in051002

INCITS
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

Draft Minutes 

INCITS Procedures Board Committee (PBC)
Meeting Number 6

Teleconference Logistics:

1.1

Call to Order

Mr. Zemrowski, Chairman, called the sixth meeting of the INCITS Procedures Board Committee (PBC) to order at 1:04 PM.
Ms. Lynn Barra of ITI acted as recording secretary.

1.2

Membership Report

The PBC voting membership is 7 organizations; therefore, quorum is defined as 4 voting members.

Organization	Representative	Present	Absent
Voting Members
ICCP	Ken Zemrowski	X
IEEE	Robert Pritchard		X
Hewlett-Packard Company	Scott Jameson	X
Microsoft Corporation	Don Stanwyck	X
Sony Electronics	Ed Barrett	X
SUN Microsystems	Carman Mondello		X
US Department of Defense	Robert Gaskill		X
Ex-Officio
ITI (INCITS Sec.)	Pat Morris Lynn Barra Jennifer Garner	X X X

1.3

Approval of the Draft Agenda

The draft agenda was presented.  Mr. Barrett requested that default ballots be added to the agenda.  This issue was added under agenda item 5.2. 

Reference:

in051001

1.4

Review of Action Items

See Attachment A (at the end of the minutes).

3.1

RD-1 Participation in subgroups by non-members

Mr. Zemrowski noted that an Ad Hoc had been appointed by the SPB to address this issue (a05.173).  PBC will take action after the Ad Hoc has made a recommendation. 

Draft wording of a policy:

"Meetings of INCITS and its subgroups are open to all members and others having a direct and material interest. Any organization seeking to enjoy the opportunity to participate regularly and influence the progress of the program of work is expected to become a member in order to equitably share the obligations as well as the privileges of membership (recognizing that non-members to not have the opportunity to participate in formal ballots). If a subgroup identifies benefits to early distribution of draft documents prior to formal public review, the subgroup may establish a policy for distributing preliminary drafts to parties with a direct and material interest, as long as the Standards Development Board is notified of the distribution policy."

There was discussion that INCITS should have one harmonized policy and each TC should not have its own policy, that allowing non-members to participate diminishes the value of membership, and having a policy in which it is difficult to monitor compliance could be harmful.

3.2

RD-2 Clarification of two-thirds rule for voting

The proposed text for the two-thirds voting rule was reviewed by the PBC.

The two-thirds rule is defined as:
a) Approval by at least 2/3 of those voting YES or NO, and
b) Approval by a majority of the voting membership.  That is, the threshold is not affected by the number of members present at
    the meeting for a meeting vote.

Following discussion, the PBC approved the proposed two-thirds text by unanimous consent (Barrett / Zemrowski).

Action:   The PBC requests that the Secretariat issue a letter ballot to the Executive Board to approve the proposed two-thirds voting text.

3.3

RD-2 Delegates to international meetings

The PBC discussed revisions to the Clause 5.7.12.2 with a change in the preceding Clause as well, to read:

 

5.7.12.1 Selection of Delegates

U.S. delegates shall be representatives of voting members of appropriate U.S. TAGs as designated by the appropriate U.S. TAG, or be individual experts who are not voting members of the TAG and serve on U.S. delegations at the invitation of the TAG.

 

5.7.12.2 Participation

Designated U.S. delegates shall attend all caucuses called by the Head of Delegation, unless excused by the Head of Delegation, as well as all U.S. TAG meetings where U.S. positions and assignments are developed. Further, Designated U.S. delegates shall attend all international meeting sessions, unless excused by the Head of Delegation.

 

 Motion to request that the Secretariat issue a letter ballot was approved by unanimous consent (Barrett / Zemrowski). 

Action:  PBC requests that the Secretariat issue a letter ballot to revise Sections 5.7.12.1 and 5.7.12.2 of the INCITS/RD-2.

3.4

TC M1 Internal Procedures for Review

Mr. Zemrowski reported that a review of the INICTS/M1 internal procedures was conducted.  No conflicts with the INCITS/RD-2 or ANSI rules were found.  The PBC findings will be presented to the INCITS Executive Board for approval at the January 2006 meeting.

Action:  PBC will report to the INCITS Executive Board that the INICTS/M1 internal procedures are in compliance with INCITS and ANSI procedures.

3.5

Input to US delegations to JTC 1 meetings

The PBC was requested to provide text for inclusion in the RD-2 and RD-3 to clarify the requirement for US TAG Chairs, IRs and Administrators to provide input to the US delegations to JTC 1 meetings (Action Item a05.040).  Mr. Zemrowski will provide the new text to the Secretariat.

Action:  Upon receipt of the text from Mr. Zemrowski, PBC requests that the Secretariat issue a letter ballot to the Executive Board to approve the new INCITS/RD-2 and INCITS/RD-3 text for US TAG Chairs, IRs and Administrators to provide input to the US delegations to JTC 1 meetings.

3.6

Rights and responsibilities of members

The PBC was requested to clairfy the rights and responsibilities of the various categories of membeship for the INCITS Executive Board and the subsidiary boards (Action Item a05.002).

The PBC discussed this action item and approved by unanimous consent that the current text in the INCITS/RD-2, Section 3.2.1.1 will be revised from "principal or alternate representatives of members" to "principal or alternate representatives of voting members" in the first and second paragraphs.

Action:  PBC requests that the Secretariat issue a letter ballot on the revised text for Section 3.2.1.1 of the INCITS/RD-2.

4.1

Streamlined adoption of ISO/IEC standards

The PBC was requested to draft text for inclusion in the INCITS/RD-1 for Executive Board consideration proposing a policy that when a ballot is issued for adoption of the revision of an international standard that has been adopted, the ballot will contain text announcing that adoption of the revision will result in withdrawal of the original national adoption. 

The appropriate TC will be asked to provide the recommended US vote on the final standard and a recommendation on adoption at the same time.  The proposed process will detail the manner in which the simultaneous approvals will be achieved.  PBC agreed to draft text that two concurrent LBs will be issued, with the ballot to adopt the international standard contingent on approval of the international standard. Ms. Barra noted that some TCs have explicitly advised against adoption despite favoring approval of the international standard. Mr. Jameson pointed out that there are cases in which it is undesirable to withdraw the ANSI/INCITS standard because it is cited in Federal regulations or other Federal documents. Requests for input from TCs must be very detailed as to the implications of the various options.  The INCITS/RD-1 will need to be editorially updated to correct legacy document references.

Action:  PBC to draft text for the INICTS procedures that two concurrent LBs be issued, with the ballot to adopt the international standard contingent on approval of the international standard.

4.2

Roadmap for updating the INCITS/RD-1 and INCITS/RD-2

The PBC was directed to develop a roadmap and timeline for updates to the INCITS/RD-1 and INCITS/RD-2 for consideration by the INCITS Executive Board.  Several comments were noted such as difficulty when searching the documents, multiple files, and lack of an index and internal hyperlinks.  This issue was discussed briefly at this meeting.

None scheduled at this time.

 The sixth meeting of the INCITS Procedures Board Committee was adjourned at 2:43 PM on Monday, December 5, 2005.

Action Items from December 5, 2005 meeting: