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- <div class="head"><a href="https://www.w3.org/"><img alt="W3C" src="https://www.w3.org/Icons/w3c_home" height="48" width="72"></a>
- <h1>W3C Editor's Draft Process Document</h1>
- <h2 class="notoc">24 December 2016 Editor's Draft</h2>
- <dl>
- <dt>Latest Editor's version:</dt>
- <dd><a href="https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/AB/raw-file/default/cover.html">https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/AB/raw-file/default/cover.html</a></dd>
- <dt>Latest operative version:</dt>
- <dd><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/">https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/</a></dd>
- <dt>Editor:</dt>
- <dd>Charles McCathie Nevile, <a style="color:black" href="http://yandex.com"><span style="color: red;">Y</span>andex</a> —
- <a style="color:black" href="http://yandex.ru"><span style="color: red;">Я</span>ндекс</a></dd>
- <dt>Previous editor:</dt>
- <dd>Ian Jacobs, <a href="https://www.w3.org/">W3C</a></dd>
- </dl>
-
- <p class="copyright"><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Copyright">Copyright</a> © 1996-2016
- <a href="/"><abbr title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</abbr></a><sup>®</sup>
- (<a href="https://www.csail.mit.edu/"><abbr title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology">MIT</abbr></a>,
- <a href="http://www.ercim.eu/"><abbr title="European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics">ERCIM</abbr></a>,
- <a href="http://www.keio.ac.jp/">Keio</a>, <a href="http://ev.buaa.edu.cn/">Beihang</a>), All Rights Reserved. W3C
- <a href="/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Legal_Disclaimer">liability</a>,
- <a href="/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#W3C_Trademarks">trademark</a>,
- <a rel="Copyright" href="/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">document use</a> and
- <a rel="Copyright" href="/Consortium/Legal/copyright-software">software licensing</a> rules apply. Your interactions
- with this site are in accordance with our <a href="/Consortium/Legal/privacy-statement#Public">public</a> and
- <a href="/Consortium/Legal/privacy-statement#Members">Member</a> privacy statements.</p>
-
- <hr></div>
-
- <h2 class="notoc"><a id="abstract">Abstract</a></h2>
-
- <p>The mission of the World Wide Web Consortium (<abbr>W3C</abbr>) is to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by
- developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. The W3C Process Document describes
- the organizational structure of the W3C and the processes related to the responsibilities and functions they exercise to
- enable W3C to accomplish its mission. This document does not describe the internal workings of the Team or W3C's public
- communication mechanisms.</p>
-
- <p>For more information about the W3C mission and the history of W3C, please refer to
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/">About W3C</a> [<a href="#ref-mission">PUB15</a>].</p>
-
- <h2 class="notoc" id="status">Status of this Document</h2>
-
- <p>W3C, including all existing chartered groups, follows the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/">most recent operative Process Document</a> announced to the Membership.</p>
-
- <p>This document is developed by the Advisory Board's Process Task Force working within the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/community/w3process/">Revising W3C Process Community Group</a> (which anyone can join).
- This is the 15 October 2016 Editor's draft for the proposed next version of the W3C Process Document. This document is
- based on the <a href="http://www.w3.org/2015/Process-20150901/">1 September 2015 Process Document</a>, which is the
- currently operative W3C Process.</p>
-
- <p>This draft has been approved by the Advisory Board to propose to the W3C director as the new operative Process document.
- This follows a formal review by W3C Advisory Committee Representatives. This revision incorporates minor editorial
- changes to the draft that was reviewed by the Advisory Committee.</p>
-
- <p>Further revision is expected to take place in a new version of the Process as required.</p>
-
- <p>A <a href="#changes">history of substantial changes</a> since the 1 September 2015 Process Document is provided. A log of
- <a href="https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/AB/">all changes in diff format</a> is available, as is an
- <a href="https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/AB/raw-file/default/161224-150901-diff.html">"HTML diff-marked" comparison</a>
- to the 1 September document</a>.</p>
-
- <p>Comment is invited on the draft. Please send comments to
- <a href="mailto:public-w3process@w3.org">public-w3process@w3.org</a>
- (<a href="https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-w3process/">Mailing list archive</a>, publicly available) or to
- process-issues@w3.org (<a href="https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/process-issues">Member-only archive</a>). A
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/community/w3process/track/">Public Issue Tracker</a> is available online. </p>
-
- <h2 class="notoc" id="pp">Relation of Process Document to Patent Policy</h2>
-
- <p>W3C Members' attention is called to the fact that provisions of the Process Document are binding on Members per the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Agreement/Member-Agreement">Membership Agreement</a>
- [<a href="#ref-member-agreement">PUB6</a>]. The Patent Policy
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>]
- is incorporated by normative reference as a part of the Process Document, and is thus equally binding.</p>
-
- <p>The Patent Policy places additional obligations on Members, Team, and other participants in W3C.
- The Process Document does not restate those requirements but includes references to them.
- The Process Document and Patent Policy have been designed to allow them to evolve independently.</p>
-
- <p>In the Process Document, the term "participant" refers to an individual, not an organization.</p>
-
- <h2 class=".notoc">Conformance and specialized terms</h2>
-
- <p>The terms <em class="rfc2119">must</em>, <em class="rfc2119">must not</em>, <em class="rfc2119">should</em>,
- <em class="rfc2119">should not</em>, <em class="rfc2119">required</em>, and <em class="rfc2119">may</em> are used
- in accordance with <a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt">RFC 2119</a> [<a href="#ref-RFC2119">RFC2119</a>].
- The term <dfn><em class="rfc2119">not required</em></dfn> is equivalent to the term
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> as defined in [<a href="#ref-RFC2119">RFC2119</a>].</p>
-
- <p>Some terms have been capitalized in this document (and in other W3C materials) to indicate that they are entities
- with special relevance to the W3C Process. These terms are defined within this document, and readers are reminded that the
- ordinary English definitions are insufficient for the purpose of understanding this document.</p>
-
- <div class="toc" role="navigation">
- <h2 class="notoc" id="toc">Table of Contents</h2>
- <div class="noprint">
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Intro" class="tocxref">1 Introduction</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Organization" class="tocxref">2 Members, Advisory Committee, Team, Advisory Board, Technical
- Architecture Group</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Policies" class="tocxref">3 General Policies for W3C Groups</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#dissemination" class="tocxref">4 Dissemination Policies</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#GAGeneral" class="tocxref">5 Working Groups and Interest Groups</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Reports" class="tocxref">6 W3C Technical Report Development Process</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#ReviewAppeal" class="tocxref">7 Advisory Committee Reviews, Appeals, and Votes</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#GAEvents" class="tocxref">8 Workshops and Symposia</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Liaisons" class="tocxref">9 Liaisons</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Submission" class="tocxref">10 Member Submission Process</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#GAProcess" class="tocxref">11 Process Evolution</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#references" class="tocxref">12 References</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#acks" class="tocxref">13 Acknowledgments</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#changes" class="tocxref">14 Changes</a></li>
- </ul>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="longtoc">
- <div class="noprint">
- <h3 class="notoc" id="fulltoc">Expanded table of contents</h3>
- </div>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Intro">1 Introduction</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Organization">2 Members, Advisory Committee, Team, Advisory Board, Technical Architecture Group</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#Members">2.1 Members</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#MemberBenefits">2.1.1 Rights of Members</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#RelatedAndConsortiumMembers">2.1.2 Member Consortia, and Related Members</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#AC">2.1.3 Advisory Committee (AC)</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#Team">2.2 The W3C Team</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#TeamSubmission">2.2.1 Team Submissions</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#AB">2.3 Advisory Board (AB)</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#ABParticipation">2.3.1 Advisory Board Participation</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#TAG">2.4 Technical Architecture Group (TAG)</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#tag-participation">2.4.1 Technical Architecture Group Participation</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#AB-TAG-participation">2.5 Advisory Board and Technical Architecture Group Participation</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#AB-TAG-constraints">2.5.1 Advisory Board and Technical Architecture Group Participation
- Constraints</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#AB-TAG-elections">2.5.2 Advisory Board and Technical Architecture Group Elections</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#AB-TAG-vacated">2.5.3 Advisory Board and Technical Architecture Group Vacated Seats</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Policies">3 General Policies for W3C Groups</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#ParticipationCriteria">3.1 Individual Participation Criteria</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#coi">3.1.1 Conflict of Interest Policy</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#member-rep">3.1.2 Individuals Representing a Member Organization</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#GeneralMeetings">3.2 Meetings</a></li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#Consensus">3.3 Consensus</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#managing-dissent">3.3.1 Managing Dissent</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#WGArchiveMinorityViews">3.3.2 Recording and Reporting Formal Objections</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#formal-address">3.3.3 Formally Addressing an Issue</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#WGChairReopen">3.3.4 Reopening a Decision When Presented With New Information</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#Votes">3.4 Votes</a></li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#WGAppeals">3.5 Appeal of a Chair's Decision</a></li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#resignation">3.6 Resignation from a Group</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#dissemination">4 Dissemination Policies</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#confidentiality-levels">4.1 Confidentiality Levels</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#confidentiality-change">4.1.1 Changing Confidentiality Level</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#GAGeneral">5 Working Groups and Interest Groups</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#ReqsAllGroups">5.1 Requirements for All Working and Interest Groups</a></li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#GroupsWG">5.2 Working Groups and Interest Groups</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#group-participation">5.2.1 Working Group and Interest Group Participation Requirements</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#WGCharterDevelopment">5.2.2 Working Group and Interest Group Charter Development</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#CharterReview">5.2.3 Advisory Committee Review of a Working Group or Interest Group Charter</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#cfp">5.2.4 Call for Participation in a Working Group or Interest Group</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#charter-extension">5.2.5 Working Group and Interest Group Charter Extension</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#WGCharter">5.2.6 Working Group and Interest Group Charters</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#GeneralTermination">5.2.7 Working Group and Interest Group Closure</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Reports">6 W3C Technical Report Development Process</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="#rec-advance">6.1 W3C Technical Reports</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="#recs-and-notes" id="return-to-wg">6.1.1 Recommendations and Notes</a></li>
- <li><a href="#maturity-levels">6.1.2 Maturity Levels</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li><a href="#requirements-and-definitions">6.2 General requirements and definitions</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="#general-requirements">6.2.1 General requirements for Technical Reports</a></li>
- <li><a href="#transition-reqs">6.2.2 Advancement on the Recommendation Track</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="#substantive-change">6.2.2.1 Substantive Change</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li><a href="#doc-reviews">6.2.3 Reviews and Review Responsibilities</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="#wide-review">6.2.3.1 Wide Review</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li><a href="#implementation-experience">6.2.4 Implementation Experience</a> </li>
- <li><a href="#correction-classes">6.2.5 Classes of Changes to a Recommendation</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li><a href="#working-draft">6.3 Working Draft</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="#first-wd">6.3.1 First Public Working Draft</a></li>
- <li><a href="#revised-wd">6.3.2 Revising Public Working Drafts</a></li>
- <li><a href="#tr-end">6.3.3 Stopping work on a specification</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li><a href="#candidate-rec" id="cfi">6.4 Candidate Recommendation</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="#revised-cr">6.4.1 Revising a Candidate Recommendation</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li> <a href="#rec-pr" id="cfr">6.5 Proposed Recommendation</a></li>
- <li> <a href="#rec-publication">6.6 W3C Recommendation</a></li>
- <li><a href="#rec-modify">6.7 Modifying a W3C Recommendation</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="#errata">6.7.1 Errata Management</a></li>
- <li><a href="#revised-rec" id="cfr-edited">6.7.2 Revising a Recommendation</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li><a href="#Note">6.8 Publishing a Working Group or Interest Group Note</a></li>
- <li><a href="#rec-rescind">6.9 Obsoleting or Rescinding a W3C Recommendation</a></li>
- <li><a href="#further-reading">6.10 Further reading</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#ReviewAppeal">7 Advisory Committee Reviews, Appeals, and Votes</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#ACReview">7.1 Advisory Committee Reviews</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#ACReviewStart">7.1.1 Start of a Review Period</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#ACReviewAfter">7.1.2 After the Review Period</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#ACAppeal">7.2 Appeal by Advisory Committee Representatives</a></li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#ACVotes">7.3 Advisory Committee Votes</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#GAEvents">8 Workshops and Symposia</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Liaisons">9 Liaisons</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#Submission">10 Member Submission Process</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#SubmissionRights">10.1 Submitter Rights and Obligations</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#SubmissionScope">10.1.1 Scope of Member Submissions</a></li>
- <li class="tocline4"><a href="#SubmissionReqs">10.1.2 Information Required in a Submission Request</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#TeamSubmissionRights">10.2 Team Rights and Obligations</a></li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#SubmissionYes">10.3 Acknowledgment of a Submission Request</a></li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#SubmissionNo">10.4 Rejection of a Submission Request</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#GAProcess">11 Process Evolution</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#references">12 References</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#public-refs">12.1 Public Resources</a></li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#member-refs">12.2 Member-only Resources</a></li>
- <li class="tocline3"><a href="#other-refs">12.3 Other References</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#acks">13 Acknowledgments</a></li>
- <li class="tocline2"><a href="#changes">14 Changes</a></li>
- </ul>
- </div>
-
- <main>
-
- <h2 id="Intro">1 Introduction</h2>
-
- <p>Most W3C work revolves around the standardization of Web technologies. To accomplish this work, W3C follows processes that
- promote the development of high-quality standards based on the <a href="#Consensus">consensus</a> of the Membership, Team,
- and public. W3C processes promote fairness, responsiveness, and progress: all facets of the W3C mission.
