incits incits t20 meeting – october 23, 2002. agenda: organizational issues (tcs, tgs, ad hocs)...

INCITS

INCITS T20 Meeting – October 23, 2002

Agenda:

• Organizational Issues (TCs, TGs, Ad Hocs)• Membership / Membership Requirements

(Meetings and Voting)• Upcoming Changes• Meeting Requirements• Ballots – How to Conduct & Resolution• Officer Responsibilities (CH, VC, Secretary)• Anti-Trust and IPR Policy• Appeals Process• Web Resources (Top Ten)

Overview of ANSI

ANSI Accreditation

• accredits entities to develop base standards• three types of accreditation:

1. accredited standards committee (e.g. , INCITS, X9, T1)2. accredited organization (e.g., IEEE, EIA, NISO)3. accredited canvass (e.g., NIST, UL, HFS )

ANSI requires the following elements to ensure due process:

• Openness• Balance• Written Procedures• Appeals• Notification of Standards Development• Consideration of Views and Objections• Consideration of Standards Proposals• Records

Accredited Procedures

ANSI reviews our procedures to ensure we are in compliance with ANSI requirements.

This helps us to avoid legal problems -- and penalties -- incurred by other standards developers or the companies participating in standards development.

Organizational Issues

CT22 TAG - U.S. TAG to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

*Maintenance technical committeesINCITS/B9 Paper/Forms Layout*INCITS/J1 PL/I*INCITS/J15 PL/B*INCITS/J17 Prolog*INCITS/J18 REXX*

INCITS/T6 Radio Frequency

Identification (RFID) Technology INCITS/T10 I/O Interface - Lower LevelINCITS/T11 I/O Interface - Device LevelINCITS/T13 I/O Interface - AT AttachmentINCITS/T20 Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS)INCITS/V1 Text: Office & Publishing SystemsINCITS/V2, Information Technology Access Interface INCITS/V3, eCommerceINCITS/W1 Office Machines

INCITS/J16 C++INCITS/K5 VocabularyINCITS/L1 Geographic Info. Systems (GIS)INCITS/L2 Codes & Character SetsINCITS/L3 Audio/Picture CodingINCITS/L8 Data RepresentationINCITS/M1 BiometricsINCITS/R1 Real-Time Computing SystemsINCITS/T3 Open Distributed ProcessingINCITS/T4 Security Techniques

INCITS/B5 Flexible Magnetic Media and FormatsINCITS/B10 Identification Cards and Related DevicesINCITS/B11 Optical Digital Data DisksINCITS/H2 DatabaseINCITS/H3 Computer Graphics & Image ProcessingINCITS/J3 FORTRANINCITS/J4 COBOLINCITS/J7 APTINCITS/J9 PASCALINCITS/J11 CINCITS/J13 LISP

INCITS Technical Committees

INCITSSecretariat - ITI Members - Producers/Consumers/General Interest

ANSI American National Standards Institute

JTC 1 Information Technology

JTC 1 TAGAdministrator - ITI

PPCProcedures and Policy Committee

MOCManagement Operations Committee

Organizational Issues – Technical Committees (TCs)

• The work of INCITS is distributed among a number of TCs.

• The technical scope of each TC comprises the scope of its assigned INCITS projects.

• Resources: Officers, maintenance of membership, agendas, minutes.

Organizational Issues – Task Groups (TGs)

• TGs may be established as required to deal with specific segments of work. A TG may be formed to develop one or more related standards and/or technical reports, or a portion of one standard, or to collect data or study a particular problem to facilitate decisions by the parent body.

• Establishment of a TG is approved by vote of its parent body (TC or SG) with notification to INCITS.

Organizational Issues – Task Groups (TGs)

• All reports of establishment of TGs must include the proposed scope (list of projects) and program of work for the TG when it is forwarded to INCITS.

• Resources: Officers, maintenance of membership, agendas, minutes.

Organizational Issues – Ad Hocs

•An ad hoc group may be established by the Chair of the parent body for one or more specific tasks to be completed not later than the end of the second following meeting of the parent body.

•Such a group may consist of one or more persons. Its function is to do a specific job and report back. Upon completion of its report, or at the second meeting of the parent body following the ad hoc group's establishment, the group is dissolved.

Organizational Issues – Ad Hocs

• Since an ad hoc group is limited in duration and scope, its business may be conducted less formally than that of other INCITS Subgroups. The principal record-keeping effort should be the documentation of its report.

