TC Process (2 August 2006)
Table of Contents
1. Definitions 2. Technical Committees 2.1 TC Discussion Lists 2.2 TC Formation 2.3 First Meeting of a TC 2.4 TC Membership and Participation 2.5 Termination of TC Membership 2.6 Leaves of Absence 2.7 TC Chairs 2.8 TC Visibility 2.9 TC Procedure 2.10 TC Meetings 2.11 TC Charter Clarification 2.12 TC Rechartering 2.13 TC Voting 2.14 TC Subcommittees 2.15 Closing a TC 2.16 TC Coordination 2.17 Intellectual Property Rights Procedures 2.18 Specification Quality 2.19 Application to Existing TCs 3. Standards Approval Process 3.1 Approval of a Committee Draft 3.2 Public Review 3.3 Approval of a Committee Specification 3.4 Approval of an OASIS Standard 3.5 Approved Errata 4. Board of Directors Involvement in the Standards Process 4.1 OASIS TC Administrator 4.2 Appeals
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.
Section 4. Board of Directors Involvement in the Standards Process
4.1 OASIS TC Administrator
The “OASIS TC Administrator,” as defined in Section 1 of this TC Process, shall act as the Technical Committee Liaison to the Board for the purpose of keeping the Board apprised of activities related to the TC Process. The specific duties of the TC Liaison shall be specified by the Board in consultation with the TC Administrator but shall, at a minimum, provide for the submission to the Board of a notice when a proposal has been received for the creation of a new TC and when a TC submits a Committee Specification to OASIS for consideration as an OASIS Standard. Such notice shall be submitted via email to the Board immediately upon the receipt of the submission by the TC Administrator. The TC Administrator shall also send a copy of proposals for the creation of new TCs to the Technical Advisory Board (TAB) for their comment.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this TC Process, upon majority vote of the members of the Board at a meeting thereof duly called and constituted, the creation of a new TC may be prevented, or a proposed OASIS Standard may be withheld from voting by OASIS membership; the proposal or the submission shall be returned to the proposers or the sponsoring TC for additional consideration, with an explanation of the reasons for such action.
The Board of Directors may amend this TC Process at any time and from time to time at its sole discretion.
4.2 Appeals
Any group of three or more Eligible Persons who believe that an action taken or not taken by or with respect to TCs, or actions taken or not taken by the TC Administrator, is in violation of the procedures set forth in this TC Process or OASIS policies specified by the OASIS Board of Directors may appeal such action or inaction. Appellants shall file a complaint within 30 days of the action being appealed or at any time with respect to an inaction. The complaint shall state the nature of the objection(s), including any direct and material adverse effects upon the appellants; the section(s) of this TC Process or OASIS policies at issue; the actions or inactions at issue; and the specific remedial action(s) that would satisfy the appellants’ concerns. Previous efforts to resolve the objection(s) and the outcome of each shall be noted. Appeals regarding actions of a TC must be made to the TC Administrator. Appeals regarding actions of the TC Administrator must be made to the Chairman of the OASIS Board of Directors.
In the case of an appeal to the TC Administrator: within 15 days of receipt of the complaint, the TC Administrator shall provide a copy of the complaint to the TC; and within 30 days of such receipt, shall respond to the appellants, with a copy to the TC, addressing each allegation of fact in the complaint to the extent of the TC Administrator’s knowledge. If the appellants and the TC Administrator are unable to resolve the complaint within 15 days following the response, the TC Administrator shall notify the Chairman of the Board of Directors, who shall follow the procedure below.
In the case of an appeal to the Board, within 15 days of receipt of the complaint, the Chairman of the Board shall provide a copy of the complaint to the TC; and within 30 days of such receipt, shall respond to the appellants, with a copy to the TC, addressing each allegation of fact in the complaint to the extent of the Board’s knowledge. If this response is not acceptable to the appellants they may request a hearing before the OASIS Board of Directors at the next regular Board meeting. In such a hearing, appellants shall have the burden of demonstrating adverse effects, improper action or inaction, and the efficacy of the requested remedial action. The Board shall render its decision within 30 days. The decision of the Board shall be final.
The OASIS Board of Directors has the authority to effect such remedial action as may be necessary to remedy a complaint brought under this TC Process.
Dates Approved: Wed, 2006-08-02 Effective: Wed, 2006-08-02