The 3GPP summary of Rel-17 Work Items (TR 21.917) contains a whole section on 5G services for the verticals, including ‘Network and application enablement’.

The 3GPP Northbound Interfaces and APIs are specified in 3GPP in order to enable external entities and third-party Application Servers/Functions to access a set of exposed 3GPP network services and capabilities in a secure and controlled manner.

The 3GPP application layer APIs are defined by 3GPP so as to allow the support of various applications/services (e.g. V2X, UAS, etc.) over 3GPP networks and ensure the efficient use and deployment of these applications/services over 3GPP systems via an optimized application layer framework.

3GPP northbound interfaces/APIs as well as application layer APIs, which are accessed by various external entities including third party Application Servers/Functions, should be continuously maintained and optimized. Therefore, the main work carried out was to introduce pure stage 3 (i.e. there are no related stage 1 nor stage 2 requirements) technical improvements and enhancements, i.e. improvement of the overall efficiency, reliability and flexibility, enhancement of the signalling efficiency, consolidation of the common protocol aspects, alignment with the 5GC service based principles and guidelines when relevant, corrections/changes missed in the previous 3GPP Releases, etc., especially that such enhancements may not be covered by the other more dedicated and functionality-driven work items. 

 
See these specifications:

• TS 29.122: "T8 reference point for Northbound APIs"
• TS 29.522: "5G System; Network Exposure Function Northbound APIs; Stage 3"
• TS 29.549: "Service Enabler Architecture Layer for Verticals (SEAL); Application Programming Interface (API) specification; Stage 3"
• TS 29.558: "Enabling Edge Applications; Application Programming Interface (API) specification; Stage 3"

Enhancement of 5G PCC related services in Rel-17

The protocols and APIs for policy and charging control have been specified in the previous 3GPP Releases. When the 5GS was deployed, it was found that some functionalities defined in Gx/Rx for EPS are still applicable in the 5GS and EPS interworking scenario. There are also some aspects of 5GS that are not supported by the Rx interface when the Rx interworks with the 5GS.

In order to optimize the operator’s management, alignments have been made between the EPS and 5GS interfaces.

See these specifications:

• TS 29.512: "5G System; Session Management Policy Control Service ".
• TS 29.513: "5G System; Policy and Charging Control signalling flows and QoS parameter mapping; Stage 3".
• TS 29.514: "5G System; Policy Authorization Service; Stage 3".
• TS 29.214: "Policy and Charging Control over Rx reference point 5". 

3GPP Work Plan:

See a listing of all work & study items here: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Information/WORK_PLAN/.

Working Groups:

SA6, CT1, CT3, CT4

See also:

3GPP Summary of Rel-17 Work Items (TR 21.917)
3GPP Summary of Rel-16 Work Items (TR21.916)
3GPP Summary of Rel-15 Work Items (TR 21.915)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please be aware that these pages are a snapshot of the work going on in 3GPP. The full picture of all work is contained in the Work Plan (https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Information/WORK_PLAN/)