Section 1. Definitions
(a) "Approved
Errata" shall have the meaning defined in Section 3.5.
(b) "Charter"
is the organizational document for a TC comprised of the items included in the proposal to form that TC, as
defined in section 2.2, and may be modified as described in section 2.11.
(c) "Committee
Draft" is an interim document approved by a Technical
Committee as specified in Section 3.
(d) "Committee Specification" is a
Public Review Draft that has completed public review and achieved
final approval by a Technical Committee as specified in Section 3.
(e) "Convener"
is an Eligible Person who serves in the role of organizing the
first meeting of the TC, as defined in Section 2.3.
(f) "Eligible
Person" means one of a class of individuals that includes
persons holding Individual memberships in OASIS, employees or
designees of organizational members of OASIS, and such other
persons as may be designated by the OASIS Board of Directors.
(g) "Errata"
means a set of changes or proposed changes to a specification that
are not Substantive Changes.
(h) "Full
Majority Vote" is a TC vote in which more than 50% (more than
half) of the Voting Members vote "yes", regardless of the
number of Voting Members present in the meeting. Abstentions are
not counted. For example, in a TC in which there are 20 Voting
Members, at least 11 Voting Members must vote "yes" for a
motion to pass.
(i) "Joint Committee" (or "JC")
means a committee formed by joint proposal of a group of cooperating
TCs for the purpose of coordinating the technical work of those TCs.
(j) "Leave of Absence" shall have the meaning
defined in Section 2.6.
(k) "Meeting" is a meeting of the TC that is
properly called and scheduled in advance as described in Section
2.10.
(l) "Member" is an Eligible Person who is
allowed to subscribe to the TC email list, participate in list
discussions, attend and participate in TC meetings, and make
Contributions to the TC. The process for becoming a Member of a TC
is defined in Section 2.4.
(m) "Minimum Membership" means five Voting
Members of a TC (or,
in the case of a TC about to be formed, five Eligible Persons)
representing at least two member organizations.
(n) "Normative Portion" shall have the meaning
defined for such term by the OASIS IPR Policy.
(o) "Normative Reference" means a reference in
a specification to an external document or resource with which
the implementer must comply, in order to
comply with a Normative Portion of the specification.
(p) "OASIS Standard" is a Committee
Specification that has been submitted by a Technical Committee and
reviewed and approved by OASIS membership as specified in Section 3.
(q) "OASIS TC Administrator" means the person
or persons representing OASIS in administrative matters relating to TCs.
(r) "Observer" is an Eligible Person who is
subscribed to the TC email list, and may attend TC meetings, but is
not allowed to participate in TC email list discussions, participate
or speak in TC meetings, or make Contributions to the TC. The
process for becoming an Observer is defined in Section 2.4.
(s) "Public" and "publicly" mean
all people, whether OASIS members or not.
(t) "Public Review Draft" is a Committee Draft
that has been approved by the TC to go to public review as specified
in Section 3 of this Process.
(u) "Quorum" is the number of Voting Members
of a TC that must be present in a meeting so that Resolutions and
decisions may be made. The Quorum for OASIS TC meetings is a simple
majority (more than half) of Voting Members.
(v) "Quorate Meeting" is a TC meeting at which
a Quorum is present.
(w) "Resolution" means a decision reached by a
TC, SC or JC by vote. Resolutions require a Simple Majority Vote to
pass, unless a Full Majority Vote or Special Majority Vote is
required under this Process.
(x) "Simple Majority Vote" is a vote in which
the number of "yes" votes cast is greater than the number
of "no" votes cast. Abstentions are not counted. For
example, in a quorate meeting in which 20 Voting Members are
present, if 7 vote "yes" and 4 vote "no", the
motion passes.
(y) "Specification Ballot" is any ballot on
the approval of the technical content of a document work within the
TC, such as the approval of a Committee Draft, start of Public
Review, approval of Committee Specification, or submission of a
Committee Specification to OASIS for approval as an OASIS Standard.
(z) "Subcommittee" (or "SC") is a
group of Members of a TC producing recommendations for consideration
by the parent TC.
(aa) "Special Majority Vote" is a TC vote in
which at least 2/3 (two thirds) of the Voting Members vote "yes"
and no more than 1/4 (one fourth) of the Voting Members vote "no".
These numbers are based on the total number of Voting Members,
regardless of the number of Voting Members present in the meeting.
Abstentions are not counted. For example, in a TC in which there are
30 Voting Members, at least 20 Voting Members must vote "yes"
for a motion to pass; but if 8 or more vote "no" then the
motion fails. All Special Majority Votes must be conducted by the
OASIS TC Administrator.
(bb) "Substantive Change" is a change to a
specification that would require a compliant application or
implementation to be modified or rewritten in order to remain
compliant.
(cc) "Technical Committee" (or "TC")
means a group comprised of at least the Minimum Membership formed
and conducted according to the provisions of this OASIS TC Process.
(dd) "Voting Member" is a Member of a TC who
has voting rights in the TC. The process for gaining voting rights
is defined in Section 2.4.
(ee) "Working Draft" is any version of a
specification or other document produced by the TC which has not yet
received any level of approval from the TC.
Section 2. Technical Committees
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 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
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 Members on
or after the first meeting of the TC. Such other contributions
shall be considered by the members of the TC 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) Optionally, a list of contributions of existing
technical work that the proposers anticipate will be made to this
TC.
(2)(c) Optionally, a proposed working title and acronym for the
specification(s) to be developed by the TC.
