IAU General Assembly Resolution B1 (1988)

The 1988 IAU General Assembly meeting in Baltimore, USA, adopted the following resolution: 
  RESOLUTION B1: Extensions to FITS

       The XXth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union,

       considering
              the present situation of the transfer of catalogue and table data
              in digital form among astronomical institutes; and

       noting
              that significant improvements in portability can be made;

       recommends
              that all astronoomical computer facilites recognise and support
              the rules for general extensions to the Flexible Image Transport
              System (FITS) including the extension to the exchange of catalogue
              and table data as described in Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement
              Series 73, pp 359-364 and pp 365-372 (1988).
The first paper, by Grosbol et al., defines the general principles for adding new extensions to FITS. The second paper by Harten et al. defines the format for the FITS ASCII table extension.

Reference: Transactions of the International Astronomical Union (1988), Vol. XXB, pp 51-52.