• However, when the ad hoc group meets between scheduled meetings of its parent group, then the requirements for meeting notices and agenda in 4.3 shall be followed.

Organizational Issues – Ad Hocs

• Results of such meetings may be documented in minutes or the final report to the parent committee.

• Resources: Report, meeting announcements; comprised of members of the committee

• Note: after the two meetings, the committee may vote to reconstitute the ad hoc and provide a charter and scope of work.

Managing the Membership - New1.2 Membership and Attendance

1.2.1 Introduction of Attendees and New MembersNew members must indicate which “organization” is applying for membership and whether or not the membership is for a Voting or Advisory membership. Also identify the Representatives of that Organization.

Definition of ‘Organization’ for Voting Purposes (INCITS/SD-2, Section 4.2.4)

• Government (separate agencies)• Corporation (separate BoD)• Consultant • Academia• Vendor-Specific User Groups,

Professional Societies, Consortia, and Other SDOs

• Other

Recent T20 Motions

• Motion 1:  All voting members will give full disclosure of any type of commercial relationship or payments to them directly or to other members that may affect the independence of their vote or their participation in the T20 committee. 

• Motion 2:  To defer the question of the previous motion pending a decision by INCITS of the appropriateness of the motion. 

Secretariat ResponseThe only appropriate declaration by member organizations is called out in the INCITS/SD-2, Section 4.2.4.2.3

4.2.4.2.3. Consultant OrganizationA consultant organization is defined as an organization whose principal source of revenue is derived from providing consulting services for other organizations. There shall be only one voting membership for each separate consultant organization. In order to be in the voting member category, consultant organizations shall have to declare that their participation is not being funded by any organization already having voting membership.

This declaration only is made; if the Consultant Organization wishes to participate as a voting member, on whether or not the organization's participation is being funded by any other organization on T20 that already has voting membership; .NO other disclosures are required.

Upcoming Changes• INCITS Executive Board and JTC 1 TAG have approved the

formation of a new organization which merges the two groups.

• Attaining Membership Rule Change in the Technical Committees (currently under ballot with the INCITS EB):

Section 4.2.3.1.4, TCs, TGs & SGs (Voting Membership)

A representative of a prospective voting member shall initially attend a meeting of the TC, TG, or SG without voting privileges and reaffirm interest in the work of the TC, TG, or SG. Voting privileges become effective with attendance at one of the next two successive meetings and receipt by the Secretariat of the applicable fees for the membership year. For a new subgroup, all attendees at the formation meeting or second meeting shall be considered voting members, subject to the rules in section 4.2.4 below.

Managing the Membership – Jeopardy

1.2.2 Roll Call of Members in Jeopardy Due to Failure to Attend Meetings Note for the minutes those that were warned prior to this meeting. If they are not in attendance, membership is terminated (post jeopardy letter to the agenda).INCITS SD-2, 4.2.6 a) “The principal and all alternate representative(s) shall be warned in writing upon failure of the organization to: (1) attend two out of three successive meetings, in which case the membership shall be terminated if not represented at the next meeting; or”

1.2.3 Roll Call of Members in Jeopardy Due to Failure to Return Letter Ballots Note for the minutes those that were warned prior to this meeting. If they are not in attendance, membership is terminated (post jeopardy letter to the agenda).INCITS SD-2, 4.2.6 a) “The principal and all alternate representative(s) shall be warned in writing upon failure of the organization to: (2) return two out of three successive non accelerated letter ballots if the next non accelerated letter ballot (identified by LB number) after the warning is not returned,

Managing the Membership

1.2.4 Membership Report

• Listing of the Members (Organizations/Representatives) attached specifying Voting or Advisory Memberships.

• Specify how many are voting members.• Call Quorum.

Managing the Membership – 2002 Dues

These fees directly support INCITS and its program of work, including including standards processing, web-integrated services for the members (document distribution, balloting), meeting support and marketing. INCITS also supports the Secretariats held by the U.S. National Body at ANSI.

INCITS Executive BoardFortune 1000 or Fortune Global 500 Company, or Federal Government Agency - $3200Others - $1000

INCITS SubgroupsVoting members and advisory members on Technical Committees (including one Alternate) - $800

Technical Committee Additional Alternates, Technical Committee Task Groups - $800

*Note: If an organization is participating in a specific Technical Committee, they are able to designate a Principle and Alternate for any Task Group under that TC activity for no additional fee. Requests for Task Group participation should be formally submitted as with any membership request.