- This document describes the processes W3C follows in pursuit of its mission.</p>
-
- <p>Here is a general overview of how W3C standardizes a Web technology. In many cases, the goal of this work is a
- <a href="#RecsW3C">W3C Recommendation</a> - a Web standard.</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>People generate interest in a particular topic. For instance, Members express interest in the form
- of <a href="#Submission">Member Submissions</a>, and the <a href="#Team">Team</a> monitors work inside and outside of W3C
- for signs of interest. Also, W3C is likely to organize a <a href="#GAEvents">Workshop</a> to bring people together to
- discuss topics that interest the W3C community.</li>
- <li>When there is enough interest in a topic (e.g., after a successful Workshop and/or discussion on an
- <a href="#ACCommunication">Advisory Committee mailing list</a>), the Director announces the development of a proposal for
- one or more new <a href="#WGCharterDevelopment">Interest Group or Working Group charters</a>, depending on the breadth of
- the topic of interest. W3C Members <a href="#CharterReview">review</a> the proposed charters. When there is support
- within W3C for investing resources in the topic of interest, the Director approves the group(s) and they begin their
- work.</li>
- <li>There are three types of Working Group participants: <a href="#member-rep">Member representatives</a>,
- <a href="#invited-expert-wg">Invited Experts</a>, and <a href="#Team">Team representatives</a>. Team representatives both
- contribute to the technical work and help ensure the group's proper integration with the rest of W3C. The
- <a href="#WGCharter">Working Group charter</a> sets expectations about each group's deliverables (e.g.,
- <a href="#Reports">technical reports</a>, test suites, and tutorials).</li>
- <li>Working Groups generally create specifications and guidelines that undergo cycles of revision and review as they
- <a href="#rec-advance">advance to W3C Recommendation</a> status. The W3C process for producing these technical reports
- includes significant review by the Members and public, and requirements that the Working Group be able to show
- implementation and interoperability experience. At the end of the process, the Advisory Committee reviews the mature
- technical report, and if there is support, W3C publishes it as a <a href="#RecsW3C">Recommendation</a>.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <p>The Process Document promotes the goals of quality and fairness in technical decisions by encouraging
- <a href="#Consensus">consensus</a>, requiring reviews (by both Members and public) as part of the
- <a href="#Reports">technical report development process</a>, and through an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal process</a>.</p>
-
- <p>The other sections of the Process Document:</p>
- <ol>
- <li>set forth <a href="#Policies">policies</a> for participation in W3C groups,</li>
- <li>establish two permanent groups within W3C: the <a href="#TAG">Technical Architecture Group (TAG)</a>, to help resolve
- Consortium-wide technical issues; and the <a href="#AB">Advisory Board (AB)</a>, to help resolve
- Consortium-wide non-technical issues, and to manage the <a href="#GAProcess">evolution of the W3C process</a>, and</li>
- <li>describe other interactions between the <a href="#Members">Members</a> (as represented by the
- <a href="#AC">W3C Advisory Committee</a>), the Team, and the general public.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <h2 id="Organization">2 Members, Advisory Committee, Team, Advisory Board, Technical Architecture Group</h2>
-
- <p>W3C's mission is to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C <a href="#Members">Member</a> organizations
- provide resources to this end, and the W3C <a href="#Team">Team</a> provides the technical leadership
- and organization to coordinate the effort.</p>
-
- <h3 id="Members">2.1 Members</h3>
-
- <p>W3C Members are primarily represented in W3C processes as follows:</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>The <a href="#AC">Advisory Committee</a> is composed of one representative from each Member organization (refer to the
- <a href="#Member-only">Member-only</a> list of
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/ACList">current Advisory Committee representatives</a>
- [<a href="#ref-current-ac">MEM1</a>]).
- The Advisory Committee:
- <ul>
- <li>reviews plans for W3C at each <a href="#ACMeetings">Advisory Committee meeting</a>;</li>
- <li>reviews formal proposals from the W3C Director: <a href="#CharterReview">Charter Proposals</a>,
- <a href="#RecsPR">Proposed Recommendations</a>, and <a href="#GAProcess">Proposed Process Documents</a>.</li>
- <li>elects the <a href="#AB">Advisory Board</a> participants other than the Advisory Board Chair.</li>
- <li>elects 5 of the 9 participants on the <a href="#TAG">Technical Architecture Group</a>.</li>
- </ul>
-
- Advisory Committee representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> in some cases described in this document.</li>
-
- <li>Representatives of Member organizations participate in <a href="#GAGeneral">Working Groups and Interest Groups</a> and
- author and review <a href="#Reports">technical reports</a>.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <p id="MemberSubscription">W3C membership is open to all entities, as described in
- "<a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/join">How to Join W3C</a>" [<a href="#ref-join-w3c">PUB5</a>];
- (refer to the public list of <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Member/List">current W3C Members</a>
- [<a href="#ref-current-mem">PUB8</a>]). Organizations subscribe according to the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Agreement/Member-Agreement">Membership Agreement</a>
- [<a href="#ref-member-agreement">PUB6</a>]. The <a href="#Team">Team</a> <em class="rfc2119">must</em> ensure that
- Member participation agreements remain <a href="#Team-only">Team-only</a> and that no Member receives
- preferential treatment within W3C.</p>
-
- <p id="IndividualParticipation">W3C does not have a class of membership tailored to, or priced for individuals.
- However, an individual <em class="rfc2119">may</em> join W3C as an Affiliate Member. In this case the same
- restrictions pertaining to <a href="#MemberRelated">related Members</a> apply when the individual also
- <a href="#member-rep">represents</a> another W3C Member.</p>
-
- <h4 id="MemberBenefits">2.1.1 Rights of Members</h4>
-
- <p>Each Member organization enjoys the following rights and benefits:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>A seat on the <a href="#AC">Advisory Committee</a>;</li>
- <li>Access to <a href="#Member-only">Member-only</a> information;</li>
- <li>The <a href="#Submission">Member Submission</a> process;</li>
- <li>Use of the W3C Member logo on promotional material and to publicize the Member's participation in W3C. For more
- information, please refer to the Member logo usage policy described in the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Intro">New Member Orientation</a> [<a href="#ref-new-member">MEM4</a>].</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>Furthermore, subject to further restrictions included in the Member Agreement, representatives of Member organizations
- participate in W3C as follows:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>In <a href="#GAGeneral">Working Groups and Interest Groups</a>.</li>
- <li>In <a href="#GAEvents">Workshops and Symposia</a>;</li>
- <li>On the Team, as <a href="#fellows">W3C Fellows</a>.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>The rights and benefits of W3C membership are contingent upon conformance to the processes described in this document.
- The vast majority of W3C Members faithfully follow the spirit as well as the letter of these processes. When
- serious and/or repeated violations do occur, and repeated attempts to address these violations have not
- resolved the situation, the Director <em class="rfc2119">may</em> take disciplinary action.
- Arbitration in the case of further disagreement is governed by paragraph 19 of the Membership Agreement. Refer to the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/2002/09/discipline">Guidelines for Disciplinary Action</a>
- [<a href="#ref-discipline-gl">MEM14</a>].</p>
-
- <h4 id="RelatedAndConsortiumMembers">2.1.2 Membership Consortia and related Members</h4>
-
- <h5 id="MemberConsortia">2.1.2.1 Membership Consortia</h5>
-
- <p>A "Member Consortium" means a consortium, user society, or association of two or more individuals, companies,
- organizations or governments, or any combination of these entities which has the purpose of participating in a
- common activity or pooling resources to achieve a common goal other than participation in, or achieving certain goals in,
- W3C. A joint-stock corporation or similar entity is not a "Member Consortium" merely because it has shareholders or
- stockholders. If it is not clear whether a prospective Member qualifies as a Member Consortium, the Director may
- reasonably make the determination. For a Member Consortium, the rights and privileges of W3C Membership described in the
- W3C Process Document extend to the Member Consortium's paid staff and Advisory Committee representative.</p>
-
- <p>Member Consortia <em class="rfc2119">may</em> also designate up to four (or more at the Team's discretion) individuals
- who, though not employed by the organization, <em class="rfc2119">may</em> exercise the rights of
- <a href="#member-rep">Member representatives</a>.
-
- <p>For Member Consortia that have individual people as members these individuals <em class="rfc2119">must</em> disclose
- their employment affiliation when participating in W3C work. Provisions for <a href="#MemberRelated">related Members</a>
- apply. Furthermore, these individuals <em class="rfc2119">must</em> represent the broad interests of the
- W3C Member organization and not the particular interests of their employers.</p>
-
- <p>For Member Consortia that have organizations as Members, all such designated representatives
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be an official representative of the Member organization
- (e.g. a Committee or Task Force Chairperson) and <em class="rfc2119">must</em> disclose their employment affiliation
- when participating in W3C work. Provisions for <a href="#MemberRelated">related Members</a> apply.
