2.1. TC Discussion Lists
Any group of at least three Eligible Persons may begin a publicly subscribable discussion list
for the purpose of forming a TC by submitting to the OASIS TC Administrator the following
items:
(1) The name of the discussion list, which shall not be the same as the name of the list in
which the TC itself shall operate if formed.
(2) A preliminary statement of scope for the TC whose formation the list is intended to
discuss.
(3) The names, electronic mail addresses, and OASIS Organizational or Individual Membership
affiliations of the three or more Eligible Persons proposing to create the discussion list.
(4) The name of the discussion list leader.
No later than 15 days following the submission, the OASIS TC Administrator shall provide
these materials to the OASIS Membership with a Call For Participation in a discussion list whose
purpose is to propose the TC described in the application.
Discussion on the list is restricted to evaluating the interest in proposing a new OASIS
TC, and defining the proposal for one or more new OASIS TCs. The list of subscribers to the
discussion list shall be available to all subscribers. The discussion list shall automatically close
90 days after the Call For Participation is issued.
2.2. TC Formation
Any group of at least Minimum Membership shall be authorized to begin a TC by submitting
to the OASIS TC Administrator the following items, written in English and provided in
electronic form as plain text. No information other than these items may be included in the
proposal.
(1) The Charter of the TC, which includes only the following items:
(1)(a) The name of the TC, such name not to have been previously used for an OASIS TC
and not to include any trademarks or service marks not owned by OASIS. The proposed TC
name is subject to TC Administrator approval and may not include any misleading or
inappropriate names. The proposed name must specify any acronyms or abbreviations of the
name that shall be used to refer to the TC.
(1)(b) A statement of purpose, including a definition of the problem to be solved.
(1)(c) The scope of the work of the TC, which must be germane to the mission of OASIS,
and which includes a definition of what is and what is not the work of the TC, and how it can be
determined when the work of the TC has been completed. The scope may reference a specific
contribution of existing work as a starting point, but other contributions may be made by
TC Members on or after the first meeting of the TC. Such other contributions shall be considered by
the TC Members on an equal basis to improve the original starting point contribution.
(1)(d) A list of deliverables, with projected completion dates.
(1)(e) Specification of the IPR Mode under which the TC will operate.
(1)(f) The anticipated audience or users of the work.
(1)(g) The language in which the TC shall conduct business.
(2) Non-normative information regarding the startup of the TC, which includes:
(2)(a) Identification of similar or applicable work that is being done in other OASIS TCs
or by other organizations, why there is a need for another effort in this area and how this
proposed TC will be different, and what level of liaison will be pursued with these other
organizations.
(2)(b) The date, time, and location of the first meeting, whether it will be held in person or
by telephone, and who will sponsor this first meeting. The first meeting of a TC shall occur no less
than 30 days after the announcement of its formation in the case of a meeting held exclusively by telephone or other
electronic means, and no less than 45 days after the announcement of its formation in the case
of a meeting held face-to-face (whether or not a telephone bridge is also available).
(2)(c) The projected on-going meeting schedule for the year following the formation of the
TC, or until the projected date of the final deliverable, whichever comes first, and who will be
expected to sponsor these meetings.
(2)(d) The names, electronic mail addresses, and membership affiliations of at least
Minimum Membership who support this proposal and are committed to the Charter and projected
meeting schedule.
(2)(e) The name of the Convener who must be an Eligible Person.
(2)(f) The name of the Member Section with which the TC intends to affiliate, if any.
(2)(g) Optionally, a list of contributions of existing technical work that the proposers
anticipate will be made to this TC.
(2)(h) Optionally, a draft Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document regarding the planned
scope of the TC, for posting on the TC's website.
(2)(i) Optionally, a proposed working title and acronym for the specification(s) to be
developed by the TC.
No later than 5 days following the submission, the OASIS TC Administrator shall either
return the submission to its originators, with an explanation indicating its failure to meet the
requirements set forth in this section, or shall post notice of the submission to an announced
mailing list (or equivalent method) visible to the submission proposers and the OASIS Membership,
for comment.
The notice will announce that comments will be received until the 14th day after the
notice, and will announce a date within 4 days of that 14th day for a conference call, among the
Convener, the OASIS TC Administrator, and those proposers who wish to attend. Other OASIS
Members who wish to attend may observe.
