The TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) is an international research effort established in 1987, intended to produce a community-based standard for encoding and interchange of texts. The original phase of this effort was supported by three of the most important scholarly associations in the field and by major funders in North America and Europe, and included scholars from all over the world and from nearly all the disciplines of the humanities. The TEI Guidelines and the SGML-based TEI DTD (Text Encoding Initiative Document Type Definition) are thus the result of the twentieth century's most important international standardisation effort for humanities-related data, and have gained wide acceptance within the humanities and beyond. In recognition of this, the TEI Consortium (TEI-C) has been established to maintain, develop, and further the use of the TEI standard.

The goals of the consortium are: To establish and maintain a home for the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) in the form of a permanent organizational structure. To ensure the continued funding of TEI-C activities, for example: editorial maintenance and development of the TEI guidelines and DTD, training and outreach activities, and services to members. To create and maintain a governance structure for the TEI-C with broad representation of TEI user-communities.

The fundamental principles on which the TEI-C is established are the following: The TEI guidelines, other documentation, and DTD should be free to users; Participation in TEI-C activities should be open (even to non-members) at all levels; The TEI-C should be internationally and interdisciplinarily representative; No role with respect to the TEI-C should be without term.