At the September 2024 meeting of the JCB a new joint WMO/IOC technical working group for data management, reporting to the JCB, was proposed. The goals of the subgroup were to: enhance interoperability for an integrated observing and data system; improve data and metadata sharing between the IOC and WMO data and information Systems; review and reform the governance of the Marine Climate Data System (MCDS); and align data policies and licensing between the WMO and IOC systems to ensure seamless data integration and usability.