The proposer group may amend their submission at any time until the 28th day after the
submission (except that changes to the roster of proposers may occur at any time until the final
posting). By the 28th day the proposer group must post a pointer to an account of each of the
comments / issues raised during that review, along with its resolution.
No later than the 30th day after the submission, if those pointers have been posted, and
the last version of the submission from the proposer group meets the requirements of these rules,
the OASIS TC Administrator must post them to the OASIS Membership with a Call For Participation
and an announcement of a first meeting. Otherwise, the Convener may obtain
a single 10-day extension for posting a compliant proposal with the OASIS TC Administrator.
2.3. First Meeting of a TC
Eligible Persons intending to participate in the first meeting must use the OASIS
collaborative tools to register as a TC Member, and to specify whether they intend to gain
voting rights, no later than 7 days prior to a meeting held exclusively by telephone (or other electronic means) or 15 days prior to a face
to face meeting. No later than 7 days prior to the meeting, the OASIS TC Administrator will
post a notice to the prospective Members on the TC's general email list
inviting indications of candidacy for TC Chair to be posted to that list.
If the Eligible Person is an employee or designee of an OASIS Organizational Member, the
Primary Representative of that organization must confirm to the Convener and to the TC
Administrator that the person may become a Member of the TC.
Every Eligible Person who has so registered and been confirmed shall be a Member of the
TC beginning with the first meeting. Every Eligible Person who has so registered, requested
voting rights, been confirmed, and is present at the first meeting of a TC shall be a Voting
Member of the TC beginning with the first meeting. Persons who register to attend the first
meeting but do not attend must notify the TC Chair after the first meeting to become a Member
of the TC, as described in Section 2.4.
The first meeting of a TC must occur at the place and time and in the manner described in
the announcement. Any initial meeting whose time or location is changed and any initial
telephone or other electronic meeting that fails to grant access to every Eligible Person
previously registering to attend shall be subject to appeal as provided in Section 4.2.
At least Minimum Membership must become Voting Members at the first TC meeting or the
TC shall be considered not to have been successfully started and shall be closed.
At the first meeting the TC must elect a Chair as the first order of business, from among
nominations made by Voting Members at that meeting. Once the Chair is elected the role of
Convener ends.
2.4. TC Membership and Participation
TC membership is per person, not per organization, and is not transferable from person to
person.
Observer: An Eligible Person may become an Observer of a TC by registering as
an Observer using the electronic collaboration tools provided by OASIS. If the Eligible
Person is an employee or designee of an OASIS Organizational Member, the Primary
Representative of that organization must be notified that the person has requested to
become an Observer. The Observer is not a TC Member so has no attendance or participation
requirements to maintain this status, other than to remain an Eligible Person.
Member: Any time after the first meeting, an Eligible Person shall become a
Member of an existing TC by registering as a Member using the electronic collaboration tools
provided by OASIS. If the Eligible Person is an employee or designee of an OASIS
organizational Member, the Primary Representative of that organization must confirm to
the Chair and to the TC Administrator that the person may become a Member of the TC. Upon
receipt by the Chair of confirmation by the Primary Representative the Member may begin
participating, but shall not have voting rights. A Member shall become eligible to vote
in the TC when the requirements below are met.
Voting Member: After the first Meeting of a TC, a Member shall gain
voting rights at the close of the second consecutive Meeting attended by the Member or, if less
than two Meetings are called within 60 days after the person becomes a Member, at the close of
that 60th day. OASIS Individual Members and the representatives of OASIS Organizational Members are equally eligible to serve as Voting Members of a TC.
A Voting Member must be active in a TC to maintain voting rights. In TCs that hold
Meetings, a Voting Member who is absent from two consecutive Meetings (as recorded in the
minutes) loses his or her voting rights at the end of the second Meeting missed. If a TC has
adopted a standing rule to conduct business only by electronic ballot, without Meetings, then a
Voting Member who fails to cast a ballot in two consecutive Specification Ballots loses his or her
voting rights at the close of the second ballot missed.