- Furthermore, these individuals <em class="rfc2119">must</em> represent the broad interests of the W3C Member organization
- and not the particular interests of their employers.</p>
-
- <p>For all representatives of a Member Consortium, IPR commitments are made on behalf of the Member Consortium, unless a
- further IPR commitment is made by the individuals' employers.</p>
-
- <h5 id="MemberRelated">2.1.2.2 Related Members</h5>
-
- <p>In the interest of ensuring the integrity of the consensus process, Member involvement in some of the processes in this
- document is affected by related Member status. As used herein, two Members are related if:</p>
- <ol>
- <li>Either Member is a subsidiary of the other, or</li>
- <li>Both Members are subsidiaries of a common entity, or</li>
- <li>The Members have an employment contract or consulting contract that affects W3C participation.</li>
- </ol>
- <p>A <em>subsidiary</em> is an organization of which effective control and/or majority ownership rests with another, single
- organization.</p>
- <p>Related Members <em class="rfc2119">must</em> disclose these relationships according to the mechanisms described in the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Intro">New Member Orientation</a> [<a href="#ref-new-member">MEM4</a>].</p>
-
- <h4 id="AC">2.1.3 Advisory Committee (AC)</h4>
-
- <p>When an organization joins W3C (see "<a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/join">How to Join W3C</a>"
- [<a href="#ref-join-w3c">PUB5</a>]), it <em class="rfc2119">must</em> name its Advisory Committee representative as part
- of the Membership Agreement. The <a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Intro">New Member Orientation</a> explains how to
- subscribe or unsubscribe to Advisory Committee mailing lists, provides information about Advisory Committee Meetings,
- explains how to name a new Advisory Committee representative, and more. Advisory Committee representatives
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> follow the <a href="#coi">conflict of interest policy</a> by disclosing information
- according to the mechanisms described in the New Member Orientation. See also the additional roles of
- Advisory Committee representatives described in the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</p>
- <p>Additional information for Members is available at the <a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/">Member Web site</a>
- [<a href="#ref-member-web">MEM6</a>].</p>
-
- <h5 id="ACCommunication">2.1.3.1 Advisory Committee Mailing Lists</h5>
- <p>The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> provide two mailing lists for use by the Advisory Committee:</p>
- <ol>
- <li>One for official announcements (e.g., those required by this document) from the Team to the Advisory Committee.
- This list is read-only for Advisory Committee representatives.</li>
- <li>One for discussion among Advisory Committee representatives. Though this list is primarily for Advisory Committee
- representatives, the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> monitor discussion and <em class="rfc2119">should</em>
- participate in discussion when appropriate. Ongoing detailed discussions <em class="rfc2119">should</em> be moved
- to other appropriate lists (new or existing, such as a mailing list created for a <a href="#GAEvents">Workshop</a>).</li>
- </ol>
- <p>An Advisory Committee representative <em class="rfc2119">may</em> request that additional individuals from their
- organization be subscribed to these lists. Failure to contain distribution internally <em class="rfc2119">may</em>
- result in suspension of additional email addresses, at the discretion of the Team.</p>
-
- <h5 id="ACMeetings">2.1.3.2 Advisory Committee Meetings</h5>
- <p>The Team organizes a <a href="#ftf-meeting">face-to-face meeting</a> for the Advisory Committee
- <span class="time-interval">twice a year</span>. The Team appoints the Chair of these meetings (generally the CEO).
- At each Advisory Committee meeting, the Team <em class="rfc2119">should</em> provide an update to the
- Advisory Committee about:</p>
- <dl>
- <dt><em>Resources</em></dt>
- <dd>
- <ul>
- <li>The number of W3C Members at each level.</li>
- <li>An overview of the financial status of W3C.</li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- <dt><em>Allocations</em></dt>
- <dd>
- <ul>
- <li>The allocation of the annual budget, including size of the Team and their approximate deployment.</li>
- <li>A list of all activities (including but not limited to Working and Interest Groups) and brief status statement
- about each, in particular those started or terminated since the previous Advisory Committee meeting.</li>
- <li>The allocation of resources to pursuing <a href="#Liaisons">liaisons</a> with other organizations.</li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- <p>Each Member organization <em class="rfc2119">should</em> send one <a href="#member-rep">representative</a> to each
- Advisory Committee Meeting. In exceptional circumstances (e.g., during a period of transition between representatives
- from an organization),
- the meeting Chair <em class="rfc2119">may</em> allow a Member organization to send two representatives to a meeting.</p>
- <p>The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> announce the date and location of each Advisory Committee meeting no later than
- at the end of the previous meeting; <span class="time-interval">one year's</span> notice is preferred. The Team
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em>
- announce the region of each Advisory Committee meeting at least <span class="time-interval">one year</span> in advance.</p>
- <p>More information about <a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Meeting/">Advisory Committee meetings</a>
- [<a href="#ref-ac-meetings">MEM5</a>] is available at the Member Web site.</p>
-
- <h3 id="Team">2.2 The W3C Team</h3>
-
- <p>The Team consists of the Director, CEO, W3C paid staff, unpaid interns, and W3C Fellows.
- <dfn id="fellows">W3C Fellows</dfn> are Member employees working as part of the Team; see the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Recruitment/Fellows">W3C Fellows Program</a> [<a href="#ref-fellows">PUB32</a>].
- The Team provides technical leadership about Web technologies, organizes and manages W3C activities to reach goals within
- practical constraints (such as resources available), and communicates with the Members and the public about
- the Web and W3C technologies.</p>
- <p>The Director and CEO <em class="rfc2119">may</em> delegate responsibility (generally to other individuals in the Team)
- for any of their roles described in this document.</p>
-
- <p>The <dfn id="def-Director">Director</dfn> is the lead technical architect at W3C. His responsibilities are identified
- throughout this document in relevant places. Some key ones include: assessing
- <a href="#def-Consensus" id="DirectorDecision">consensus</a> within W3C for architectural choices, publication of
- <a href="#Reports">technical reports</a>, and chartering new Groups; appointing group <a href="#GeneralChairs">Chairs</a>;
- adjudicating as "tie-breaker" for <a href="#WGAppeals">Group decision appeals</a> and deciding on the outcome of formal
- objections; the Director is generally Chair of the <a href="#TAG">TAG</a>.</p>
-
- <p>Team administrative information such as Team salaries, detailed budgeting, and other business decisions are
- <a href="#Team-only">Team-only</a>, subject to oversight by the Host institutions.</p>
- <p><strong>Note:</strong> W3C is not currently incorporated. For legal contracts, W3C is represented by four
- <dfn id="hosts">"Host" institutions</dfn>: Beihang University,
- the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (<abbr>ERCIM</abbr>),
- Keio University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (<abbr>MIT</abbr>). Within W3C, the Host institutions are
- governed by hosting agreements; the Hosts themselves are not W3C Members.</p>
-
- <h4 id="TeamSubmission">2.2.1 Team Submissions</h4>
-
- <p>Team members <em class="rfc2119">may</em> request that the Director publish information at the W3C Web site.
- At the Director's discretion, these documents are published as "Team Submissions". These documents are analogous to
- <a href="#Submission">Member Submissions</a> (e.g., in <a href="#SubmissionScope">expected scope</a>). However, there is
- no additional Team comment. The <a href="#DocumentStatus">document status section</a> of a Team Submission indicates
- the level of Team consensus about the published material.</p>
- <p>Team Submissions are <strong>not</strong> part of the <a href="#Reports">technical report development process</a>.</p>
- <p>The list of <a href="https://www.w3.org/TeamSubmission/">published Team Submissions</a>
- [<a href="#ref-team-submission-list">PUB16</a>] is available at the W3C Web site.</p>
-
- <h3 id="AB">2.3 Advisory Board (AB)</h3>
-
- <p>Created in March 1998, the Advisory Board provides ongoing guidance to the Team on issues of strategy, management,
- legal matters, process, and conflict resolution. The Advisory Board also serves the Members by tracking issues raised
- between Advisory Committee meetings, soliciting Member comments on such issues, and proposing actions to resolve these
- issues. The Advisory Board manages the <a href="#GAProcess">evolution of the Process Document</a>. The Advisory Board hears
- a <a href="#SubmissionNo">Submission Appeal</a> when a Member Submission is rejected for reasons unrelated to Web
- architecture; see also the <a href="#TAG">TAG</a>.</p>
-
- <p>The Advisory Board is <strong>not</strong> a board of directors and has no decision-making authority within W3C;
- its role is strictly advisory.</p>
-
- <p>The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> make available a mailing list for the Advisory Board to use for its
- communication,confidential to the Advisory Board and Team.</p>
-
- <p>The Advisory Board <em class="rfc2119">should</em> send a summary of each of its meetings to the Advisory Committee
- and other group Chairs. The Advisory Board <em class="rfc2119">should</em> also report on its activities at each
- <a href="#ACMeetings">Advisory Committee meeting</a>.</p>
-
- <p>Details about the Advisory Board (e.g., the list of Advisory Board participants, mailing list information, and
- summaries of Advisory Board meetings) are available at the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/2002/ab/">Advisory Board home page</a> [<a href="#ref-ab-home">PUB30</a>].</p>
-
- <h4 id="ABParticipation">2.3.1 Advisory Board Participation</h4>
-
- <p>The Advisory Board consists of nine elected participants and a Chair. The Team appoints the Chair of the
- <a href="#AB">Advisory Board</a>, who is generally the CEO.</p>
-
- <p>The remaining nine Advisory Board participants are elected by the W3C Advisory Committee following the
- <a href="#AB-TAG-elections">AB/TAG nomination and election process</a>.</p>
-
- <p>With the exception of the Chair, the terms of all Advisory Board participants are for
- <span class="time-interval">two years</span>. Terms are staggered so that each year, either four or five terms expire.
- If an individual is elected to fill an incomplete term, that individual's term ends at the normal expiration date of
- that term. Regular Advisory Board terms begin on 1 July and end on 30 June.</p>
-
- <h3 id="TAG">2.4 Technical Architecture Group (TAG)</h3>
-
- <p>Created in February 2001, the mission of the TAG is stewardship of the Web architecture. There are three aspects to
- this mission:</p>
- <ol>
- <li>to document and build consensus around principles of Web architecture and to interpret and clarify these
- principles when necessary;</li>
- <li>to resolve issues involving general Web architecture brought to the TAG;</li>
- <li>to help coordinate cross-technology architecture developments inside and outside W3C.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <p>The TAG hears a <a href="#SubmissionNo">Submission Appeal</a> when a Member Submission is rejected for reasons related
- to Web architecture; see also the <a href="#AB">Advisory Board</a>.</p>
-
- <p>The TAG's scope is limited to technical issues about Web architecture. The TAG <em class="rfc2119">should not</em>
- consider administrative, process, or organizational policy issues of W3C, which are generally addressed by the
- W3C Advisory Committee, Advisory Board, and Team. Please refer to the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/2004/10/27-tag">TAG charter</a> [<a href="#ref-tag-charter">PUB25</a>]
- for more information about the background and scope of the TAG, and the expected qualifications of TAG participants.</p>
-
- <p>The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> make available two mailing lists for the TAG:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>a public discussion (not just input) list for issues of Web architecture. The TAG will conduct its public business
- on this list.</li>
- <li>a <a href="#Member-only">Member-only</a> list for discussions within the TAG and for requests to the TAG that,
- for whatever reason, cannot be made on the public list.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>The TAG <em class="rfc2119">may</em> also request the creation of additional topic-specific, public mailing lists.
- For some TAG discussions (e.g., a <a href="#SubmissionNo">Submission Appeal</a>), the TAG <em class="rfc2119">may</em>
- use a list that will be <a href="#Member-only">Member-only</a>.</p>
-
- <p>The TAG <em class="rfc2119">should</em> send a summary of each of its <a href="#GeneralMeetings">meetings</a> to the
- Advisory Committee and other group Chairs. The TAG <em class="rfc2119">should</em> also report on its activities at each
- <a href="#ACMeetings">Advisory Committee meeting</a>.</p>
-
- <p>When the TAG votes to resolve an issue, each TAG participant (whether appointed, elected, or the Chair) has one vote;
- see also the section on <a href="https://www.w3.org/2004/10/27-tag#Voting">voting in the TAG charter</a>
- [<a href="#ref-tag-charter">PUB25</a>] and the general section on <a href="#Votes">votes</a> in this Process Document.</p>
-
- <p>Details about the TAG (e.g., the list of TAG participants, mailing list information, and summaries of TAG meetings)
- are available at the <a href="https://www.w3.org/2001/tag/">TAG home page</a> [<a href="#ref-tag-home">PUB26</a>].</p>
-
- <h4 id="tag-participation">2.4.1 Technical Architecture Group Participation</h4>
-
- <p>The TAG consists of eight elected or appointed participants and a Chair. The Team appoints the Chair of the TAG,
- who is generally the <a href="#def-Director">Director</a>.</p>
-
- <p>Three TAG participants are appointed by the Director. Appointees are <em class="rfc2119">not required</em> to be
- on the W3C Team. The Director <em class="rfc2119">may</em> appoint <a href="#fellows">W3C Fellows</a> to the TAG.</p>
-
- <p>The remaining five TAG participants are elected by the W3C Advisory Committee following the
- <a href="#AB-TAG-elections">AB/TAG nomination and election process</a>.</p>
-
- <p>With the exception of the Chair, the terms of all TAG participants are for <span class="time-interval">two years</span>.
