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.
