At the conference on Functional Programming Languages and Computer Architecture (FPCA '87) in Portland, Oregon, there was a strong consensus that a committee be formed to define an open standard for such languages.
Na konferenciji FPCA(Functional Programming Languages and Computer Architecture) održanoj 1987.godine u Portlandu u Oregonu, održan je sastanak na kojem su učesnici sklopili sporazum da bi trebalo da se napravi odbor, koji bi definisao otvoreni standard za takve jezike.