- Terms are staggered so that each year, either two or three elected terms, and either one or two appointed terms expire.
- If an individual is appointed or elected to fill an incomplete term, that individual's term ends at the normal
- expiration date of that term. Regular TAG terms begin on 1 February and end on 31 January.</p>
-
- <h3 id="AB-TAG-participation">2.5 Advisory Board and Technical Architecture Group Participation</h3>
-
- <p>Advisory Board and TAG participants have a special role within W3C: they are elected by the Membership and
- appointed by the Director with the expectation that they will use their best judgment to find the best solutions
- for the Web, not just for any particular network, technology, vendor, or user. Advisory Board and TAG participants
- are expected to participate regularly and fully. Advisory Board and TAG participants <em class="rfc2119">should</em>
- attend <a href="#ACMeetings">Advisory Committee meetings</a>.</p>
-
- <p>An individual participates on the Advisory Board or TAG from the moment the individual's term begins until the term ends
- or the seat is <a href="#AB-TAG-vacated">vacated</a>. Although Advisory Board and TAG participants do not advocate for
- the commercial interests of their employers, their participation does carry the responsibilities associated with
- Member representation, Invited Expert status, or Team representation (as described in the section on the
- <a href="#AB-TAG-elections">AB/TAG nomination and election process</a>). See also the licensing obligations on
- TAG participants in <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Obligations">section 3</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>],
- and the claim exclusion process of <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Exclusion">section 4</a>.</p>
-
- <h4 id="AB-TAG-constraints">2.5.1 Advisory Board and Technical Architecture Group Participation Constraints</h4>
-
- <p>Given the few seats available on the Advisory Board and the TAG, and in order to ensure that the diversity of
- W3C Members is represented:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>A Member organization is permitted at most one participant on the TAG except when having more than one participant
- is caused by a change of affiliation of an existing participant. At the completion of the next regularly scheduled
- election for the TAG, the Member organization <em class="rfc2119">must</em> have returned to having at most
- one participant.</li>
- <li>A Member organization is permitted at most one participant on the AB.</li>
- <li>An individual <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> participate on both the TAG and the AB.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>If, for whatever reason, these constraints are not satisfied (e.g., because an AB participant changes jobs),
- one participant <em class="rfc2119">must</em> cease AB participation until the situation has been resolved. If after
- <span class="time-interval">30 days</span> the situation has not been resolved, the Chair will declare one participant's
- seat to be vacant. When more than one individual is involved, the
- <a href="#random">verifiable random selection procedure</a> described below will be used to choose one person for
- continued participation.</p>
-
- <h4 id="AB-TAG-elections">2.5.2 Advisory Board and Technical Architecture Group Elections</h4>
-
- <p>The Advisory Board and a portion of the Technical Architecture Group are elected by the Advisory Committee, using a
- Single Transferable Vote system. An election begins when the Team sends a Call for Nominations to the Advisory Committee.
- Any Call for Nominations specifies the number of available seats, the deadline for nominations, details about the
- specific vote tabulation system selected by the Team for the election, and operational information such as how to
- nominate a candidate. The Team
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> modify the tabulation system after the Call for Nominations but
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> stabilize it no later than the Call for Votes. The Director <em class="rfc2119">should</em>
- announce appointments no later than the start of a nomination period as part of the Call for Nominations.</p>
-
- <p>Each Member (or group of <a href="#MemberRelated">related Members</a>) <em class="rfc2119">may</em> nominate one
- individual. A nomination <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be made with the consent of the nominee. In order for
- an individual to be nominated as a Member representative, the individual <em class="rfc2119">must</em> qualify for
- <a href="#member-rep">Member representation</a> and the Member's Advisory Committee representative
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> include in the nomination the (same)
- <a href="#member-rep-info">information required for a Member representative in a Working Group</a>. In order for an
- individual to be nominated as an Invited Expert, the individual <em class="rfc2119">must</em> provide the (same)
- <a href="#inv-expert-info">information required for an Invited Expert in a Working Group</a> and the nominating
- Advisory Committee representative <em class="rfc2119">must</em> include that information in the nomination.
- In order for an individual to be nominated as a Team representative, the nominating Advisory Committee representative
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> first secure approval from Team management. A nominee is
- <em class="rfc2119">not required</em> to be an employee of a Member organization, and <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be a
- <a href="#fellows">W3C Fellow</a>. Each nomination <em class="rfc2119">should</em> include a few informative paragraphs
- about the nominee.</p>
-
- <p>If, after the deadline for nominations, the number of nominees is:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>Equal to the number of available seats, those nominees are thereby elected. This situation constitutes a tie for the
- purposes of assigning <a href="#short-term">short terms</a>.</li>
- <li>Less than the number of available seats, Calls for Nominations are issued until a sufficient number of people
- have been nominated. Those already nominated do not need to be renominated after a renewed call.</li>
- <li>Greater than the number of available seats, the Team issues a Call for Votes that includes the names of
- all candidates, the number of available seats, the deadline for votes, details about the vote tabulation system
- selected by the Team for the election, and operational information.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>When there is a vote, each Member (or group of <a href="#MemberRelated">related Members</a>)
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> submit one ballot that ranks candidates in the Member's preferred order. Once the deadline
- for votes has passed, the Team announces the results to the Advisory Committee. In case of a tie the
- <a href="#random">verifiable random selection procedure</a> described below will be used to fill the available seats.</p>
-
- <p id="short-term">The shortest term is assigned to the elected candidate ranked lowest by the tabulation of votes, the
- next shortest term to the next-lowest ranked elected candidate, and so on. In the case of a tie among those eligible for
- a short term, the <a href="#random">verifiable random selection procedure</a> described below will be used to assign the
- short term.</p>
-
- <p>Refer to <a href="https://www.w3.org/2002/10/election-howto">How to Organize an Advisory Board or TAG election</a>
- [<a href="#ref-election-howto">MEM15</a>] for more details.</p>
-
- <h5 id="random">2.5.2.1 Verifiable Random Selection Procedure</h5>
-
- <p>When it is necessary to use a verifiable random selection process (e.g., in an AB or TAG election, to "draw straws"
- in case of a tie or to fill a short term), W3C uses the random and verifiable procedure defined in
- <a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2777.txt">RFC 2777</a> [<a href="#ref-RFC2777">RFC2777</a>]. The procedure orders
- an input list of names (listed in alphabetical order by family name unless otherwise specified) into a
- "result order."</p>
-
- <p>W3C applies this procedure as follows:</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>When N people have tied for M (less than N) seats. In this case, only the names of the N individuals who tied
- are provided as input to the procedure. The M seats are assigned in result order.</li>
- <li>After all elected individuals have been identified, when N people are eligible for M (less than N) short terms.
- In this case, only the names of those N individuals are provided as input to the procedure. The short terms are
- assigned in result order.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <h4 id="AB-TAG-vacated">2.5.3 Advisory Board and Technical Architecture Group Vacated Seats</h4>
-
- <p>An Advisory Board or TAG participant's seat is vacated when either of the following occurs:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>the participant <a href="#resignation">resigns</a>, or</li>
- <li>the Chair asks the participant to <a href="#resignation">resign</a>.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>When an Advisory Board or TAG participant changes affiliations, as long as
- <a href="#AB-TAG-constraints">Advisory Board and TAG participation constraints</a> are respected, the individual
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> continue to participate until the next regularly scheduled election for that group.
- Otherwise, the seat is vacated.</p>
-
- <p>Vacated seats are filled according to this schedule:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>When an appointed TAG seat is vacated, the Director <em class="rfc2119">may</em> re-appoint someone immediately,
- but no later than the next regularly scheduled election.</li>
- <li>When an elected seat on either the AB or TAG is vacated, the seat is filled at the next regularly scheduled election
- for the group unless the group Chair requests that W3C hold an election before then (for instance,
- due to the group's workload). The group Chair <em class="rfc2119">should not</em> request an exceptional election
- if the next regularly scheduled election is fewer than three months away.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <h2 id="Policies">3 General Policies for W3C Groups</h2>
-
- <p>This section describes general policies for W3C groups regarding participation, meeting requirements, and
- decision-making. These policies apply to <span id="participant">participants</span> in the following groups:
- <a href="#AC">Advisory Committee</a>, <a href="#ABParticipation">Advisory Board</a>,
- <a href="#tag-participation">TAG</a>,
- <a href="#wgparticipant">Working Groups</a>, and <a href="#igparticipant">Interest Groups</a>.</p>
-
- <h3 id="ParticipationCriteria">3.1 Individual Participation Criteria</h3>
-
- <p>There are three qualities an individual is expected to demonstrate in order to participate in W3C:</p>
- <ol>
- <li>Technical competence in one's role</li>
- <li>The ability to act fairly</li>
- <li>Social competence in one's role</li>
- </ol>
- <p>Advisory Committee representatives who nominate individuals from their organization for participation in W3C activities
- are responsible for assessing and attesting to the qualities of those nominees.</p>
- <p>See also the <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/cepc/">W3C Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct</a>
- [<a href="#ref-cepc">PUB38</a>] and the participation requirements described in
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Disclosure">section 6</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</p>
-
- <h4 id="coi">3.1.1 Conflict of Interest Policy</h4>
-
- <p>Individuals participating materially in W3C work <em class="rfc2119">must</em> disclose significant relationships when
- those relationships might reasonably be perceived as creating a conflict of interest with the individual's role at W3C.
- These disclosures <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be kept up-to-date as the individual's affiliations change and
- W3C membership evolves (since, for example, the individual might have a relationship with an organization that joins or
- leaves W3C). Each section in this document that describes a W3C group provides more detail about the disclosure mechanisms
- for that group.</p>
- <p>The ability of an individual to fulfill a role within a group without risking a conflict of interest depends on
- the individual's affiliations. When these affiliations change, the individual's assignment to the role
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be evaluated. The role <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be reassigned according to the
- appropriate process. For instance, the Director <em class="rfc2119">may</em> appoint a new group Chair when the
- current Chair changes affiliations (e.g., if there is a risk of conflict of interest, or if there is risk that the
- Chair's new employer will be over-represented within a W3C activity).</p>
- <p>The following are some scenarios where disclosure is appropriate:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>Paid consulting for an organization whose activity is relevant to W3C, or any consulting compensated with
- equity (shares of stock, stock options, or other forms of corporate equity).</li>
- <li>A decision-making role/responsibility (such as participating on the Board) in other organizations relevant to W3C.</li>
- <li>A position on a publicly visible advisory body, even if no decision making authority is involved.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>Individuals seeking assistance on these matters <em class="rfc2119">should</em> contact the Team.</p>
- <p>Team members are subject to the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/2000/09/06-conflictpolicy">W3C Team conflict of interest policy</a>
- [<a href="#ref-coi">PUB23</a>].</p>
-
- <h4 id="member-rep">3.1.2 Individuals Representing a Member Organization</h4>
-
- <p>Generally, individuals representing a Member in an official capacity within W3C are employees of the
- Member organization.
