OASIS Board approves changes to TC Process: Commercial Terms and Committee Notes

On 30 January 2013, the OASIS Board of Directors approved two proposed changes to the TC Process: a new section 2.20 on Commercial Terms and Conditions and changes to section 3.0 simplifying the process for publishing Committee Notes.

The new section 2.20, Commercial Terms and Conditions, formalizes the exclusion of commercial specifics such as warranties, manufacturer lists, etc. from OASIS Standards. It was added in connection with our application to become an ANSI-accredited standards development organization. You will find the new section at https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/tc-process#commterms when the revised TC Process is published.

The changes to the process covering Committee Notes will be found at https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/tc-process#standApprovProcess. In a nutshell, a TC can now approve publishing a Committee Note by a Full Majority vote, without having to undergo a public review:

– Request the CN starter document from TC Administration (https://www.oasis-open.org/resources/tc-admin-requests/work-product-registration-template-request)

– Draft the Note and store it in your document repository

– Pass a motion or ballot to approve it as a Committee Note by Full Majority vote

– Submit a request to publish it to TC Administration (for now using the Committee Note Draft form at https://www.oasis-open.org/resources/tc-admin-requests/committee-note-draft-creation-upload-request and adding a note that the TC approves it as a full Committee Note.

Note that the TC can still put Committee Notes out for public review. In that case, the normal sequence of Committee Note Draft, Committee Note Public Review Draft and Committee Note applies. After the public review, you can still approve the Committee Note via Full Majority Vote rather than having to do a Special Majority Vote.

These changes to the TC Process become effective 14 February 2013.