets include personal information, as defined in subdivision (v) of Section 1798.140."
- California AB 2013, [California AB 2013 bill text](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2013), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "A high-level summary of the datasets used in the development of the generative artificial intelligence system or service, including, but not limited to:"
- Croissant (MLCommons), [Croissant format specification](https://docs.mlcommons.org/croissant/docs/croissant-spec.html), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: Nothing on this text answers it (64,269 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Croissant (MLCommons), [Croissant format specification](https://docs.mlcommons.org/croissant/docs/croissant-spec.html), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: Nothing on this text answers it (64,269 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Croissant (MLCommons), [Croissant format specification](https://docs.mlcommons.org/croissant/docs/croissant-spec.html), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: Nothing on this text answers it (64,269 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Croissant (MLCommons), [Croissant format specification](https://docs.mlcommons.org/croissant/docs/croissant-spec.html), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "It provides a vocabulary for dataset attributes, streamlining how data is loaded across ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow or JAX."
- Croissant (MLCommons), [MLCommons Croissant working group page](https://mlcommons.org/working-groups/data/croissant/), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: "Croissant is an open, community-built, standardized metadata vocabulary for ML datasets"
- Croissant (MLCommons), [MLCommons Croissant working group page](https://mlcommons.org/working-groups/data/croissant/), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: "Croissant provides machine-readable descriptions of dataset provenance and permissions"
- Croissant (MLCommons), [MLCommons Croissant working group page](https://mlcommons.org/working-groups/data/croissant/), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: Nothing on this text answers it (10,613 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Croissant (MLCommons), [MLCommons Croissant working group page](https://mlcommons.org/working-groups/data/croissant/), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "including key attributes and properties of datasets, as well as information required to load them into ML tools"
- Croissant (MLCommons), [Google Research blog: Croissant](https://research.google/blog/croissant-a-metadata-format-for-ml-ready-datasets/), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: Nothing on this text answers it (8,898 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Croissant (MLCommons), [Google Research blog: Croissant](https://research.google/blog/croissant-a-metadata-format-for-ml-ready-datasets/), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: Nothing on this text answers it (8,898 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Croissant (MLCommons), [Google Research blog: Croissant](https://research.google/blog/croissant-a-metadata-format-for-ml-ready-datasets/), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: Nothing on this text answers it (8,898 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Croissant (MLCommons), [Google Research blog: Croissant](https://research.google/blog/croissant-a-metadata-format-for-ml-ready-datasets/), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "This 1.0 release of Croissant includes a complete specification of the format"
- Data Cards (Google Research), [Data Cards paper (arXiv 2204.01075)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.01075), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: Nothing on this text answers it (3,651 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Data Cards (Google Research), [Data Cards paper (arXiv 2204.01075)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.01075), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: "A clear and thorough understanding of a dataset's origins, development, intent, ethical considerations and evolution"
- Data Cards (Google Research), [Data Cards paper (arXiv 2204.01075)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.01075), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: Nothing on this text answers it (3,651 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Data Cards (Google Research), [Data Cards paper (arXiv 2204.01075)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.01075), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "A clear and thorough understanding of a dataset's origins, development, intent, ethical considerations and evolution"
- Data Cards (Google Research), [Data Cards Playbook](https://sites.research.google/datacardsplaybook/), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: Nothing on this text answers it (46,306 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Data Cards (Google Research), [Data Cards Playbook](https://sites.research.google/datacardsplaybook/), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: "Is this source considered sensitive or high-risk? [Yes/No]"
- Data Cards (Google Research), [Data Cards Playbook](https://sites.research.google/datacardsplaybook/), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: "(S/PII were collected as a part of the dataset creation process.)"
- Data Cards (Google Research), [Data Cards Playbook](https://sites.research.google/datacardsplaybook/), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "Data fields that were collected and are included in the dataset."
- Datasheets for Datasets, [Datasheets for Datasets paper (arXiv 1803.09010)](https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.09010), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: "we propose datasheets for datasets"
- Datasheets for Datasets, [Datasheets for Datasets paper (arXiv 1803.09010)](https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.09010), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: "we propose that every dataset be accompanied with a datasheet that documents its motivation, composition, collection process, recommended uses"
- Datasheets for Datasets, [Datasheets for Datasets paper (arXiv 1803.09010)](https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.09010), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: Nothing on this text answers it (2,911 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Datasheets for Datasets, [Datasheets for Datasets paper (arXiv 1803.09010)](https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.09010), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "we propose that every dataset be accompanied with a datasheet that documents its motivation, composition, collection process, recommended uses"
- EU AI Act training-content summary (Art. 53(1)(d) and template), [AI Act Article 53 (European Commission AI Act Service Desk)](https://ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu/en/ai-act/article-53), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: "Providers of general-purpose AI models shall:"
- EU AI Act training-content summary (Art. 53(1)(d) and template), [AI Act Article 53 (European Commission AI Act Service Desk)](https://ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu/en/ai-act/article-53), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: Nothing on this text answers it (6,402 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- EU AI Act training-content summary (Art. 53(1)(d) and template), [AI Act Article 53 (European Commission AI Act Service Desk)](https://ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu/en/ai-act/article-53), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: Nothing on this text answers it (6,402 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- EU AI Act training-content summary (Art. 53(1)(d) and template), [AI Act Article 53 (European Commission AI Act Service Desk)](https://ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu/en/ai-act/article-53), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "draw up and make publicly available a sufficiently detailed summary about the content used for training of the general-purpose AI model, according to a template provided by the AI Office."
- EU AI Act training-content summary (Art. 53(1)(d) and template), [Commission: explanatory notice and template](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/explanatory-notice-and-template-public-summary-training-content-general-purpose-ai-models), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: Nothing on this text answers it (5,138 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- EU AI Act training-content summary (Art. 53(1)(d) and template), [Commission: explanatory notice and template](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/explanatory-notice-and-template-public-summary-training-content-general-purpose-ai-models), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: Nothing on this text answers it (5,138 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- EU AI Act training-content summary (Art. 53(1)(d) and template), [Commission: explanatory notice and template](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/explanatory-notice-and-template-public-summary-training-content-general-purpose-ai-models), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: Nothing on this text answers it (5,138 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- EU AI Act training-content summary (Art. 53(1)(d) and template), [Commission: explanatory notice and template](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/explanatory-notice-and-template-public-summary-training-content-general-purpose-ai-models), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "The Template annexed to this Explanatory Notice aims to provide a common minimal baseline for the information to be made publicly available in the Summary of Training Content"
- Hugging Face dataset card, [hub-docs datasetcard.md (GitHub)](https://github.com/huggingface/hub-docs/blob/main/datasetcard.md), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: Nothing on this text answers it (2,066 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Hugging Face dataset card, [hub-docs datasetcard.md (GitHub)](https://github.com/huggingface/hub-docs/blob/main/datasetcard.md), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: Nothing on this text answers it (2,066 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Hugging Face dataset card, [hub-docs datasetcard.md (GitHub)](https://github.com/huggingface/hub-docs/blob/main/datasetcard.md), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: Nothing on this text answers it (2,066 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Hugging Face dataset card, [hub-docs datasetcard.md (GitHub)](https://github.com/huggingface/hub-docs/blob/main/datasetcard.md), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "For a template for the human-readable portion of the dataset card, see: datasetcard_template.md file."
- Hugging Face dataset card, [Hugging Face Hub docs: dataset cards](https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/datasets-cards), read 2026-10-08, Binding or voluntary: "To control how the Hub displays the card, you should create a YAML section in the README file to define some metadata."
- Hugging Face dataset card, [Hugging Face Hub docs: dataset cards](https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/datasets-cards), read 2026-10-08, Asks where the data came from: Nothing on this text answers it (7,982 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Hugging Face dataset card, [Hugging Face Hub docs: dataset cards](https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/datasets-cards), read 2026-10-08, Asks about personal data: Nothing on this text answers it (7,982 characters of text text, read 2026-10-08).
- Hugging Face dataset card, [Hugging Face Hub docs: dataset cards](https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/datasets-cards), read 2026-10-08, What it asks the card to contain: "A dataset repo will render its README.md as a dataset card."