- However, an Advisory Committee representative <em class="rfc2119">may</em> designate a non-employee to represent the
- Member. Non-employee Member representatives <em class="rfc2119">must</em> disclose relevant affiliations to the Team and
- to any group in which the individual participates.</p>
-
- <p>In exceptional circumstances (e.g., situations that might jeopardize the progress of a group or create a
- <a href="#coi">conflict of interest</a>), the <a href="#def-Director">Director</a> <em class="rfc2119">may</em>
- decline to allow an individual designated by an Advisory Committee representative to participate in a group.</p>
-
- <p>A group charter <em class="rfc2119">may</em> limit the number of individuals representing a W3C Member (or group of
- <a href="#MemberRelated">related Members</a>).</p>
-
- <h3 id="GeneralMeetings">3.2 Meetings</h3>
-
- <p>W3C groups (including the <a href="#ACMeetings">Advisory Committee</a>, <a href="#AB">Advisory Board</a>,
- <a href="#TAG">TAG</a>, and <a href="#GroupsWG">Working Groups</a>) <em class="rfc2119">should</em> observe the
- meeting requirements in this section.</p>
-
- <p>W3C distinguishes two types of meetings:</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>A <dfn id="ftf-meeting">face-to-face meeting</dfn> is one where most of the attendees are expected to
- participate in the same physical location.</li>
- <li>A <dfn id="distributed-meeting">distributed meeting</dfn> is one where most of the attendees are expected
- to participate from remote locations (e.g., by telephone, video conferencing, or
- <abbr title="Internet Relay Chat">IRC</abbr>).</li>
- </ol>
-
- <p>A Chair <em class="rfc2119">may</em> invite an individual with a particular expertise to attend a meeting on
- an exceptional basis. This person is a meeting guest, not a group <a href="#participant">participant</a>. Meeting guests
- do not have <a href="#Votes">voting rights</a>. It is the responsibility of the Chair to ensure that all meeting guests
- respect the chartered <a href="#confidentiality-levels">level of confidentiality</a> and other group requirements.</p>
-
- <p>Meeting announcements <em class="rfc2119">should</em> be sent to all appropriate group mailing lists, i.e., those most
- relevant to the anticipated meeting participants.</p>
-
- <p>The following table lists requirements for organizing a meeting:</p>
-
- <table border="1">
- <tbody>
- <tr>
- <th><br>
- </th>
- <th>Face-to-face meetings</th>
- <th>Distributed meetings</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th>Meeting announcement (before)</th>
- <td><span class="time-interval">eight weeks<sup>*</sup></span></td>
- <td><span class="time-interval">one week<sup>*</sup></span></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th>Agenda available (before)</th>
- <td><span class="time-interval">two weeks</span></td>
- <td><span class="time-interval">24 hours</span> (or longer if a meeting is scheduled after a weekend or holiday)</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th>Participation confirmed (before)</th>
- <td><span class="time-interval">three days</span></td>
- <td><span class="time-interval">24 hours</span></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th>Action items available (after)</th>
- <td><span class="time-interval">three days</span></td>
- <td><span class="time-interval">24 hours</span></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th>Minutes available (after)</th>
- <td><span class="time-interval">two weeks</span></td>
- <td><span class="time-interval">48 hours</span></td>
- </tr>
- </tbody>
- </table>
-
- <p><sup>*</sup> To allow proper planning (e.g., travel arrangements), the Chair is responsible for giving sufficient
- advance notice about the date and location of a meeting. Shorter notice for a meeting is allowed provided that there
- are no objections from group participants.</p>
-
- <h3 id="Consensus">3.3 Consensus</h3>
-
- <p>Consensus is a core value of W3C. To promote consensus, the W3C process requires Chairs to ensure that groups consider
- all legitimate views and objections, and endeavor to resolve them, whether these views and objections are expressed by
- the active participants of the group or by others (e.g., another W3C group, a group in another organization, or the
- general public). Decisions <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be made during meetings (<a href="#ftf-meeting">face-to-face</a>
- or <a href="#distributed-meeting">distributed</a>) as well as through email. <strong>Note:</strong> The Director, CEO,
- and COO have the role of assessing consensus within the Advisory Committee.</p>
-
- <p>The following terms are used in this document to describe the level of support for a decision among a set of eligible
- individuals:</p>
- <ol>
- <li><dfn id="def-Consensus">Consensus</dfn>: A substantial number of individuals in the set support the decision and
- nobody in the set registers a <a href="#FormalObjection">Formal Objection</a>. Individuals in the set
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> abstain.
- Abstention is either an explicit expression of no opinion or silence by an individual in the set.
- <dfn id="def-Unanimity">Unanimity</dfn> is the particular case of consensus where all individuals in the set support
- the decision (i.e., no individual in the set abstains).</li>
- <li><dfn id="def-Dissent">Dissent</dfn>: At least one individual in the set registers a
- <a href="#FormalObjection">Formal Objection</a>.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <p>By default, the set of individuals eligible to participate in a decision is the set of group participants. The
- Process Document does not require a quorum for decisions (i.e., the minimal number of eligible participants required
- to be present before the Chair can call a question). A charter <em class="rfc2119">may</em> include a
- quorum requirement for consensus decisions.</p>
-
- <p>Where unanimity is not possible, a group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> strive to make consensus decisions where
- there is significant support and few abstentions. The Process Document does not require a particular percentage of
- eligible participants to agree to a motion in order for a decision to be made. To avoid decisions where there is
- widespread apathy, (i.e., little support and many abstentions), groups <em class="rfc2119">should</em> set
- minimum thresholds of active support before a decision can be recorded. The appropriate percentage
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> vary depending on the size of the group and the nature of the decision. A charter
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> include threshold requirements for consensus decisions. For instance, a charter
- might require a supermajority of eligible participants (i.e., some established percentage above 50%) to support
- certain types of consensus decisions.</p>
-
- <h4 id="managing-dissent">3.3.1 Managing Dissent</h4>
-
- <p>In some cases, even after careful consideration of all points of view, a group might find itself unable to reach
- consensus. The Chair <em class="rfc2119">may</em> record a decision where there is dissent (i.e., there is at least one
- <a href="#FormalObjection">Formal Objection</a>) so that the group can make progress (for example, to produce a
- deliverable in a timely manner). Dissenters cannot stop a group's work simply by saying that they cannot live with a
- decision. When the Chair believes that the Group has duly considered the legitimate concerns of dissenters as far as is
- possible and reasonable, the group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> move on.</p>
- <p>Groups <em class="rfc2119">should</em> favor proposals that create the weakest objections. This is preferred over
- proposals that are supported by a large majority but that cause strong objections from a few people. As part of making
- a decision where there is dissent, the Chair is expected to be aware of which participants work for the same (or
- <a href="#MemberRelated">related</a>) Member organizations and weigh their input accordingly.</p>
-
- <h4 id="WGArchiveMinorityViews">3.3.2 Recording and Reporting Formal Objections</h4>
-
- <p>In the W3C process, an individual <em class="rfc2119">may</em> register a Formal Objection to a decision. A
- <dfn id="FormalObjection">Formal Objection</dfn> to a group decision is one that the reviewer requests that the
- Director consider as part of evaluating the related decision (e.g., in response to a
- <a href="#rec-advance">request to advance</a> a technical report). <strong>Note:</strong> In this document, the
- term "Formal Objection" is used to emphasize this process implication: Formal Objections receive Director consideration.
- The word "objection" used alone has ordinary English connotations.</p>
- <p>An individual who registers a Formal Objection <em class="rfc2119">should</em> cite technical arguments and propose
- changes that would remove the Formal Objection; these proposals <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be vague or incomplete.
- Formal Objections that do not provide substantive arguments or rationale are unlikely to receive serious consideration
- by the Director.</p>
- <p>A record of each Formal Objection <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be
- <a href="#confidentiality-change">publicly available</a>. A Call for Review (of a document) to the Advisory Committee
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> identify any Formal Objections.</p>
-
- <h4 id="formal-address">3.3.3 Formally Addressing an Issue</h4>
-
- <p>In the context of this document, a group has formally addressed an issue when it has sent a public, substantive response
- to the reviewer who raised the issue. A substantive response is expected to include rationale for decisions (e.g., a
- technical explanation, a pointer to charter scope, or a pointer to a requirements document). The adequacy of a response
- is measured against what a W3C reviewer would generally consider to be technically sound. If a group believes that a
- reviewer's comments result from a misunderstanding, the group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> seek clarification
- before reaching a decision.</p>
- <p>As a courtesy, both Chairs and reviewers <em class="rfc2119">should</em> set expectations for the schedule of
- responses and acknowledgments. The group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> reply to a reviewer's initial comments in a
- timely manner. The group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> set a time limit for acknowledgment by a reviewer of the
- group's substantive response; a reviewer cannot block a group's progress. It is common for a reviewer to require a week
- or more to acknowledge and comment on a substantive response. The group's responsibility to respond to reviewers does
- not end once a reasonable amount of time has elapsed. However, reviewers <em class="rfc2119">should</em> realize that
- their comments will carry less weight if not sent to the group in a timely manner.</p>
- <p>Substantive responses <em class="rfc2119">should</em> be recorded. The group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> maintain
- an accurate summary of all substantive issues and responses to them (e.g., in the form of an issues list with links to
- mailing list archives).</p>
-
- <h4 id="WGChairReopen">3.3.4 Reopening a Decision When Presented With New Information</h4>
-
- <p>The Chair <em class="rfc2119">may</em> reopen a decision when presented with new information, including:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>additional technical information,</li>
- <li>comments by email from participants who were unable to attend a scheduled meeting,</li>
- <li>comments by email from meeting attendees who chose not to speak out during a meeting (e.g., so they could confer
- later with colleagues or for cultural reasons).</li>
- </ul>
- <p>The Chair <em class="rfc2119">should</em> record that a decision has been reopened, and <em class="rfc2119">must</em>
- do so upon request from a group participant.</p>
-
- <h3 id="Votes">3.4 Votes</h3>
-
- <p>A group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> only conduct a vote to resolve a <em>substantive issue</em> after the Chair has
- determined that all available means of <a href="#Consensus">reaching consensus</a> through technical discussion and
- compromise have failed, and that a vote is necessary to break a deadlock. In this case the Chair
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> record (e.g., in the minutes of the meeting or in an archived email message):</p>
- <ul>
- <li>an explanation of the issue being voted on;</li>
- <li>the decision to conduct a vote (e.g., a simple majority vote) to resolve the issue;</li>
- <li>the outcome of the vote;</li>
- <li>any Formal Objections.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>In order to vote to resolve a substantive issue, an individual <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be a group
- <a href="#participant">participant</a>. Each organization represented in the group <em class="rfc2119">must</em> have
- at most one vote, even when the organization is represented by several participants in the group (including
- Invited Experts). For the purposes of voting:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>A Member or group of <a href="#MemberRelated">related Members</a> is considered a single organization.</li>
- <li>The <a href="#Team">Team</a> is considered an organization.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>Unless the charter states otherwise, <a href="#invited-expert-wg">Invited Experts</a> <em class="rfc2119">may</em> vote.</p>
- <p>If a participant is unable to attend a vote, that individual <em class="rfc2119">may</em> authorize anyone at the meeting
- to act as a <dfn id="proxy">proxy</dfn>. The absent participant <em class="rfc2119">must</em> inform the Chair in writing
- who is acting as proxy, with written instructions on the use of the proxy. For a Working Group or Interest Group, see the
- related requirements regarding an individual who attends a meeting as a <a href="#mtg-substitute">substitute</a>
- for a participant.</p>
-
- <p>A group <em class="rfc2119">may</em> vote for other purposes than to resolve a substantive issue. For instance, the
- Chair often conducts a "straw poll" vote as a means of determining whether there is consensus about a potential decision.</p>
- <p>A group <em class="rfc2119">may</em> also vote to make a process decision. For example, it is appropriate to decide by
- simple majority whether to hold a meeting in San Francisco or San Jose (there's not much difference geographically).
- When simple majority votes are used to decide minor issues, the minority are <em class="rfc2119">not required</em> to
- state the reasons for their dissent, and the group is <em class="rfc2119">not required</em> to record individual votes.</p>
- <p>A group charter <em class="rfc2119">should</em> include formal voting procedures (e.g., quorum or threshold requirements)
- for making decisions about substantive issues.</p>
-
- <p>Procedures for <a href="#ACVotes">Advisory Committee votes</a> are described separately.</p>
-
- <h3 id="WGAppeals">3.5 Appeal of a Chair's Decision</h3>
-
- <p>Groups resolve issues through dialog. Individuals who disagree strongly with a decision <em class="rfc2119">should</em>
- register with the Chair any <a href="#FormalObjection">Formal Objections</a> (e.g., to a decision made as the result of a
- <a href="#Votes">vote</a>).</p>
-
- <p>When group participants believe that their concerns are not being duly considered by the group, they
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> ask the <a href="#def-Director">Director</a> (for representatives of a Member organization,
- via their Advisory Committee representative) to confirm or deny the decision. This is a <dfn>Group Decision Appeal</dfn>.
- The participants <em class="rfc2119">should</em> also make their requests known to the
- <a href="#TeamContact">Team Contact</a>. The Team Contact <em class="rfc2119">must</em> inform the Director when a group
- participant has raised concerns about due process.</p>
-
- <p>Any requests to the Director to confirm a decision <em class="rfc2119">must</em> include a summary of the issue
- (whether technical or procedural), decision, and rationale for the objection. All counter-arguments, rationales,
- and decisions <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be recorded.</p>
- <p>Procedures for <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee appeals</a> are described separately.</p>
-
- <h3 id="resignation">3.6 Resignation from a Group</h3>
- <p>A W3C Member or Invited Expert <em class="rfc2119">may</em> resign from a group. On written notification from an Advisory
- Committee representative or Invited Expert to the team, the Member and their representatives or the Invited Expert will
- be deemed to have resigned from the relevant group. See section 4.2. of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>]
- for information about obligations remaining after resignation from certain groups.</p>
-
- <section id="chapterDissemination">
- <h2 id="dissemination">4 Dissemination Policies</h2>
- <p>The Team is responsible for managing communication within W3C and with the general public (e.g., news services,
- press releases, managing the Web site and access privileges, and managing calendars). Members
- <em class="rfc2119">should</em> solicit review by the Team prior to issuing press releases about their work within W3C.</p>
- <p>The Team makes every effort to ensure the persistence and availability of the following public information:</p>
- <ul>
- <li><a href="#Reports">W3C technical reports</a> whose publication has been approved by the Director. Per the Membership
- Agreement, W3C technical reports (and software) are available free of charge to the general public;
- (refer to the <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">W3C Document License</a>
- [<a href="#ref-doc-license">PUB18</a>]).</li>
- <li>A <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/mission">mission statement</a> [<a href="#ref-mission">PUB15</a>]
- that explains the
- purpose and mission of W3C, the key benefits for Members, and the organizational structure of W3C.</li>
- <li>Legal documents, including the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Agreement/Member-Agreement">Membership Agreement</a>
- [<a href="#ref-member-agreement">PUB6</a>]) and documentation of any legal commitments W3C has with other entities.</li>
- <li>The Process Document.</li>
- <li>Public results of W3C activities and <a href="#GAEvents">Workshops</a>.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>To keep the Members abreast of W3C meetings, Workshops, and review deadlines, the Team provides them with a regular
- (e.g., weekly) news service and maintains a <a href="https://www.w3.org/participate/eventscal">calendar</a>
- [<a href="#ref-calendar">PUB36</a>] of official W3C events. Members are encouraged to send schedule and event information
- to the Team for inclusion on this calendar.</p>
-
- <h3 id"confidentiality-levels"="">4.1 Confidentiality Levels</h3>
-
- <p>There are three principal levels of access to W3C information (on the W3C Web site, in W3C meetings, etc.): public,
- Member-only, and Team-only.</p>
- <p>While much information made available by W3C is public, <dfn id="Member-only">"Member-only" information</dfn>
- is available to authorized parties only, including representatives of Member organizations,
- <a href="#invited-expert-wg">Invited Experts</a>, the Advisory Board, the TAG, and the Team. For example, the
- <a href="#WGCharter">charter</a> of some Working Groups <em class="rfc2119">may</em> specify a
- Member-only confidentiality level for group proceedings.</p>
- <p id="Team-only">"Team-only" information is available to the Team and other authorized parties.</p>
- <p>Those authorized to access Member-only and Team-only information:</p>
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> treat the information as confidential within W3C,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> use reasonable efforts to maintain the proper level confidentiality, and</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must not</em> release this information to the general public or press.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> provide mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of Member-only information
- and ensure that authorized parties have proper access to this information. Documents <em class="rfc2119">should</em>
- clearly indicate whether they require Member-only confidentiality. Individuals uncertain of the confidentiality level
- of a piece of information <em class="rfc2119">should</em> contact the Team.</p>
- <p>Advisory Committee representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> authorize Member-only access to
- <a href="#member-rep">Member representatives</a> and other individuals employed by the Member who are considered
- appropriate recipients. For instance, it is the responsibility of the Advisory Committee representative and other
- employees and official representatives of the organization to ensure that Member-only news announcements are
- distributed for internal use only within their organization. Information about
- Member mailing lists is available in the <a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Intro">New Member Orientation</a>.</p>
-
- <h4 id="confidentiality-change">4.1.1 Changing Confidentiality Level</h4>
-
- <p>As a benefit of membership, W3C provides some Team-only and Member-only channels for certain types of communication.
- For example, Advisory Committee representatives can send <a href="#ACReview">reviews</a> to a Team-only channel.
- However, for W3C processes with a significant public component, such as the technical report development process, it
- is also important for information that affects decision-making to be publicly available. The Team
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> need to communicate Team-only information to a Working Group or the public. Similarly,
- a Working Group whose proceedings are Member-only <em class="rfc2119">must</em> make
- public information pertinent to the technical report development process.</p>
- <p>This document clearly indicates which information <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be available to Members or the public,
- even though that information was initially communicated on Team-only or Member-only channels. Only the Team and
- parties authorized by the Team change the level of confidentiality of this information. When doing so:</p>
- <ol>
- <li>The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> use a version of the information that was expressly provided by the author
- for the new confidentiality level. In Calls for Review and other similar messages, the Team
- <em class="rfc2119">should</em> remind recipients to provide such alternatives.</li>
- <li>The Team <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> attribute the version for the new confidentiality level to the
- author without the author's consent.</li>
- <li>If the author has not conveyed to the Team a version that is suitable for another confidentiality level, the Team
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> make available a version that reasonably communicates what is required, while
- respecting the original level of confidentiality, and without attribution to the original author.</li>
- </ol>
- </section>
-
- <section id="ChapterGroups">
-
- <h2 id="GAGeneral">5 Working Groups and Interest Groups</h2>
-
- <p id="GAGroups">This document defines two types of groups:</p>
- <ol>
- <li><a href="#GroupsWG">Working Groups.</a> Working Groups typically produce deliverables (e.g.,
- <a href="#rec-advance">Recommendation Track technical reports</a>, software, test suites, and reviews of the
- deliverables of other groups). There are additional participation requirements described in the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a>
- [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</li>
- <li><a href="#GroupsIG">Interest Groups.</a> The primary goal of an Interest Group is to bring together people who
- wish to evaluate potential Web technologies and policies. An Interest Group is a forum for the exchange of ideas.</li>
- </ol>
- <p>Interest Groups do not publish <a href="#RecsW3C">Recommendation Track technical reports</a>; see information about
- <a href="#WGNote">maturity levels for Interest Groups</a>.</p>
-
- <h3 id="ReqsAllGroups">5.1 Requirements for All Working and Interest Groups</h3>
-
- <p>Each group <em class="rfc2119">must</em> have a charter. Requirements for the charter depend on the group type.
- All group charters <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be public (even if other proceedings of the group are
- <a href="#Member-only">Member-only</a>).</p>
- <p>Each group <em class="rfc2119">must</em> have a <dfn id="GeneralChairs">Chair</dfn> (or co-Chairs) to coordinate
- the group's tasks. The Director appoints (and re-appoints) Chairs for all groups. The Chair is a
- <a href="#member-rep">Member representative</a>, a <a href="#Team">Team representative</a>, or an
- <a href="#invited-expert-wg">Invited Expert</a> (invited by the Director). The requirements of this document that
- apply to those types of participants apply to Chairs as well. The
- <a href="/Guide/chair-roles">role of the Chair</a> is described in the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/">Art of Consensus</a> [<a href="#ref-guide">PUB37</a>].</p>
- <p>Each group <em class="rfc2119">must</em> have a <dfn id="TeamContact">Team Contact</dfn>, who acts as the interface
- between the Chair, group participants, and the rest of the Team. The
- <a href="/Guide/staff-contact">role of the Team Contact</a> is described in the Member guide. The Chair and the
- Team Contact of a group <em class="rfc2119">should not</em> be the same individual.</p>
- <p>Each group <em class="rfc2119">must</em> have an archived mailing list for formal group communication (e.g., for
- meeting announcements and minutes, documentation of decisions, and <a href="#FormalObjection">Formal Objections</a>
- to decisions). It is the responsibility of the Chair and Team Contact to ensure that new participants are subscribed
- to all relevant mailing lists. Refer to the list of
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Mail/">group mailing lists</a> [<a href="#ref-mailing-lists">MEM2</a>].</p>
- <p>A Chair <em class="rfc2119">may</em> form task forces (composed of group participants) to carry out assignments for
- the group. The scope of these assignments <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> exceed the scope of the group's charter.
- A group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> document the process it uses to create task forces (e.g., each task force
- might have an informal "charter"). Task forces do not publish <a href="#Reports">technical reports</a>; the
- Working Group <em class="rfc2119">may</em> choose to publish their results as part of a technical report.</p>
-
- <h3>5.2 <dfn id="GroupsWG">Working Groups</dfn> and <dfn id="GroupsIG">Interest Groups</dfn></h3>
-
- <p>Although Working Groups and Interest Groups have different purposes, they share some characteristics, and so are
- defined together in the following sections.</p>
-
- <h4>5.2.1 <dfn id="group-participation">Working Group and Interest Group Participation Requirements</dfn></h4>
-
- <p>There are three types of individual <dfn id="wgparticipant">participants in a Working Group</dfn>:
- <a href="#member-rep">Member representatives</a>, <a href="#invited-expert-wg">Invited Experts</a>,
- and <a href="#Team">Team representatives</a> (including the <a href="#TeamContact">Team Contact</a>).</p>
- <p>There are four types of individual <dfn id="igparticipant">participants in an Interest Group</dfn>: the same three
- types as for Working Groups plus, for an Interest Group where the only
- <a href="#ig-mail-only">participation requirement is mailing list subscription</a>,
- <dfn id="public-participant-ig">public participants</dfn>.</p>
- <p>Except where noted in this document or in a group charter, all participants share the same rights and responsibilities
- in a group; see also the <a href="#ParticipationCriteria">individual participation criteria</a>.</p>
- <p>A participant <em class="rfc2119">must</em> represent at most one organization in a Working Group or Interest Group.</p>
- <p>An individual <em class="rfc2119">may</em> become a Working or Interest Group participant at any time during the group's
- existence. See also relevant requirements in
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-join">section 4.3</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</p>
- <p>On an exceptional basis, a Working or Interest Group participant <em class="rfc2119">may</em> designate a
- <dfn id="mtg-substitute">substitute</dfn> to attend a <a href="#GeneralMeetings">meeting</a> and
- <em class="rfc2119">should</em> inform the Chair. The substitute <em class="rfc2119">may</em> act on behalf of the
- participant, including for <a href="#Votes">votes</a>. For the substitute to vote, the participant
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> inform the Chair in writing in advance. As a courtesy to the group, if the substitute
- is not well-versed in the group's discussions, the regular participant <em class="rfc2119">should</em> authorize
- another participant to act as <a href="#proxy">proxy</a> for votes.</p>
- <p>To allow rapid progress, Working Groups are intended to be small (typically fewer than 15 people) and composed of
- experts in the area defined by the charter. In principle, Interest Groups have no limit on the number of participants.
