InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards
INCITS Secretariat, Information Technology Industry Council (ITI)
1250 Eye St. NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005
Telephone 202-737-8888; Fax 202-638-4922;
Email: incits@itic.org

Doc: IT/02-0850
JT/02-0428
Date: August 1, 2002
Reply to: Jennifer Garner
Phone: 202-626-5737
email: jgarner@itic.org
 
Subject: Transmittal of Revised INCITS Stabilized Standards Procedures for JTC 1 TAG Consideration

At the February 2002 meeting of the INCITS Executive Board, the INCITS Policy and Procedures Committee (PPC) was instructed to draft revised procedures for the INCITS stabilized standards process.  The INCITS Secretariat was assigned the following action item:
 

Once the INCITS Stabilized Standards text has been revised, the Secretariat will notify the JTC 1 TAG of this change in US procedures so that corresponding international procedures in the JTC 1 Directives, proposed by the US, can be reviewed for similar issues. (Agenda Item 7.3.1, February 2002 minutes)
The revised stabilized standards procedures were submitted for INCITS Executive Board consideration via ITLB 4462 and were approved on July 10, 2002.  The revised procedures are attached for JTC 1 TAG consideration.

 
5.2.7.Stabilized standards Whenever it is determined that a standard has ongoing validity and effectiveness, but is mature and unlikely to require maintenance of any sort, it can be designated as a stabilized standard, which removes the requirement for periodic reaffirmation.

In order for a standard to be declared a stabilized standard, there must have been a previous reaffirmation without any modifications.

If it is determined that the standard should be designated as a stabilized standard, the TC shall forward a package that includes all of the following:

a) The rationale for the recommendation. b) The final tally of the TC vote recommending status as a stabilized standard with a copy of any unresolved negative votes and the TC response to each. The TC package is forwarded to the INCITS Secretariat and the INCITS Secretariat initiates the public review of the TC recommendation. a) If comments are received as a result of the public review, these comments are forwarded to the TC that made the recommendation and the TC will consider these comments at their next meeting, provide a response to each commentor, and forward final TC recommendation to the INCITS Executive Board for final action. The final TC recommendation will contain a copy of each comment and the TC's response to each, in addition to the information contained in paragraphs a) through b) above.

b) If there are no comments, the INCITS Secretariat will initiate an INCITS letter ballot for approval of the TC recommendation. If there are any negative votes on the INCITS letter ballot, a 15-day reconsideration ballot will be issued. At the completion of the letter ballot process:
 

If the INCITS letter ballot passed, the INCITS Secretariat submits the recommendation to BSR for a national standard or ANSI technical report. For an INCITS Technical Report, the reaffirmation or withdrawal will take effect immediately.

If the INCITS letter ballot failed, for lack of affirmative votes, and there were no negative votes, final action is taken by the INCITS Executive Board at its next meeting.

If the INCITS letter ballot failed based on the number of negatives, the recommendation is returned to the TC that originated it for further deliberation.

 The INCITS Secretariat will maintain a list of stabilized standards. Besides providing status of the standards, this list will be used by the Secretariat to: a) Report to ANSI on reaffirmation of ANSI standards that the standard is reaffirmed, without requiring a TC ballot or public review,

b) Report to JTC 1 TAG on reaffirmation of ISO standards for which an INCITS TC holds the TAG that the standard is reaffirmed, without requiring a TC ballot or public review.

 In either case, the Secretariat shall post the action on the INCITS web site and respond to the authority requesting the reaffirmation.

If a new work proposal is generated and adopted against a stabilized standard, the standard will revert to maintenance status.