A TC Member who has lost his or her voting rights shall regain them for a TC that holds
Meetings by attending two consecutive Meetings (as recorded in the minutes), thus regaining
voting rights after the end of the second Meeting attended or, if less than two Meetings are called
within 60 days after the loss of such rights, at the close of that 60th day. A Member of a TC that
does not hold Meetings may regain voting rights by making a request to the chair(s) to regain
them, effective at the close of the 60th day after the request.
Voting Members who lose their voting rights remain Members of the TC. A warning may be
sent to the Member by the Chair, but the loss of voting rights is not dependent on the warning.
2.5 Termination of TC Membership
Except as provided in Section 2.6, membership in an OASIS TC shall be terminated under
the following conditions:
(1) A Member shall be considered to have resigned from a TC upon his sending notification
of resignation to the TC general email list.
(2) Persons who lose Eligible Person status for reasons including, but not limited to, change
of employment shall have up to 15 days of TC membership as an OASIS Individual Member in
which to request a Leave of Absence or re-establish eligibility. A Member shall lose TC
membership on the 16th day after losing Eligible Person status or at the end of a Leave of
Absence requested as specified in Section 2.6 if Eligible Person status has not been
re-established.
Termination of membership in an OASIS TC shall automatically end voting rights in
the TC as well as membership in any subcommittee of that TC, and eligibility to represent that
TC in a JC.
2.6 Leaves of Absence
Every Voting Member of an OASIS TC shall be entitled to at least one Leave of Absence
during any one twelve month period. During a Leave of Absence, a Voting Member shall be
exempt from the participation criteria specified in Section 2.4. A first Leave of Absence during
any one twelve month period shall be obtained automatically upon application to the Chair of the
TC. The Chair must notify the TC of all Leaves of Absence by reporting them in the
minutes of the TC's next meeting.
A Voting Member who has already been granted a Leave of Absence during any twelve
month period may apply for a maximum of one additional Leave of Absence during the same
twelve month period, but a second Leave of Absence during any twelve month period shall be
granted only upon formal Resolution of the TC.
A Voting Member of a TC who has been granted a Leave of Absence shall not have voting
rights in the TC and all of its subcommittees for the duration of the Leave; voting rights shall
resume immediately upon the person returning from Leave.
The length of a Leave of Absence shall be specified in advance by the Voting Member
requesting it and shall not exceed 45 days. A Leave of Absence shall begin no earlier than seven
days after the date upon which the request was delivered to the Chair of the TC and shall end on
the date specified, or at the beginning of the first TC meeting or subcommittee meeting attended
after the Leave begins, or upon transmittal of the first mail ballot returned after the Leave
begins, whichever comes first. Time allocated for a Leave of Absence but not used due to early
resumption of participation cannot be carried over into another Leave.
2.7. TC Chairs
Each TC must have a Chair. Only Members and Voting Members of the TC are eligible to be
Chair or co-Chair. The TC Chair is initially elected at the first meeting. The Chair is elected by
Full Majority Vote of the TC. If the TC does not have a Chair then all TC activities, with the
exception of the selection of a new Chair, are suspended; if the TC does not have a Chair for 120 days, the TC Administrator must close the TC.
The responsibilities of Chair of a TC may be discharged by no more than two co-Chairs. In
the event that the Chair position is so shared each co-Chair is equally responsible for the Chair
duties and responsibilities. Throughout this TC Process, whenever a notification to the TC Chair
is required this must be made to both co-Chairs.
A TC Chair may be removed by action of the Board of Directors or by a Special Majority
Vote of the TC. In the event that a TC has co-Chairs each may be removed individually or both
may be removed by a single action.
A vacancy in chairing a TC shall be deemed to exist when (i) the Chair or one or both
co-Chairs has been removed, (ii) the Chair or one or both co-Chairs has resigned the position, or
(iii) the Chair or one or both co-Chairs ceases to be a Member of the TC. Vacancies in chairing a
TC shall be filled by election from the TC Members; the TC may elect at any time by
vote to elect a co-Chair, if only one Chair is seated, or to leave a second seat vacant. Any TC
chair or co-chair election shall be by Full Majority Vote of the TC, with each winning candidate
having received a full majority vote regardless of the number of candidates.
The same provisions regarding Leaves of Absence shall apply to the Chair or co-Chair of
a TC as to the other TC Members, except the Chair must notify both the OASIS TC
Administrator and the TC at least 30 days prior to any non-emergency leave of absence.