## Read and set aside

- [European Union (official text)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj): EUR-Lex answered a 'temporarily not fully available' notice; the Regulation's text is not in the stored read
- [NIST AI RMF](https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework): the NIST AI RMF landing page; it sets no dataset documentation fields in the stored read
- [[1810.03993] Model Cards for Model Reporting](https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.03993): Model Cards document trained models, not datasets
- [AI Act article text mirror](https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/53/): the charter admits it for: reading aid only; EUR-Lex is the authority

## Methodology

Each standard's own official texts, templates and specifications were read through estate-fetch and stored whole (sha256 on every row). For every text, four questions were answered from its own words: binding or voluntary, asks where the data came from, asks about personal data, what it asks the card to contain. Every stated answer carries the sentence it rests on, checked against the stored text; 'not stated' means the text read does not address the question. A standard with several texts reads 'varies' where they disagree. 6 standards, 11 texts.

## Sources

- [European Union (official text)](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/explanatory-notice-and-template-public-summary-training-content-general-purpose-ai-models) (read)
- [Croissant Format Specification \| Croissant site](https://docs.mlcommons.org/croissant/docs/croissant-spec.html) (read)
- [European Union (official text)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj) (not-terms)
- [[2204.01075] Data Cards: Purposeful and Transparent Dataset Documentation for Responsible](https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.01075) (read)
- [The Data Cards Playbook - Data Cards Playbook](https://sites.research.google/datacardsplaybook/) (read)
- [NIST AI RMF](https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework) (not-terms)
- [Croissant - MLCommons](https://mlcommons.org/working-groups/data/croissant/) (read)
- [Dataset Cards · Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/datasets-cards) (read)
- [California AB 2013](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2013) (read)
- [[1810.03993] Model Cards for Model Reporting](https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.03993) (not-terms)
- [AI Act article text mirror](https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/53/) (not-terms)
- [hub-docs/datasetcard.md at main · huggingface/hub-docs · GitHub](https://github.com/huggingface/hub-docs/blob/main/datasetcard.md) (read)
- [[1803.09010] Datasheets for Datasets](https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.09010) (read)
- [Croissant: a metadata format for ML-ready datasets](https://research.google/blog/croissant-a-metadata-format-for-ml-ready-datasets/) (read)
- [European Commission AI Act Service Desk, Article 53: obligations for providers of general-purpose AI models](https://ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu/en/ai-act/article-53) (read)

## Cite or embed

- 6 published standards and legal templates say what a dataset's documentation must contain, each quoted from its own text, read 8 October 2026.
- Binding or voluntary, by standard: a voluntary standard or format 3 of 6, a legal obligation 2 of 6, not stated 1 of 6 (6 standards, read 8 October 2026).
- Asks where the data came from, by standard: asks for the data's sources or provenance 4 of 6, not stated 2 of 6 (6 standards, read 8 October 2026).
- Asks about personal data, by standard: not stated 4 of 6, asks whether personal data is included 2 of 6 (6 standards, read 8 October 2026).
- What it asks the card to contain, by standard: stated 6 of 6 (6 standards, read 8 October 2026).

Cite as: "What each data card standard asks a dataset to document", updated 2026-10-08, https://datacardgenerator.com/datasets/datacardgenerator-rules-from-primary-source/.

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