Standards Board Bylaws – Clause 5

Regular meetings of the IEEE SA Standards Board shall be held quarterly, in accordance with a schedule approved at, or prior to, the last regular meeting of the previous calendar year. Special meetings may be called with at least five days notice for an electronic meeting or 30 days for an in-person meeting, when deemed necessary, by the Chair or at the request of five members.

Unless otherwise provided in the IEEE Certificate of Incorporation (PDF), the IEEE Constitution, the IEEE Bylaws, or the New York Not-For-Profit Corporation Law, the vote of a majority of the voting members of the IEEE SA Standards Board present at the time of the vote, if a quorum is present at such a time, shall be the act of the IEEE SA Standards Board.

Approval of proposed IEEE standards, or transfer of inactive status of such standards, shall require affirmative votes by at least 75% of the voting members present at the time of the vote, if a quorum is present. Except as otherwise specified in these bylaws, meetings of the IEEE SA Standards Board shall be run in accordance with the parliamentary procedures of Robert’s Rules of Order (latest edition).

A participant is an individual or entity that engages in Standards Committee/Working Group standards development activities, e.g., attending meetings, joining one of the Standards Committee/Working Group email reflectors, or voting in the Working Group, Public Review, or Standards Association balloting process.

Participants in the IEEE standards development individual process shall act based on their qualifications and experience. Entity representative participants in the IEEE standards development entity process are appointed by an entity to represent that entity and act on its behalf. Such representatives may participate in IEEE standards development activities and take action based upon instruction from the entity for which they have been appointed as an entity representative.

While participating in IEEE standards development activities, all participants, including but not limited to, individuals, entity representatives, entity members, entities participating directly in the entity process, and all parties that financially or materially support an individual’s participation in the individual process, including such individual’s employer and any individual or entity that has or will have, either directly or indirectly, requested, paid for, or otherwise sponsored such individual’s participation, shall act in accordance with all applicable laws (nation-based and international), the IEEE Code of Ethics, and with IEEE Standards policies and procedures. Participants in IEEE standards development who are authenticated into any IEEE SA database shall acknowledge the Obligations for Participation and Code of Ethics.

Participants on standards committees or working groups with governance authority or the authority to enter into a financial transaction with another party shall also act in accordance with IEEE Policies Section 9.9 on Conflict of Interest.

All officers of IEEE standards working groups shall indicate acceptance of their roles in an IEEE SA database.

Standards Committee Chairs, Vice Chairs, Secretaries, Treasurers, and liaison representatives shall be members of IEEE SA and shall also be either IEEE members of any grade, except Student grade, or IEEE affiliates.

The IEEE SA shall maintain the authoritative database of participants in the development of standards. Such database shall be maintained by the Secretary of the IEEE SA Standards Board.

Officers of IEEE standards working groups developing standards under the individual method shall be members of IEEE SA and shall also be either IEEE members of any grade, except Student grade, or IEEE affiliates. Designees (those designated to manage the Standards Association ballot) in the IEEE Standards Association individual ballot process shall be members of IEEE SA and shall also be either IEEE members of any grade, except Student grade, or IEEE affiliates.

Officers of IEEE standards working groups developing standards under the entity method shall be representatives of Entity Members of IEEE SA. Designees (those designated to manage the Standards Association ballot) in the IEEE Standards Association entity ballot process shall be representatives of Entity Members.

Every entity participating in an IEEE SA entity standards working group is required to be an Entity Member of IEEE SA to become a working group member or hold voting privileges. Entity nonmembers may observe IEEE SA entity standards working group meetings, obtain read-only access to IEEE repositories of IEEE SA entity standards working group email communications and documentation, and may speak at IEEE SA entity standards working group meetings at the discretion of the working group chair.

An entity can represent either itself or another entity’s interest in an entity working group. In order to be a voting member in a particular entity working group, each entity’s representative shall declare that the interests of that entity are not knowingly represented by another member of the working group and that the entity is not knowingly funding directly or indirectly the participation of another person in that working group for the purposes of influencing the outcome of the vote.

Each entity project shall have at least three voting members in good standing to maintain its validity. Each entity project is required to host its working group email reflector(s) through the IEEE, with designated IEEE staff serving as administrators. Each Standards Committee responsible for the entity project is permitted to send a designated Standards Committee Representative (SCR) to meetings of that entity-based working group in a non-voting role.

The following qualify as entities for standards-development purposes:

• Corporation: A for-profit or not-for-profit entity that is not under the control, as defined in 5.2.1.2.1, of another entity and that is organized under articles of incorporation or similar legal structures. Limited Liability Companies are considered to be Corporations.
• Partnership: An unincorporated association of two or more individuals who are co-owners of a business.
• Sole Proprietorship: An unincorporated business owned by a single individual.
• Government Agency: An entity that is part of an executive, legislative, or judicial branch of a government and that has sufficient discretion in the management of its own affairs to distinguish it as separate from the administrative structure of any other governmental entity.
• Academic institution: An educational entity that, in addition to having a controlling body such as a Board of Regents or a Board of Governors, has sufficient discretion in the management of its own affairs to distinguish it as separate from the administrative structure of any other educational entity.

IEEE SA entity standards working groups may employ up to two individuals in non-voting positions for the purposes of technical editing and other administrative functions that shall not involve technical contributions. Such individuals will be allowed to participate in working group activities as deemed appropriate and need not represent Entity Members of IEEE SA.

IEEE SA entity standards working groups may vote to allow individuals to offer specific technical expertise in non-voting positions at up to three entity standards working group meetings during the standards development process for a particular project. Such individuals need not represent Entity Members of IEEE SA.

When entity standards working group meetings are co-located with IEEE individual standards working group meetings, the participants in the individual standards working group may observe such co-located entity working group meetings at up to two meetings per calendar year without having to fulfill any specific membership requirements.

For the purposes of IEEE entity standards development, the term “control” (and its linguistic derivatives, e.g., “controlling,” “controlled”) means:

• With respect to for-profit entities: the legal, beneficial, or equitable ownership, directly or indirectly, of more than fifty percent of the capital stock (or other ownership interest, if the entity does not own capital stock) of the entity; or the power to elect or appoint more than fifty percent of the governing body (e.g., the Board of Directors) of the entity.
• With respect to not-for-profit entities: the power to elect or appoint more than fifty percent of the governing body (e.g., the Board of Directors) of the entity.

The standards development process shall not be dominated by any single interest category, individual(s), or organization(s).

Dominance is normally defined as the exercise of authority, leadership, or influence by reason of superior leverage, strength, or representation to the exclusion of fair and equitable consideration of other viewpoints. Dominance can also be defined as the exercise of authority, leadership, or influence by reason of sufficient leverage, strength, or representation to hinder the progress of any IEEE SA activities, including but not limited to standards development activities. Such dominance is contrary to open and fair participation by all interested parties and is unacceptable.

Standards Committees shall monitor standards developing committees and duly authorized IEEE SA activities for signs of dominance. If dominance is suspected by the Standards Committee, the Standards Committee shall immediately notify the Secretary of the IEEE SA Standards Board. The default corrective action in the individual process is that the votes of individuals affiliated with the dominating party or parties are combined into a single vote for any given action. The default corrective action in the entity process is that the votes of the dominating entities are combined into a single vote for any given action. The Standards Committee may recommend additional corrective action(s), which may include corrective action(s) listed in the Standards Committee’s official P&P.

The IEEE SA Standards Board shall determine whether dominance exists or may exist such that corrective action is needed and, if so, shall specify any approved corrective actions(s). The Standards Committee shall only implement the specific corrective action(s) that have been approved by the IEEE SA Standards Board.

The IEEE SA Standards Board shall continually monitor the efficacy of corrective action(s) taken and may impose further corrective action(s) if previous corrective action(s) prove to be insufficient. The IEEE SA Standards Board may, at its discretion, instruct the Standards Committee to cease specific corrective action(s) or to implement other corrective action(s).

Openness is defined as the quality of being not restricted to a particular type or category of participants. All meetings involving standards development shall be open to all interested parties.

Every participant in a working group, Standards Association ballot, or other standards development activity shall disclose his or her affiliation(s), which includes employer(s) and any other affiliation(s). An individual is deemed “affiliated” with any individual or entity that has been, or will be, financially or materially supporting that individual’s participation in a particular IEEE standards activity. This includes, but is not limited to, his or her employer(s) and any individual or entity that has or will have, either directly or indirectly, requested, paid for, or otherwise sponsored his or her participation. Failure to disclose every such affiliation(s) may result in complete or partial loss of rights to participate in IEEE SA activities. An individual is not excused from compliance with this policy by reason of any claim of a conflicting obligation (whether contractual or otherwise) that prohibits disclosure of affiliation(s).

A person who believes that a participant’s disclosure is materially incomplete or incorrect should report that fact to the appropriate Standards Committee(s).

A statement, written or oral, that is not processed in accordance with subclause 5.1.3 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual shall not be considered the official position of the IEEE Standards Association or any of its committees and shall not be considered to be, nor be relied upon as, a formal position of IEEE. At lectures, symposia, seminars, or educational courses, an individual presenting information on IEEE standards shall make it clear that his or her views should be considered the personal views of that individual rather than the formal position of IEEE.

IEEE SA volunteers and participants in IEEE standards activities are not permitted to state or in any way imply that they represent IEEE or IEEE SA in any public statements or political and legislative activity, including lobbying, unless authorized to do so. Volunteers shall comply with the Guidelines Regarding Political and Legislative Activity by IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) Volunteers and Staff.

A Standards Committee shall be made up of any of the categories of membership described in IEEE Bylaw I-403. This Standards Committee shall have a professed interest in the development of standards (either by direct participation or by the process of review) in technological areas that fall under the general scope of interest to the IEEE.

All IEEE standards development shall be based on projects that have been approved by the IEEE SA Standards Board, and each project shall be the responsibility of a Standards Committee. Standards Committees are responsible for the development and coordination of the standards project and the maintenance of the standard after approval of the standard by the IEEE SA Standards Board.

The Standards Committee shall be one of the following:

1. A Technical Committee within an IEEE Society/Council
2. A Standards Committee or Standards Coordinating Committee of an IEEE Society/Council
3. A Standards Coordinating Committee previously established by the IEEE SA Standards Board that is explicitly approved by the IEEE SA Standards Board to become a Standards Committee reporting to a different body
4. A Standards Subcommittee organized by or reporting to one of the above
5. Other organizations as recommended by the IEEE SA Standards Board and approved by the IEEE SA BOG

The IEEE SA Standards Board is not a Standards Committee, but provides oversight and guidance to assist Standards Committees when necessary.

Standards Committees formed under rule d) in 5.2.2 shall be officially recognized by the IEEE SA Standards Board only after a 75% approval by the creating committee. Once formed, Standards Committees automatically assume duties according to 5.1 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual.

The Standards Committee accepts responsibility for oversight of any of its assigned standards, including overseeing coordination and balloting.

When the breadth of interest in a standard is great enough so that more than one technical committee wishes to have a role in its development and oversight, a joint committee of the two or more interested committees may be formed. That joint committee, whose membership shall be determined by mutual agreement, shall assume all of the duties of a Standards Committee (see 5.1.2 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual).

Changes in responsibility for projects shall be approved by the IEEE SA Standards Board.

Potential dominance in Standards Association ballots as evidenced by an unduly high proportion of individuals employed by or affiliated with a single entity or from a particular balloting classification is unacceptable, counter to open and fair participation by all interested parties, and deprecated by the IEEE SA Standards Board. All individuals joining a Standards Association ballot group shall declare their employer and affiliation (see subclause 5.1.2.3 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual). The Standards Committee shall review the Standards Association ballot group for balance and possible dominance. If it is suspected that the Standards Association ballot group may be dominated (see 5.2.1.3), the Standards Committee shall immediately notify the Secretary of the IEEE SA Standards Board and should recommend corrective action(s). The IEEE SA Standards Board shall determine whether dominance exists or may exist such that corrective action is needed and, if so, shall specify any approved corrective action(s). The Standards Committee shall only implement the specific corrective action(s) that have been approved by the IEEE SA Standards Board to ensure a fair and open ballot.

The Standards Association balloting group shall consist of persons who are members of the IEEE SA. Membership status shall be determined at the time a person completes the process of joining the balloting group. [Note: A Standards Association balloting group may also include non-IEEE SA members that pay the appropriate per-ballot fee (see subclause 5.4.1 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual)]. A person is an individual or an entity representative. An entity can be any for-profit or not-for-profit enterprise, as defined in IEEE Bylaw I-403.

A single type of Standards Association balloting group for a standard shall be established at the time of PAR approval and officially approved prior to the formation of a Standards Association balloting group. A statement of the type of balloting membership to be used shall be included in all versions of the draft standard and the final approved standard.

In order to avoid duplication, provide for effective management of overall efforts, and expedite approval of final documents, all requests for an initiation of a standards project, in the form of a PAR, shall be approved by the IEEE SA Standards Board. The IEEE SA Standards Board has assigned to NesCom the preliminary review of PARs and the responsibility for recommending final approval to the Board.

Standards Committees are required to submit a PAR at the earliest opportunity when a standards project is contemplated or work is started. The Secretary of the IEEE SA Standards Board shall submit PARs to NesCom for approval in accordance with its procedures. Unless specifically authorized by the IEEE SA Standards Board, no proposed standard or revision shall be considered by RevCom without prior approval of the project by the IEEE SA Standards Board. The lifetime of a PAR shall be four years.

All IEEE standards shall be approved by the IEEE SA Standards Board prior to publication. The IEEE SA Standards Board has assigned to RevCom the review of standards submittals and the responsibility for recommending final approval to the IEEE SA Standards Board. Approval by the IEEE SA Standards Board indicates that the requirements of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual and these bylaws have been satisfied and, specifically, that the final results of the Standards Association ballot and statements submitted by other coordinating bodies who participated in the development of the standard indicate that consensus has been achieved and unresolved negative ballots have been considered together with reasons why the comments could not be resolved.

Following each meeting of the IEEE SA Standards Board, the IEEE Standards Department shall issue a statement, available to all interested parties, which shall detail the actions taken at the last meeting of the IEEE SA Standards Board on approval of, or transfer to inactive status of, standards documents; and authorization of new standards projects. This may be in the form of the minutes of the IEEE SA Standards Board meeting.

All IEEE standards should be reviewed as often as new information is available. Every year, the Secretary of the IEEE SA Standards Board shall notify the standards liaison representative of each Standards Committee of all active standards assigned to the Standards Committee, the dates that such standards are scheduled to expire, and a reminder to consider such standards for revision.

Persons who have directly and materially affected interests and who have been, or could reasonably be expected to be, adversely affected by a standard within the IEEE’s jurisdiction, or by the lack of action in any part of the IEEE standardization process, shall have the right to appeal procedural actions or inactions, provided that the appellant shall have first exhausted the appeals procedures of any relevant subordinate committee or body before filing the procedural appeal with the IEEE SA Standards Board.

The IEEE Standards Association shall not provide an appeals process to resolve a disagreement about a technical decision. All technical decisions shall be made at or below the Standards Committee level. Any person dissatisfied with a technical decision shall follow the procedures of the body that has made the decision and that body’s Standards Committee to provide input on the technical decision, including, but not limited to, making a technical comment during the applicable comment submission and/or balloting period.

The IEEE SA Standards Board shall not consider any claim that (i) is based solely on ethical considerations; (ii) does not seek to amend or reverse a decision of a lower body relating to the development or approval of a standard; or (iii) does not recommend remedial action or recommends remedial action not allowed by current IEEE SA policies and procedures.

The appellant shall be advised to bring ethical claims to the attention of the IEEE Ethics and Member Conduct Committee or the IEEE SA Standards Conduct Committee, as appropriate.

Further instructions concerning appeals procedure can be found in subclause 5.8 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual.

The IEEE does not offer interpretations of its standards.

IEEE standards development activities shall comply with all IEEE and IEEE SA requirements for development of IEEE Open Source, including acceptance of the Terms of Use for the IEEE Open Source Platform. Any IEEE Standards project that intends to develop Open Source for incorporation in a standard (including normatively or informatively) shall indicate this intent using the IEEE Open Source Platform. Approval for use of the IEEE Open Source Platform by the IEEE Standards Committee or Working Group to develop Open Source shall be requested from the responsible committee of the IEEE SA Board of Governors.

All Contributions to IEEE Open Source developed by a Standards Committee or Working Group shall be accompanied by an approved IEEE Contributor License Agreement (CLA) appropriate for the open source license under which the Open Source will be made available. CLAs, once accepted, are irrevocable.

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