2.8 TC Visibility
The official copies of all resources of the TC and its associated subcommittees, including
web pages, documents, email lists and any other records of discussions, must be located only on
facilities designated by OASIS. TCs and SCs may not conduct official business or technical
discussions, store documents, or host web pages on servers or systems not designated by OASIS.
All web pages, documents, ballot results and email archives of all TCs and SCs shall be publicly
visible.
Mail Lists: Each TC shall be provided upon formation with a general
discussion email list and a means to collect public comments. Subscription to the general email
list shall be required for Members, Voting Members, and Observers of the TC.
The minutes of each TC meeting and a record of all decisions shall be published to that
TC’s general email list. All official communications and discussions of the TC must take
place on the email list. All TC email lists shall be archived for the duration of the corporation,
and all TC email archives shall be publicly visible.
The purpose of the TC’s public comment facility is to receive comments from the
public and is not for public discussion. Comments shall be publicly archived, and shall be
forwarded to one or more Members of the TC including the TC Chair. TCs shall not be required
to respond to comments. Comments to the TC made by Members of the TC must be made
via the TC general email list, and comments made by non-TC members, including from the
public, must be made via the TC’s comment facility. Comments shall not be accepted via
any other means.
Web Pages: The OASIS TC Administrator shall provide the TC with a publicly
accessible web page. The TC must keep the following information current on the TC web page:
the TC name and Charter; standing rules and other adopted procedures; meeting schedule;
anticipated deliverables and delivery dates; list of TC Members; the name and email address of the
TC Chair or co-Chairs as well as other positions such as secretary, editor, etc. that may exist; list
of subcommittees, their deliverables, and members; links to a repository of the draft and
completed TC documents with identification of the latest versions of the TC’s
specifications; and a link to the IPR declarations for that TC.
Announcements: The OASIS TC Administrator shall create a publicly archived
list for announcements from the OASIS TC Administrator regarding TCs. Any Eligible Person
shall be able to subscribe to this list. Every important change in TC status shall be posted to the
announcement list; such changes shall include but not be limited to the following: TC formation;
TC Charter revision; start of Public Review; approval of Committee Specifications; submission
of a Committee Specification as a proposed OASIS Standard; approval or rejection of a proposed
OASIS Standard; start or end of participation in a joint committee; and closure of a TC.
2.9 TC Procedure
The operation of TCs shall be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order Newly
Revised, insofar as such rules are not inconsistent with or in conflict with this TC Process,
the OASIS IPR Policy, the OASIS Bylaws, other Board-approved policies, or with
provisions of law. The duration of a TC shall be considered a single session. Formal actions of
TCs shall be governed by the same rules regardless of the language in which the work is taking
place.
Standing rules may be adopted by Full Majority Vote of the TC. The TC may not adopt
standing rules or other Resolutions related to IPR, quorum requirements, membership, voting,
participation, or that otherwise conflict with or supersede any OASIS Board-approved policy.
Standing rules must be communicated to the TC Administrator, who may override them if they
are in conflict with OASIS policy, and must be published on the TC’s web page.
2.10 TC Meetings
TC meetings must be properly called and scheduled in advance using the OASIS electronic
collaborative tools. Meetings scheduled or conducted in such a manner as to exclude the
participation of any Member is subject to appeal. Meetings may be conducted face-to-face or via
telephone conference or other electronic media that allow participation of all Members of the TC.
In order to enable the openness of TC proceedings, meetings should be scheduled and conducted so
as to permit the presence of as many TC Observers as is logistically feasible. Meeting minutes
must be recorded and published to the TC’s general email list and referenced on the TC
web page.
Without a quorum present discussions may take place but no business may be conducted;
those present may act as a "Committee of the Whole" as defined in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, and make a report to the entire TC.
Attendance must be recorded in the meeting minutes. Meetings without quorum shall still count
towards attendance for purposes of Members gaining, maintaining, or losing voting rights.
2.11 TC Charter Clarification
A TC may clarify its Charter only for the purpose of removing ambiguity or for narrowing
the scope of the topic defined by the Charter. The TC may not broaden or otherwise change its
scope of the topic of work. The list of deliverables may be expanded only if the new deliverables
are within the scope of the topic.