(2)(d) The date, time, and location of the first meeting,
whether it will be held in person or by phone, 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 telephone or other electronic meeting, and no less than 45 days
after the announcement of its formation in the case of a
face-to-face meeting.
(2)(e) 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)(f) 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)(g) The name of the Convener who must
be an Eligible Person.
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 OASIS members, 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 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
No later than 15 days prior to the event, Eligible
Persons intending to participate in the first meeting must use the
OASIS collaborative tools to register as a Member, and to specify
whether they intend to gain voting rights. 15
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 member organization, 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 member organization,
the Primary Representative of that organization must be notified
that the person has requested to become an Observer. The Observer is
not a Member of the TC 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 member organization,
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.
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 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 calendar days of TC membership as an 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 submitted 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.
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 membership of the TC; 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 members of a TC, 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 submitted 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
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.
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 calendar 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.
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 TC Coordination
Coordination among TCs shall take place through the
action of voluntary Joint Committees (JCs).
The purpose of a JC is only to coordinate the technical
activities of multiple TCs, is advisory only to those TCs, and has
no deliverables. A TC shall have no obligation to abide by any
decision arrived at in a JC to which it contributes membership.
A JC is formed upon the proposal from the Chairs of at
least two OASIS TCs who wish to form the JC. The Chairs of all TCs
named in the proposal should be co-proposers. The proposal must be
submitted to the OASIS TC Administrator, and shall be written in
English, provided in electronic form as plain text, and include the
following information:
(1) The name of the JC, such name not to have been previously
used for an OASIS JC or TC.
(2) A statement of purpose, which must be germane to the
mission of OASIS and to the member TCs.
(3) The language in which the JC shall conduct business.
(4) The date and time of the first JC meeting, and whether it
will be held in person or by telephone or other electronic means.
The first JC meeting may be held no less than 30 days after the
announcement of its formation in the case of a telephone or
electronic meeting, and no less than 45 days after the announcement
of its formation in the case of a face-to-face meeting.
(5) The proposed on-going meeting schedule for the JC.
(6) A list of all the TCs that will cooperate in the work of
the JC.
(7) The names, electronic mail addresses, and membership
affiliations of
one or two members of each of the proposing TCs who have been
selected to represent the TC; provided that no individual named in
the proposal shall be allowed to represent more than one TC in
meeting this requirement.
(8) The name of the JC Convener.
(9) The names of meeting sponsors, if any.
No later than 15 days following the submission, the TC
Administrator shall either announce the formation of the JC to the
members of OASIS, or return the submission to its originators with
an explanation of its failure to meet the requirements set forth in
this section. If the submission is accepted, the TC Administrator
shall form an electronic mail list for the JC.
TCs not named in the
proposal can join the JC at its first meeting by notifying the JC
Convener 15 days before the JC’s first meeting of the TC’s
intent to send a representative, and by having one or two
representatives at that meeting.
TCs not joining the JC at the first meeting may join
later by sending a notice to the JC Chair requesting JC membership
for the TC. The JC must respond to the TC within 45 days either
accepting or rejecting the request for membership. If the request
for membership is accepted the TC must send a representative to a JC
meeting within 45 days after the response, or to the first meeting
following that period if no meeting is held during that period. If
the request for membership is rejected the applicant TC may appeal
to the TC Administrator.
At the first meeting the JC must elect a Chair. Once the Chair
is elected the role of Convener ends.
The members of the JC are the TCs. Each TC may send one
or two representatives to meetings of the JC, and each TC shall have
one vote. A single person may not represent more than one TC in the
JC. The representatives of the member TCs shall be subscribed to the
JC’s email list.
To maintain its
membership in the JC a TC must have a representative at two out of
three consecutive JC meetings. If a TC is not represented at two out
of three consecutive meetings the JC Chair shall send a notice to
the TC Chair; if a representative of the TC does not attend the
following meeting then the TC shall be dropped from membership in
the JC.
The Chair of the JC
must be one of the representatives of the member TCs. Eligible
Persons who are not representing a member TC may attend meetings as
observers.
The TC Administrator
may close any JC that does not hold a meeting or conduct any
electronic discussion in any six month period, or whose membership
is less than two TCs. The JC can also be closed by Resolution of its
members.
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 submitted
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 submitted 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 also use the OASIS document
templates. 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 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 submitted 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 submitted to the TC’s document
repository in the editable source, XHTML, and PDF formats. Any
links published by the TC shall be to the XHTML and/or PDF formats
stored in the TC’s document repository.
All schema and XML
instances, whether by inclusion or by reference, including fragments
of such, must be well formed. All expressions must be valid. All
machine-processable schemas, XML instances etc. that are part of the
specification must be available separately in their own plain text
file with their own file name.
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 the title
page and in the running footer noting the approval status and date,
which must be made after the approval of the specification.
2.19 Application to Existing TCs
This TC Process applies to previously established TCs upon its
adoption.
Section 3. Standards Approval Process
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. 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 on the OASIS members email 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 submitted through any other means
shall not be accepted. The TC must track the comments received as
well as the disposition of each comment.
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
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. 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, 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) Certification by at least three OASIS member
organizations that they are successfully using the specification;
(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 submitted 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
organizational members of OASIS who were members at the beginning
of the familiarization period are eligible to vote, and must submit
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 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. However, if
negative votes amounting to less than 15 percent of the voting
membership 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 at the end of the voting period less than 15 percent
of the voting membership has voted to approve the proposed standard,
or if at the end of the voting period 15 percent or more of the
voting membership has voted to disapprove the proposed standard, or
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.
This 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 3.4.
(d) After the public review, confirming the 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.