INCITS/SD-2, Section 4.3.5 - QuorumQuorum for INCITS and its subgroups is defined accordingly: a.For INCITS, quorum is a majority of the voting membership. b.For PPC, quorum is one-half of the voting membership. c.For SGs there is no minimum attendance required for quorum. d.For Compound TAGs, quorum is four voting members or fifty percent of the voting membership, whichever is less. e.For all other INCITS Subgroups, quorum is one-third of the voting membership with at least four members present.

Managing the Meeting

1.3 Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting

1.3.1 Approval of the Minutes 1.3.2 Review of Action Items

……..Advance Review of the Draft AgendaMotions to be made should be considered in advance of the meeting. Motions should include the motion, motion maker/seconder and the vote on the motion (yes, no, abstain, total voting membership)* when captured for the minutes.

Meeting Requirements – Notices/Agendas

• INCITS/SD-2, 4.3.3. Meeting Notice and Draft Agenda

The meeting notice and draft agenda shall be distributed no later than four weeks before the meeting.

Meeting Requirements – Two-Week Rule

INCITS SD-2, 4.3.4. Documents for Action (Two-Week Rule)

Documents should be distributed at least two weeks prior to the meeting. Project Proposals not posted to the Draft agenda two weeks prior to the meeting must be acted upon by letter ballot or deferred until the next meeting.

Meeting Requirements – Two-Week Rule

Documents may be revised during the meeting and still be considered to have met the two-week rule if the original document met this requirement. Note that this provision is intended to provide a means for discussing the document and advancing the progress of the work, and is not intended to permit the introduction of new or orthogonal material.

Meeting Requirements – Two-Week Rule

Any document, other than a Project Proposal, not distributed at least two weeks prior to the meeting may be considered, but a meeting vote to take action on that document may be taken only in the absence of objection by any voting member present.

Meeting Requirements – Two-Week Rule

This rule shall not be applied to actions required to meet International processing deadlines when the committee is serving in the role of a TAG and the application of the rule would result in the TAG responsibilities not being fulfilled.

Meeting Requirements – Minutes

INCITS SD-2, 4.3.6. MinutesINCITS and all INCITS Subgroups, except ad hoc groups (see 3.6), are required to produce minutes of their meetings. Minutes shall be distributed within four weeks after the adjournment of the meeting. The required contents of minutes are as follows:

Meeting Requirements – Minutes

a) Date(s), location(s), Chair, Secretary, hour of opening and adjournment. b) Summary of significant actions taken. c) List of all attendees. d) Approved agenda (or approved changes to draft agenda). e) Approval of previous meeting minutes. f) Register of documents since last issue of the register. g) Each motion seconded and not withdrawn, identifying maker of the motion, the fact of a second, and the voting results. h) Future meeting schedule. i) List of action items assigned to members.

Conducting Ballots and Votes

•Acceptable PositionsYES/NO/ABSTAIN•Voting Methodsa) Letter ballot (LB)b) Roll call vote* c) Show of hands* d) Voice vote* e) Unanimous consent**Taken as meeting votes only.

Conducting Ballots and Votes Continued

Which Method to be Used?

INCITS SD-2, Section 4.4.4specifies the method to be used.

If not specified in Section 4.4.4 than may be approved by a majority using any voting method indicated on the previous slide.

Conducting Ballots and Votes Continued

•Can a Letter Ballot come out of a Meeting?a) Majority vote of those present at a meeting. b) The Chair. c) The INCITS Secretariat. d) INCITS SD-2 mandates a letter ballot. e) Written request to the Chair from five or more voting members of the INCITS Subgroup.

Conducting Ballots and Votes Continued

Which Criteria to be Used?

INCITS SD-2, Section 4.4.4specifies the criteria to be applied.

Majority OR “Two Thirds Voting Rule”

Definition of Majority

For meeting votes, a majority is defined as approval by more than half of the members voting; abstentions are excluded when determining whether a majority has been satisfied.

(Voting Members Attending the Meeting – Abstenstions)/2

For letter ballot votes, a majority is defined as approval by more than half of the members eligible to vote, excluding abstentions.

(Total Voting Members – Abstentions)/2

Definition of “Two Thirds Voting Rule”

The two-thirds voting rule is defined as approval by1)at least a majority of the members eligible to vote and 2)at least two-thirds of those voting, excluding abstentions. Note: For INCITS TCs and TGs, abstentions are excluded when determining whether either of the above criteria has been satisfied. In addition, the number of affirmative votes shall exceed the quorum requirements.