- When a Working Group grows too large to be effective, W3C <em class="rfc2119">may</em> split it into an Interest Group
- (a discussion forum) and a much smaller Working Group (a core group of highly dedicated participants).</p>
- <p>See also the licensing obligations on Working Group participants in
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Obligations">section 3</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>],
- and the patent claim exclusion process of
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Exclusion">section 4</a>.</p>
-
- <h5>5.2.1.1 <dfn id="member-rep-wg">Member Representative</dfn> in a Working Group</h5>
-
- <p>An individual is a Member representative in a Working Group if all of the following conditions are satisfied:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>the Advisory Committee representative of the Member in question has designated the individual as a
- Working Group participant, and</li>
- <li>the individual qualifies for <a href="#member-rep">Member representation</a>.</li>
- </ul>
- <p><dfn id="member-rep-info">To designate an individual as a Member representative in a Working Group</dfn>, an
- Advisory Committee representative <em class="rfc2119">must</em> provide the Chair and Team Contact with all of
- the following information, in addition to any other information required by the <a href="#cfp">Call for Participation</a>
- and charter (including the participation requirements of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>]):</p>
- <ol>
- <li>The name of the W3C Member the individual represents and whether the individual is an employee of that
- Member organization;</li>
- <li>A statement that the individual accepts the participation terms set forth in the charter (with an indication
- of charter date or version);</li>
- <li>A statement that the Member will provide the necessary financial support for participation (e.g., for travel,
- telephone calls, and conferences).</li>
- </ol>
- <p>A Member participates in a Working Group from the moment the first Member representative joins the group until
- either of the following occurs:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>the group closes, or</li>
- <li>the Member <a href="#resignation">resigns</a> from the Working Group; this is done through the
- Member's Advisory Committee representative.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <h5>5.2.1.2 <dfn id="member-rep-ig">Member Representative</dfn> in an Interest Group</h5>
-
- <p>When the participation requirements exceed <a href="#ig-mail-only">Interest Group mailing list subscription</a>,
- an individual is a Member representative in an Interest Group if all of the following conditions are satisfied:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>the Advisory Committee representative of the Member in question has designated the individual as an
- Interest Group participant, and</li>
- <li>the individual qualifies for <a href="#member-rep">Member representation</a>.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>To designate an individual as a Member representative in an Interest Group, the Advisory Committee representative
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> follow the instructions in the <a href="#cfp">Call for Participation</a> and charter.</p>
-
- <p>Member participation in an Interest Group ceases under the same conditions as for a Working Group.</p>
-
- <h5>5.2.1.3 <dfn id="invited-expert-wg">Invited Expert in a Working Group</dfn></h5>
-
- <p>The Chair <em class="rfc2119">may</em> invite an individual with a particular expertise to participate in a
- Working Group. This individual <em class="rfc2119">may</em> represent an organization in the group
- (e.g., if acting as a liaison with another organization).</p>
-
- <p>An individual is an Invited Expert in a Working Group if all of the following conditions are satisfied:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>the Chair has designated the individual as a group participant,</li>
- <li>the Team Contact has agreed with the Chair's choice, and</li>
- <li>the individual has provided the <a href="#inv-expert-info">information required of an Invited Expert</a> to
- the Chair and Team Contact.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>To designate an individual as an Invited Expert in a Working Group, the Chair <em class="rfc2119">must</em>
- inform the Team Contact and provide rationale for the choice. When the Chair and the Team Contact disagree about
- a designation, the <a href="#def-Director">Director</a> determines whether the individual will be invited to
- participate in the Working Group.</p>
-
- <p>To <dfn id="inv-expert-info">participate in a Working Group as an Invited Expert</dfn>, an individual
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em>:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>identify the organization, if any, the individual represents as a participant in this group,</li>
- <li>agree to the terms of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/collaborators-agreement">invited expert and collaborators agreement</a>
- [<a href="#ref-invited-expert">PUB17</a>],</li>
- <li>accept the participation terms set forth in the charter (including the participation requirements of
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Obligations">section 3</a> (especially 3.4) and
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Disclosure">section 6</a> (especially 6.10) of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>]),
- indicating a specific charter date or version,</li>
- <li>disclose whether the individual is an employee of a W3C Member; see the
- <a href="#coi">conflict of interest policy</a>,</li>
- <li>provide a statement of who will provide the necessary financial support for the individual's participation
- (e.g., for travel, telephone calls, and conferences), and</li>
- <li>if the individual's employer (including a self-employed individual) or the organization the individual represents
- is not a W3C Member, indicate whether that organization intends to join W3C. If the organization does not intend to
- join W3C, indicate reasons the individual is aware of for this choice.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>The Chair <em class="rfc2119">should not</em> designate as an Invited Expert in a Working Group an individual
- who is an employee of a W3C Member. The Chair <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> use Invited Expert status to circumvent
- participation limits imposed by the <a href="#WGCharter">charter</a>.</p>
- <p>An Invited Expert participates in a Working Group from the moment the individual joins the group until any of
- the following occurs:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>the group closes, or</li>
- <li>the Chair or Director withdraws the invitation to participate, or</li>
- <li>the individual <a href="#resignation">resigns</a>.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <h5>5.2.1.4 <dfn id="invited-expert-ig">Invited Expert in an Interest Group</dfn></h5>
-
- <p>When the participation requirements exceed <a href="#ig-mail-only">Interest Group mailing list subscription</a>, the
- participation requirements for an Invited Expert in an Interest Group are the same as those for an
- <a href="#invited-expert-wg">Invited Expert in a Working Group</a>.</p>
-
- <h5>5.2.1.5 <dfn id="team-rep-wg">Team Representative in a Working Group</dfn></h5>
-
- <p>An individual is a Team representative in a Working Group when so designated by W3C management.</p>
-
- <p>A Team representative participates in a Working Group from the moment the individual joins the group until any of
- the following occurs:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>the group closes, or</li>
- <li>W3C management changes Team representation by sending email to the Chair, cc'ing the group mailing list.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>The Team participates in a Working Group from the moment the Director announces the creation of the group until
- the group closes.</p>
-
- <h5>5.2.1.6 <dfn id="team-rep-ig">Team Representative in an Interest Group</dfn></h5>
-
- <p>When the participation requirements exceed <a href="#ig-mail-only">Interest Group mailing list subscription</a>,
- an individual is a Team representative in an Interest Group when so designated by W3C management.</p>
-
- <h4>5.2.2 <dfn id="WGCharterDevelopment">Working Group and Interest Group Charter Development</dfn></h4>
-
- <p>W3C creates a charter based on interest from the Members and Team. The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> notify
- the Advisory Committee when a charter for a new Working Group or Interest Group is in development. This is intended
- to raise awareness, even if no formal proposal is yet available. Advisory Committee representatives
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> provide feedback on the
- <a href="#ACCommunication">Advisory Committee discussion list</a>.</p>
-
- <p>W3C <em class="rfc2119">may</em> begin work on a Working Group or Interest Group charter at any time.</p>
-
- <h4>5.2.3 <dfn id="CharterReview">Advisory Committee Review of a Working Group or Interest Group Charter</dfn></h4>
-
- <p>The Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> solicit <a href="#ACReview">Advisory Committee review</a> of every new or
- substantively modified Working Group or Interest Group charter. The Director is <em class="rfc2119">not required</em>
- to solicit Advisory Committee review prior to a charter extension or for minor changes. The review period
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be at least four weeks.</p>
-
- <p>The Director's Call for Review of a substantively modified charter <em class="rfc2119">must</em> highlight
- important changes (e.g., regarding deliverables or resource allocation) and include rationale for the changes.</p>
-
- <h4>5.2.4 <dfn id="cfp">Call for Participation in a Working Group or Interest Group</dfn></h4>
-
- <p>After Advisory Committee review of a Working Group or Interest Group charter, the Director
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> issue a Call for Participation to the Advisory Committee. Charters
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be amended based on review comments before the Director issues a
- Call for Participation. </p>
-
- <p>For a new group, this announcement officially creates the group. The announcement <em class="rfc2119">must</em>
- include a reference to the <a href="#WGCharter">charter</a>, the name(s) of the group's
- <a href="#GeneralChairs">Chair(s)</a>, and the name(s) of the <a href="#TeamContact">Team Contact(s)</a>.</p>
-
- <p>After a Call for Participation, any <a href="#member-rep">Member representatives</a> and
- <a href="#invited-expert-wg">Invited Experts</a> <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be designated (or re-designated).</p>
-
- <p>Advisory Committee representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> against a Director's decision to create or substantially modify a
- Working Group or Interest Group charter.</p>
-
- <h4>5.2.5 <dfn id="charter-extension">Working Group and Interest Group Charter Extension</dfn></h4>
-
- <p>To extend a Working Group or Interest Group charter with no other substantive modifications, the Director announces
- the extension to the Advisory Committee. The announcement <em class="rfc2119">must</em> indicate the new duration.