Approval for clarification shall require a Special Majority Vote of the TC. The clarification
of the Charter may occur no earlier than the first meeting of the TC. The TC Chair shall notify
the TC Administrator that a motion has been made to clarify the Charter, and the TC
Administrator shall set up and conduct the ballot.
The TC Administrator may prevent the proposed clarification from coming to vote if it is
not in conformance with OASIS policies. The TC Administrator must within 15 days either open
the ballot or reply to the TC with the reason why the change cannot be voted upon. The clarified
Charter shall not take effect until approved and announced by the TC Administrator. The TC
Administrator shall publicize approved changes as specified in Section 2.8 and any revisable
publicly visible description (e.g., web page) promulgated by the TC shall be updated to reflect
such changes.
2.12 TC Rechartering
A TC may be rechartered for purposes of expanding the scope of the TC. The TC shall
retain the name of the predecessor, and all email lists and archives, web pages, etc. shall move
from the predecessor TC to the rechartered TC. However, any Contributions made to the
previous TC must be recontributed.
The rechartering may not change the IPR Mode of the TC; if a different IPR Mode is
required then a new TC (with a unique name) must be formed.
A proposal to recharter the TC must be submitted to the TC Administrator, which proposal
shall be in all respects the same as a proposal to form a new TC with the exception that the TC
name and IPR Mode shall be the same as the predecessor TC. The TC Administrator shall reply
to the proposers within 15 days, and if the proposal is complete shall schedule a ballot. Approval
for rechartering shall require a Special Majority Vote of the TC being rechartered.
Upon approval of the ballot, the TC Administrator shall announce the newly rechartered TC
in the same manner as a new TC. Membership in the rechartered TC shall be determined in the
same manner as for a new TC. The predecessor TC shall be closed at the end of the day prior to
the date of the first meeting of the rechartered TC. The time period for determining
Members’ Participation Obligation shall restart at the first meeting of the
new TC.
2.13 TC Voting
TC votes require a Simple Majority Vote to pass, except as noted elsewhere in this Process.
All TC ballots requiring a Special Majority Vote for approval must be conducted by the TC
Administrator; the TC Chair shall notify the TC Administrator that a motion has been made
which requires a Special Majority Vote, and the TC Administrator shall set up and conduct the
ballot.
Eligibility: A Member of a TC must have voting rights to make or second a
motion, and must have voting rights at the time a ballot is opened in order to vote on that ballot.
Every Voting Member of a TC has a single vote. Organizations do not vote in TCs. Proxies shall
not be allowed in TC voting.
Electronic Voting: TCs may conduct electronic ballots, either by using the
TC’s general mail list or the publicly archived electronic voting functionality provided by
OASIS. The minimum period allowed for electronic voting shall be seven days; the TC
may specify a longer voting period for a particular electronic ballot. Any Specification Ballot
conducted as an electronic ballot must permit each voter to choose "yes",
"no" or "abstain."
A motion to open an electronic ballot must be made in a TC meeting unless the TC has
adopted a standing rule to allow this motion to be made on the TC’s general email list.
When such a rule has been adopted, motions made on the mail list must also be seconded and
discussed on that list.
2.14 TC Subcommittees
The TC may by Resolution create a subcommittee (SC). The Resolution must be minuted,
and must include the name, statement of purpose, list of deliverables, and name of the Chair of
the SC. All of these items must fall within the Charter of the TC and conform to OASIS policy.
The deliverables of the SC are made only to the TC. Members of the SC must first be
Members of the TC. Observers of a TC may be Observers of a SC, but may not become SC
members without first becoming a Member of the TC. An SC member may resign from the SC
and remain a Member of the TC.
2.15 Closing a TC
A TC may be closed by Full Majority Vote of the TC, by Resolution of the OASIS Board of
Directors, or by the OASIS TC Administrator.
The TC Administrator must close a TC that has completed the deliverables listed in its
Charter if the TC does not add new deliverables or that fails to elect a Chair for the
period provided in Section 2.7.
The TC Administrator may close a TC that fails to conduct at least one Quorate Meeting or
conduct any Specification Ballots during any six month period; whose membership falls below
the Minimum Membership; which has not completed its deliverables within the schedule listed
in its Charter; or which has failed to show progress towards achieving its purpose as defined by
its Charter.