Conducting Letter Ballots

•Crafting the motion – “trully an art form”.•Advance work in determining the final motion can be done in a meeting or by ad hoc to develop the proposed position.•In National work the ballot is usually straightforward•Staff will work with Chairs on what is appropriate.

Conducting Letter Ballots

•Negative votes shall include reasons for the negative and, if possible, recommend specific modifications necessary to change the negative position to an affirmative position. •Negative and abstention votes cast without reason shall be counted as non-responses and may place the member in jeopardy for failure to vote. •For those actions not listed in 4.4.4, the duration period shall not be less than thirty days. The duration period for all letter ballots commences on the date of issue of the letter ballot.

Officer Responsibilities - Chairman

• Presides at meetings,

• ensures that the Program of Work is carried out in a prompt, efficient and effective manner in accordance with the objectives, policies and procedures of the INCITS/ standards program;

• prepares the required reports;

• and ensures that the administrative duties are fulfilled.

• Note: Position of TG Chair appointed by TC Chair. Appointment of TC Chairs is made by the INCITS Executive Board.

Officer Responsibilities – Vice Chairman

• In the absence of the chairman, performs the duties of the chairman.

• Note: Position appointed by Chairman

Officer Responsibilities – Secretary

• Records and transcribes the meeting minutes.

Officer Responsibilities - Training

• Officer Training is offered by the Secretariat and is a requirement for the TC Chairs and International Representatives appointed at this time.

• More detailed review of procedures and responsibilities.

• One on one training is available upon request.

Legal Issues - Patents

Call for Patents

As INCITS subscribes to the ANSI Patent Policy, a call for patents and pertinent issues is issued now and throughout the development of a project to determine if a proposed standard may require the use of a patented invention.

If such notice is received, INCITS seeks a statement that the patent holder will comply with the ANSI Patent Policy. Please send the statement to the INCITS Secretariat at 1250 Eye Street NW, Suite 200, Washington DC 20005.

Legal Issues - Patents

ANSI Patent Policy http://www.ansi.org/public/library/guides/ppguide.html

There is no objection in principle to drafting a proposed American National Standard in terms that include the use of a patented item, if it is considered that technical reasons justify this approach…

a. - a license will be made available without compensation to the applicants desiring to utilize the license for the purpose of implementing the standard; or b. - a license will be made available to applicants under reasonable terms and conditions that are demonstrably free of any unfair discrimination

Legal Issues – Antitrust

ITI has antitrust guidelines for all of us to follow (see http://www.incits.org/natrust.htm)

Never discuss the following topics at any INCITS or an INCITS subgroup meeting:

• Any company's prices or pricing policies;• Specific R&D, sales and marketing plans;• Any company's confidential product, product development or

production strategies;• Whether certain suppliers or customers will be served;• Prices paid to input sources; or• Complaints about individual firms or other actions that might

tend to hinder a competitor in any market.

Legal Issues

ANSI Accreditation Is Important because of U.S. Antitrust Laws.

Recent past legal action resulting in treble-damage awards include:

– "Allied Tubing"

– "Hydrolevel "

Other actions have an impact on intellectual property rights:– "Dell Computer"

Appeals Process

• INCITS/SD-2, 5.9

Web Resources (Top Ten)

10.http://www.incits.org9. http://www.jtc1tag.org8. http://www.techstreet.com/ncits.html

(Standards for sale; new pdfs at $18)7. http://standards.itic.org

(web access to membership database information)

6. http://www.incits.org/officers.htm(Link to the INCITS website that provides further information on FAQs, links to INCITS agendas, ballots, latest tutorials, link to the draft ANSDIT)

Web Resources (Top Ten) Cont.

5. http://www.incits.org/stds_info.htm(New projects, standards out for public review, published standards)

4. http://www.jtc1tag.org/j1ndocs.htm(Link to the JTC 1 TAG website that shows all JTC 1 Level votes that are currently underway)

3. http://www.jtc1tag.org/whatsdue.htm(Link to the JTC1 TAG website for U.S. TAG votes that are due in your counterpart JTC 1 SC activity)

2. http://www.incits.org/procedure.htm (Link to the INCITS procedures page; including the INCITS SD-2 and the Latest Issues Listing)

Web Resources (Top Ten) Cont.

1.http://www.incits.org/staff.htm(Staff contact info!!!!)