diff --git a/src/nfc.hh b/src/nfc.hh
index a7d4154..d485e37 100644
--- a/src/nfc.hh
+++ b/src/nfc.hh
@@ -31,6 +31,20 @@ protected:
 };
 
 
+/// Common class template to define the same functions for all 3 Unicode Transfer Formats.
+template<class CharT>
+class UTF
+{
+public:
+	/// parses a sequence of input code units into one Unicode code point and updates the input iterator c.
+	/// \todo change to iterator templates?
+	uint32_t parse(const CharT*& c, const CharT* end);
+	
+	/// generates a UTF sequence from a given Unicode code point
+	template<class OutIter>
+	void generate(const char32_t c, OutIter& out);
+};
+
 // scans the char sequences and parses UTF-8 sequences. Detect UTF-8 errors and throws exceptions.
 uint32_t parseUtf8(const char*& c, const char* end);