2.16 [reserved]
2.17 Intellectual Property Rights Procedures
The TC shall operate in accordance with the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Policy.
Notices of Disclosed Claims, as defined in and required by the OASIS IPR Policy, shall be
made by sending an email message to the TC Administrator, who shall post the disclosure on the
TC's web page and notify the TC via the TC general email list. The TC shall make no formal
decision with regard to the applicability or validity of an IPR disclosure.
Contributions, as defined in the OASIS IPR Policy, shall be made by sending to the TC's
general email list either the contribution, or a notice that the contribution has been delivered
to the TC’s document repository; a URL or other reference to the document is not
sufficient. Written contributions must be converted to electronic format and delivered to the
TC's general email list or document repository. The TC is not required to acknowledge or use any
Contribution.
2.18 Specification Quality
All documents and other files produced by the TC, including specifications at any level of
approval, must use the OASIS file naming scheme, and must include the OASIS copyright
notice. All document files must be written using the OASIS document authoring templates,
which shall be published and maintained by the TC Administrator. The name of any
specification may not include any trademarks or service marks not owned by OASIS.
A specification that is approved by the TC at the Public Review Draft, Committee
Specification or OASIS Standard level must include a separate section, listing a set of
numbered conformance clauses, to which any implementation of the specification must adhere
in order to claim conformance to the specification (or any optional portion
thereof).
A specification that is approved by the TC at any level must include a list of people who
participated in the development of the specification. This list shall be initially compiled by the
Chair, and any Member of the TC may add or remove their names from the list by request.
A specification that is approved by the TC at any level must clearly indicate whether each
reference in the specification to a document or artifact is a Normative Reference.
Editable formats of all versions of TC documents must be delivered to the TC’s
document repository. TC Working Drafts may be in any format (i.e. produced by any
application). All TC-approved versions of documents (i.e. Committee Drafts, Public Review
Drafts, and Committee Specifications) must be delivered to the TC’s document
repository in the (1) editable source, (2) HTML or XHTML, and (3) PDF formats; and the TC must explicitly designate one of those delivered formats as the authoritative document. Any links
published by the TC shall be to the HTML, XHTML and/or PDF formats stored using repositories and
domain names owned by OASIS and as approved by the TC Administrator.
All schema and XML instances, whether by inclusion or by reference, including fragments
of such, must be well formed. All expressions must be valid. Each schema and XML instance
that is part of the specification must be delivered in its own separate plain text file.
A specification may be composed of any number of files of different types, though any such
multi-part specification must have a single specification name and version number. Irrespective
of the number and status of the constituent parts, the specification as a whole must be approved
by a single TC ballot. Any change made to a specification requires a new version or revision
number, except for changes made to (a) the title page, (b) the running header/footer, (c) the approval
status, (d) the date, (e) the URIs of the specification as appropriate, and (f) any Designated Cross-Reference Changes, all of which must be made after the approval of the specification.
2.19 Designated Cross-Reference Changes
A TC wishing to update the Normative References or Non-Normative References in one of its OASIS specifications to reflect the outcome of a pending status change in another OASIS specification may do so, by adopting a "Designated Cross-Reference Change" as part of its Specification Approval Motion, which must include: (a) a list designating each of the other OASIS specifications (including version number) that are referenced by that Specification and whose cross-references should conditionally be updated; (b) a reference to this Section 2.19; and (c) an acknowledgement that approval and publication of the specification may be delayed by the Designated Cross-Reference Changes.
The text of a proposed Designated Cross-Reference Change to a specification must include and may only include: the name, version and revision number; expected approval status; date; and URI for each other specification to be cross-referenced.The effectiveness of a proposed Designated Cross-Reference Change in a specification is conditioned on the resolution of the expected approval action for each cross-referenced specification. Therefore, if a Specification Approval Motion includes proposed Designated Cross-Reference Changes, the effectiveness of the subject specification's approval will be delayed until the resolution of all other cross-referenced specification approval actions. The TC Administrator will withhold announcement and certification of the specification itself until all such cross-referenced resolutions are complete.
If the Specification Approval Motion (which includes Designated Cross-Reference Changes) passes, then, when the last cross-referenced approval is resolved, the final approved version will be published with all of its conditional descriptions of the cross-referenced specifications updated to reflect their correct status at that time.
2.20 Application to Existing TCs
This TC Process applies to previously established TCs upon its adoption.
3.1 Approval of a Committee Draft
The TC may at any stage during development of a specification approve the specification as a
Committee Draft. The approval of a Committee Draft shall require a Full Majority Vote of
the TC. The TC may approve a specification, revise it, and re-approve it any number of times as
a Committee Draft.
3.2. Public Review
Before the TC can approve its Committee Draft as a Committee Specification the TC must
conduct a public review of the work. The decision by the TC to submit the specification for
public review requires a Full Majority Vote, and must be accompanied by a recommendation from
the TC of external stakeholders who should be notified of the review. The Committee Draft
approved to go to review shall be called a Public Review Draft. The public review must be
announced by the TC Administrator to the OASIS Membership list and optionally on other
public mail lists; the TC Administrator shall at the same time issue a call for IPR disclosure.
Comments from non-TC Members must be collected via the TC’s archived
public comment facility; comments made through any other means shall not be accepted.
The TC must acknowledge the receipt of each comment, track the comments received, and publish
to its primary e-mail list the disposition of each comment at the end of the review period.
No changes may be made to the Public Review Draft during a review. If changes are required
the specification must be withdrawn from review then resubmitted.
The TC may conduct any number of review cycles (i.e. approval to send a Committee Draft
to Public Review, collecting comments, making edits to the specification, etc.). The first public
review of a specification must take place for a minimum of 60 days, and any subsequent reviews
must be held for a minimum of 15 days. Changes made to a specification after a review must be
clearly identified in any subsequent review, and the subsequent review shall be limited in scope
to changes made in the previous review. Before starting another review cycle the specification
must be re-approved as a Committee Draft and then approved to go to public review by the TC.
If Substantive Changes are made to the specification after the public review, whether as a
result of public review comments or from TC Member input, then the TC must conduct another
review cycle. The specification may not be considered for approval by the TC as a Committee
Specification until it has undergone a review cycle during which it has received no comments
that result in Substantive Changes to the specification.
3.3 Approval of a Committee Specification
After the public review of a Public Review Draft the TC may approve the specification as a
Committee Specification. If any comments have been received during the most recent Public Review period, that vote may not commence any earlier than 7 days after the last day of that Public Review. The approval of a Committee Specification shall require a Special Majority Vote. The TC Chair shall
notify the TC Administrator that the TC is ready to vote on the approval of the specification, and
provide to the TC Administrator the location of the editable versions of the specification files.
The TC Administrator shall set up and conduct the ballot to approve the Committee Specification.
3.4 Approval of an OASIS Standard
Simultaneously with the approval of a Committee Specification or at a later date, and after
three Statements of Use have been presented to the TC, a TC may resolve by Special Majority Vote
to submit the Committee Specification to the Membership of OASIS for consideration as an OASIS
Standard. Upon resolution of the TC to submit the specification, its Chair shall submit the
following items to the TC Administrator:
(a) Links to the approved Committee Specification in the TC’s document repository,
and any appropriate supplemental documentation for the specification, both of which must be
written using the OASIS templates. The specification may not have been changed between its
approval as a Committee Specification and its submission to OASIS for consideration as an
OASIS Standard, except for the changes on the title page and running footer noting the approval
status and date.
(b) The editable version of all files that are part of the Committee Specification;
(c) Certification by the TC that all schema and XML instances included in the specification,
whether by inclusion or reference, including fragments of such, are well formed, and that all
expressions are valid;
(d) A clear English-language summary of the specification;
(e) A statement regarding the relationship of this specification to similar work of other
OASIS TCs or other standards developing organizations;
(f) The Statements of Use presented above;
(g) The beginning and ending dates of the public review(s), a pointer to the announcement of
the public review(s), and a pointer to an account of each of the comments/issues raised
during the public review period(s), along with its resolution;
(h) An account of and results of the voting to approve the specification as a Committee
Specification, including the date of the ballot and a pointer to the ballot;
(i) An account of or pointer to votes and comments received in any earlier attempts to
standardize substantially the same specification, together with the originating TC’s
response to each comment;
(j) A pointer to the publicly visible comments archive for the originating TC;
(k) A pointer to any minority reports delivered by one or more Members who did not vote in
favor of approving the Committee Specification, which report may include statements regarding
why the member voted against the specification or that the member believes
that Substantive Changes were made which have not gone through public review; or certification
by the Chair that no minority reports exist.
