Submission of an OASIS Standard to a de jure standards authority

A number of OASIS Standards have been submitted for further approval by de jure standards authorities such as ISO/IEC and ITU/T. Under this process the OASIS Technical Committee responsible for developing the Standard retains maintenance rights as well as the right to continue to develop new versions of the specification, unless agreed otherwise. Approval of an OASIS Standard by a de jure standards authority must not require any changes that would cause the OASIS Standard and the de jure approved standard to materially differ in any way.

Prerequisites for submission:

1. The specification in question must be an OASIS Standard,
2. The organization to receive such submission must be a de jure standards authority, preferably global in geographic scope, and
3. a public interoperability demonstration among at least three independent implementations must have been held. (See the OASIS InterOp Demonstration Policy for further details.)

Submitters:

If the above conditions are met, a written submission request may be submitted to the OASIS President by one of the following:

Open TC that is affiliated with an Open member section:

If the Member Section's Rules of Procedure require that the Member Section approve any external submission request:

1. The TC must first approve a motion to request a Special Majority Ballot and must include the name of the OASIS Standard and approval date.
2. Upon approval, the Chair or other representative of the TC must notify TC Administration by completing an OASIS Standard Submission Ballot Request.
3. The TC Administrator will conduct an electronic ballot
4. The TC Admin will notify both the TC and the Member Section Steering Committee of the results.
5. If approved, the Steering Committee must approve a motion to submit the OS to a de jure standards authority
6. The Steering Committee can then make the formal request.

otherwise, follow the steps immediately below.

Open TC (no active Member Section Affiliation)

1. The TC must first approve a motion to request a Special Majority Ballot and must include the name of the OASIS Standard and approval date.
2. Upon approval, the Chair or other representative of the TC must notify TC Administration by completing an OASIS Standard Submission Ballot Request.
3. The TC Administrator will conduct an electronic ballot
4. The TC Admin will notify the TC of the results.
5. If approved, the TC can then make the formal request.

Closed TC that is affiliated with an Open Member Section:

If the Member Section's Rules of Procedure require that the Member Section approve any external submission request:

1. The Steering Committee must approve a motion to submit the OS to a de jure standards authority
2. The Steering Committee can then make the formal request.

otherwise, follow the steps immediately below.

Closed TC (No Active Member Section Affiliation)

A minimum of five OASIS Organizational Members may submit the request.

Written Submission Request

The formal request must be made in writing to the OASIS President and include the following:

• the Member Section or Technical Committee or names of the Organizational Members submitting the request (if Organizational Members, the Primary Representative for each Organization must confirm the request)
• the de jure standards authority to which the OS is to be submitted
• the intended status or outcome
• a short description of the intended de jure standards authority approval process
• how the submission will benefit OASIS
• the expected licensing, copyright and other intellectual property terms that will be used by the receiving organization
• a statement of the intended future plans for versioning and maintenance of the OASIS Standard and/or Approved Errata for that standard, and the expected roles of OASIS and the receiving organization

Submission Request Processing

30-day Member Comment Period

Within 15 days of receipt, the OASIS President must either reject the request for failure to meet the requirements, or announce a 30-day member comment period. At the end of the comment period, the OASIS President will have 15 days to approve or reject the request and post his decision to the OASIS membership and the requestors.

If Approved by the OASIS President

The President shall transmit the submission to the receiving organization, and commit OASIS to the submission process, no earlier than the 15th day after the notice of decision is transmitted to the submission requesters and OASIS members, and no later than the 45th day thereafter. The President may approve the request with changes to the proposed submission method, schedule or designated receiving organization. Any such changes made to those terms shall be reported in the notice of decision transmitted to the submission requesters and OASIS Members. Any OASIS member may appeal the President's approval or rejection of a proposed submission, or changes made to its terms.

Submission Terms

The OASIS President must ensure that the terms of an approved submission request cannot result in multiple divergent versions of the submitted standard. The OASIS copyright should remain on the standard when it is published by the other organization. The OASIS President must arrange for appropriate acknowledgement, in a written acceptance, an applicable set of rules, a signed memorandum of understanding or other appropriate written form, that the above items are mutually understood between OASIS and the receiving organization.

Maintenance and Errata

Once an initial OASIS Standard has been submitted according to the terms of this policy and approved by a receiving organization, then:

Approved Errata. OASIS shall submit any Approved Errata to the approved standard to the same receiving organization, if it still accepts submissions. No request or approval is required. The President will confer with any TC and Member Section with the right to vote on the standard's submission, in his or her preparation of the submission.

Subsequent Versions. When a new version of an OASIS Standard, which has been submitted to and approved by a receiving organization, itself is approved as an OASIS Standard, the submission of the new version requires a new submission request in accordance with this policy. If a TC agreed to submit future versions, in the approved terms of the original submission, but then later withdraws its commitment or fails to request submission of the new OASIS Standard version, then the President may elect to submit that new version nevertheless, but must so notify the TC, OASIS Members and the Board of Directors. In such cases, the President must provide a copy of the proposed submission terms, so as to permit an appeal; and that submission and any commitment shall be made no sooner than the 15th day after that notification.

Exchange of Comments and Proposed Corrections. OASIS and, if it is open, the TC that originally developed the approved OASIS Standard, may periodically share with the receiving organization any interim corrections and comments it receives on that standard. If OASIS and the receiving organization choose to maintain shared lists or joint repositories of that interim data, without issuing a new approved version, that activity will not constitute a separate submission, for purposes of this policy, so long as the requirements of Section 4 continue to be met.

Appeal

Any OASIS Member may appeal a decision of the President described in Section 3, 4 or 5 above, within 30 days of the decision, by delivering a complaint to the OASIS Board of Directors, stating the decision at issue, the nature and reasons for the objection(s), and the outcomes desired. If such an appeal is received, the President shall take no further action on the submission at issue until the Board has rendered a decision on the appeal. In order to be valid, such appeal shall be sent to the Board comment list (oasis-board-comment@lists.oasis-open.org).

Within 7 days of receipt of the complaint, the Chairman of the Board shall provide a copy of the complaint to the requesters of the submission at issue. The Board shall hold a hearing (with the appellants invited) within 45 days of receipt of the appeal. 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 policy.