The above submission must be made by the 15th of any month to the TC Administrator, who
shall have until the end of the month to complete administrative processing and checking for
completeness and correctness of the submission. If the submission is incomplete it shall be
rejected but may be resubmitted at a later time.
The TC that originated the specification may resolve by Special Majority Vote to withdraw
the proposed specification at any point after it is submitted to the TC Administrator for
administrative processing and before the start of the voting period. No part of the submission
may be changed or altered in any way after being submitted to the TC Administrator, including
by Errata or corrigenda. Errata, corrigenda or other changes to a Committee Specification are not
permitted after its submission for OASIS Standard approval; if changes are required the
Committee Specification must be withdrawn by the TC, edited, re-approved as a Committee
Specification, and then may be resubmitted as a proposed OASIS Standard. Proposed changes of
any kind to a Committee Draft or Committee Specification may be maintained by a Technical
Committee, but do not have any approval status until incorporated into a revised Committee
Draft or Committee Specification.
The TC Administrator shall submit the proposal to the OASIS Membership by the first day of
the following month. The first 15 days of that month shall be used by the membership to
familiarize themselves with the submission. Voting shall start on the 16th of the month. The
voting representatives of those OASIS Organizational Members who were members at the
beginning of the familiarization period are eligible to vote, and must cast their ballots by the
end of the month.
In votes upon proposed OASIS Standards, each OASIS Organizational Member shall be
entitled to cast one vote. Votes shall be cast via the publicly archived electronic voting facility
supplied by OASIS. Ballots shall be publicly visible during voting and may be changed up until
the end of the voting period. The results of a vote on a proposed standard shall be provided to the
membership and to the TC no later than seven days following the close of the voting period.
If at the end of the voting period at least 15 percent of the voting OASIS Membership has voted to approve the proposed standard, and if no votes have been cast to disapprove the proposed standard, it shall become an OASIS Standard immediately following the end of the voting period. If negative votes have been cast amounting to 25 percent or more of the votes cast, or if less than 15 percent of the voting OASIS Membership has cast positive votes to approve the proposed standard, the ballot is deemed to have failed and the submission fails.
However, if negative votes are cast amounting to less than 25 percent of the votes that have been cast, the TC shall be notified of the negative votes, after which the TC shall have 30 days to take one of the following actions by Resolution of a Special Majority Vote: (a) request the TC Administrator to approve the specification as submitted despite the negative votes; (b) withdraw the submission entirely; or (c) submit an amended specification, in which case the amended submission shall be considered as if it were a new submission, except that information regarding previous votes and any disposition of comments received in previous votes shall accompany the amended submission. If the originating TC upon notification of negative votes takes no formal action within the 30 days allocated for consideration of the results, then the specification shall not become an OASIS Standard.
Failure of a ballot for any reason shall not prevent a later version of the same specification from being submitted again as specified in this section.
No changes may be made to the specification after approval as an OASIS Standard except for
the changes on the title page and running footer noting the approval status and date.
3.5 Approved Errata
A TC may approve a set of Errata to an OASIS Standard as "Approved Errata" to the
corrected specification by:
(a) Adopting the set of proposed corrections as a Committee Draft, in the form of a list of
changes, and optionally accompanied by a copy of the original specification text marked to
incorporate the proposed changes.
(b) Confirming by Full Majority Vote that the proposed corrections do not constitute a
Substantive Change.
(c) Submitting the proposed corrections for a 15-day public review, and completing that
review, pursuant to Section 3.3.
(d) After the public review, confirming the proposed corrections as Approved Errata by a
Full Majority Vote.
Once approved, the Approved Errata shall be with the specification it corrects, in any
publication of that specification. Disposition of Approved Errata must be identified in the
subsequent Public Review Draft of the corrected specification.
A TC may not adopt Approved Errata to an OASIS Standard more than once in any
consecutive six-month period.