- The announcement <em class="rfc2119">must</em> also include rationale for the extension, a reference to the
- <a href="#WGCharter">charter</a>, the name(s) of the group's <a href="#GeneralChairs">Chair(s)</a>,
- the name of the <a href="#TeamContact">Team Contact</a>, and instructions for joining the group.</p>
-
- <p>After a charter extension, Advisory Committee representatives and the Chair are <em class="rfc2119">not required</em>
- to re-designate <a href="#member-rep">Member representatives</a> and
- <a href="#invited-expert-wg">Invited Experts</a>.</p>
-
- <p>Advisory Committee representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> against a Director's decision regarding the extension of a
- Working Group or Interest Group charter.</p>
-
- <h4>5.2.6 <dfn id="WGCharter">Working Group and Interest Group Charters</dfn></h4>
-
- <p>A Working Group or Interest Group charter <em class="rfc2119">must</em> include all of the following information.</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>The group's mission (e.g., develop a technology or process, review the work of other groups);</li>
- <li>The scope of the group's work and criteria for success;</li>
- <li>The duration of the group (typically from six months to two years);</li>
- <li>The nature of any deliverables (technical reports, reviews of the deliverables of other groups, or software);</li>
- <li>Expected milestone dates where available. <strong>Note</strong>: A charter is <em class="rfc2119">not required</em>
- to include schedules for review of other group's deliverables;</li>
- <li>The process for the group to approve the release of deliverables (including intermediate results);</li>
- <li>Any dependencies by groups within or outside of W3C on the deliverables of this group. For any dependencies,
- the charter <em class="rfc2119">must</em> specify the mechanisms for communication about the deliverables;</li>
- <li>Any dependencies of this group on other groups within or outside of W3C. Such dependencies include interactions
- with <a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/Charter.html#horizontal-review">W3C Horizontal Groups</a>;</li>
- <li>The <a href="#confidentiality-levels">level of confidentiality</a> of the group's proceedings and deliverables;</li>
- <li>Meeting mechanisms and expected frequency;</li>
- <li>If known, the date of the first <a href="#ftf-meeting">face-to-face meeting</a>. The date of the first
- face-to-face meeting of a proposed group <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> be sooner than
- <span class="time-interval">eight weeks</span> after the date of the proposal.</li>
- <li>Communication mechanisms to be employed within the group, between the group and the rest of W3C, and with the
- general public;</li>
- <li>An estimate of the expected time commitment from participants;</li>
- <li>The expected time commitment and level of involvement by the Team (e.g., to track developments, write and edit
- technical reports, develop code, or organize pilot experiments).</li>
- <li>Intellectual property information. What are the intellectual property (including patents and copyright)
- considerations affecting the success of the Group? In particular, is there any reason to believe that it will be
- difficult to meet the Royalty-Free licensing goals of section 2 of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a>
- [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>]?</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>See also the charter requirements of <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Licensing">section 2</a>
- and <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Obligations">section 3</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</p>
-
- <p>For every Recommendation Track deliverable that continues work on a Working Draft (WD) published under any other
- Charter (including a predecessor group of the same name), for which there is an existing Reference Draft or
- Candidate Recommendation, the description of that deliverable in the proposed charter of the adopting Working Group
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> provide the following information:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>The title, stable URL, and publication date of the <dfn>Adopted Working Draft</dfn> which will serve as the basis
- for work on the deliverable</li>
- <li>The title, stable URL, and publication date of the most recent Reference Draft or
- <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a> which triggered an Exclusion Opportunity per the Patent Process</li>
- <li>The stable URL of the Working Group charter under which the most recent Reference Draft or Candidate Recommendation
- was published.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>These data <em class=rfc2119>must</em> be identified in the charter with the labels "Adopted Working Draft",
- "most recent Reference Draft", "most recent Candidate Recommendation", and "Other Charter", respectively.</p>
-
- <p>The <dfn>Reference Draft</dfn> is the latest Working Draft published within 90 days of the
- <a href="#first-wd">First Public Working Draft</a> or if no Public Working Draft has been published within
- 90 days of the First Public Working Draft it is that First Public Working Draft. It is the specific draft against which
- exclusions are made, as per <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/#sec-exclusion-with">section 4.1</a>
- of the <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a>
- [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</p>
-
- <p>The Adopted Working Draft and the most recent Reference Draft or <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a>
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> each be adopted in their entirety and without any modification. The proposed charter
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> state that the most recent Reference Draft or Candidate Recommendation
- is deemed to be the Reference Draft or Candidate Recommendation of the Adopted Working Draft, and the date when the
- Exclusion Opportunity that arose on publishing the First Public Working Draft or Candidate Recommendation
- began and ended. As per <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/#sec-join">section 4.3</a> of
- the <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a>
- [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>], this potentially means that exclusions can only be made
- immediately on joining a Working Group.</p>
-
- <p id="ig-charter-participation">An Interest Group charter <em class="rfc2119">may</em> include provisions regarding
- participation, including specifying that the <dfn id="ig-mail-only">only requirement for participation (by anyone) in
- the Interest Group is subscription to the Interest Group mailing list</dfn>. This type of Interest Group
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> have <a href="#public-participant-ig">public participants</a>.</p>
-
- <p>A charter <em class="rfc2119">may</em> include additional voting procedures, but those procedures
- <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> conflict with the <a href="#Votes">voting requirements</a> of the Process Document.</p>
-
- <p>A charter <em class="rfc2119">may</em> include provisions other than those required by this document. The charter
- <em class="rfc2119">should</em> highlight whether additional provisions impose constraints beyond those of the W3C
- Process Document (e.g., limits on the number of individuals in a Working Group who represent the same
- Member organization or group of <a href="#MemberRelated">related Members</a>).</p>
-
- <h4>5.2.7 <dfn id="GeneralTermination">Working Group and Interest Group Closure</dfn></h4>
-
- <p>A Working Group or Interest Group charter specifies a duration for the group. The Director
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> decide to close a group prior to the date specified in the charter in
- any of the following circumstances:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>There are insufficient resources to produce chartered deliverables or to maintain the group, according to
- priorities established within W3C.</li>
- <li>The group produces chartered deliverables ahead of schedule.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>The Director closes a Working Group or Interest Group by announcement to the Advisory Committee.
- Advisory Committee representatives <em class="">may</em> initiate an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a>.</p>
-
- <p>Closing a Working Group has implications with respect to the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a>
- [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</p>
- </section>
-
- <h2 id="Reports">6 W3C Technical Report Development Process</h2>
-
- <p>The W3C technical report development process is the set of steps and requirements followed by W3C
- <a href="#GroupsWG">Working Groups</a> to standardize Web technology. The W3C technical report development process
- is designed to:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>support multiple specification development methodologies</li>
- <li>maximize
- <a href="#def-Consensus" rel="glossary" title="Definition of Consensus"><span class="dfn-instance">consensus</span></a>
- about the content of stable technical reports</li>
- <li>ensure high technical and editorial quality</li>
- <li>promote consistency among specifications</li>
- <li>facilitate royalty-free, interoperable implementations of Web Standards, and</li>
- <li>earn endorsement by W3C and the broader community.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>See also the licensing goals for W3C Recommendations in
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Licensing">section 2</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].
- </p>
-
- <h3 id="rec-advance">6.1 W3C Technical Reports</h3>
-
- <p>Please note that <dfn>publishing</dfn> as used in this document refers to producing a version which is listed as a
- W3C Technical Report on its <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/">Technical Reports page https://www.w3.org/TR</a>.</p>
-
- <p>This chapter describes the formal requirements for publishing and maintaining a W3C Recommendation or Note.</p>
-
- <p>Typically a series of Working Drafts are published, each of which refines a document under development to complete
- the scope of work envisioned by a Working Group's charter. For a technical specification, once review suggests the
- Working Group has met their requirements satisfactorily for a new standard, there is a
- <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a> phase. This allows the entire W3C membership to provide feedback
- on whether the specification is appropriate as a W3C Recommendation, while the Working Group formally collects
- implementation experience to demonstrate that the specification works in practice. The next phase is a
- Proposed Recommendation, to finalize the review of W3C Members. If the Director determines that W3C Member review
- supports a specification becoming a standard, W3C publishes it as a Recommendation.</p>
-
- <p>Groups can also publish documents as W3C Notes, typically either to document information other than technical
- specifications, such as use cases motivating a specification and best practices for its use, or to clarify the
- status of work that is abandoned. </p>
-
- <p>Some W3C Notes are developed through successive Working Drafts, with an expectation that they will become Notes,
- while others are simply published. There are few formal requirements to publish a document as a W3C Note, and they
- have no standing as a recommendation of W3C but are simply documents preserved for historical reference.</p>
-
- <p>Individual Working Groups and Interest Groups <em class="rfc2119">should</em> adopt additional processes for
- developing publications, so long as they do not conflict with the requirements in this chapter.</p>
-
- <h4 id="recs-and-notes">6.1.1 Recommendations and Notes</h4>
-
- <p>W3C follows these steps when advancing a technical report to Recommendation.</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>Publication of the <a href="#first-wd">First Public Working Draft</a>,</li>
- <li>Publication of zero or more revised <a href="#revised-wd">Public Working Drafts</a>.</li>
- <li>Publication of a <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a>.</li>
- <li>Publication of a <a href="#rec-pr">Proposed Recommendation</a>.</li>
- <li>Publication as a <a href="#rec-publication">W3C Recommendation</a>.</li>
- <li>Possibly, Publication as an <a href="#rec-edited">Edited Recommendation</a></li>
- </ol>
-
- <p>
-
-<svg xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="-5 60 630 160" width="100%">
- <title>Flowchart: The basic W3C Recommendation Track</title>
- <g id="basicProcess" role="list">
-
- <g id="Rectrac-FPWD" role="listitem" aria-labelledby="Rectrac-fpwd-label Rectrac-fpwd-text">
- <title id="Rectrac-fpwd-label">First Public Working Draft - Exclusion Opportunity</title>
- <a xlink:href="#Rectrac-nodeWD">
- <rect fill="white" y="122" width="57" height="45"/>
- <text font-size="8"><tspan y="132" x="0">First WD</tspan>
- <tspan x="0" y="152">WG Decision</tspan>
- <tspan x="0" y="162">Director's approval</tspan></text>
- <path d="M0,140h53" fill="none" stroke="#000"></path>
- <polygon points="47,136 57,140 47,144"></polygon></a>
- </g>
-
- <g id="Rectrac-nodeWD" role="list" aria-labelledby="Rectrac-nodewd-label">
- <title id="Rectrac-nodewd-label">Working Draft</title>
- <a xlink:href="#RecsWD" aria-labelledby="Rectrac-nodewd-label">
- <ellipse ry="18" rx="38" cy="140" cx="97" stroke="black" fill="#fff"></ellipse>
- <text font-size="14" y="144" x="97" text-anchor="middle">WD</text></a>
-
-<!-- g[role=listitem] with a link inside it -->
-
- <g id="Rectrac-repeatWD" role="listitem">
- <a xlink:href="#Rectrac-nodeWD" aria-labelledby="Rectrac-repeatwd-label Rectrac-repeatwd-text">
- <title id="Rectrac-repeatwd-label">Publish a New Working Draft</title>
- <text id="Rectrac-repeatwd-text" font-size="8">
- <tspan x="30" y="92">WG Decision: review needed, or</tspan>
- <tspan x="40" y="100">No change for 6 months</tspan></text>
- <path d="M78,124C73,114 79,104 97,104 108,104 115,108 117,114"
- fill="none" stroke="black" stroke-dasharray="6 1"></path>
- <polygon points="120,114 116,124 114,113"></polygon> </a> </g>
-
- <g id="Rectrac-toCR" role="listitem" fill="#060">
- <a xlink:href="#Rectrac-nodeCR" aria-labelledby="Rectrac-tocr-label Rectrac-tocr-text">
- <title id="Rectrac-tocr-label">Advance to Candidate Recommendation</title>
- <text role="none" id="Rectrac-tocr-text" x="138" y="134" font-size="8">Director's approval</text>
- <path stroke="#060" d="M135,140h81"></path>
- <polygon points="211,136 221,140 211,144"></polygon></a> </g>
- </g>
-
- <g id="Rectrac-nodeCR" role="list" aria-labelledby="Rectrac-nodecr-label">
- <title id="Rectrac-nodecr-label">Candidate recommendation - Patent Policy Exclusion Opportunity</title>
- <a xlink:href="#RecsCR">
- <ellipse ry="18" rx="38" cy="140" cx="260" stroke="black" fill="#fff"></ellipse>
- <text font-size="14" y="144" x="260" text-anchor="middle">CR</text></a>
-
-<!-- a instead of g -->
-
- <a xlink:href="#Rectrac-nodeCR" id="Rectrac-repeatCR"
- aria-labelledby="Rectrac-repeatcr-label Rectrac-repeatcr-text" fill="#060">
- <title id="Rectrac-repeatcr-label">Publish a revised CR</title>
- <text role="none" font-size="8" id="Rectrac-repeatcr-text">
- <tspan x="225" y="84">Working Group Decision,</tspan>
- <tspan x="240" y="96">Directors approval</tspan></text>
- <path stroke="#000" d="M242,124C238,114 244,104 260,104 271,104 277,108 279,114"
- stroke-dasharray="5 11" fill="none"></path>
- <path stroke="#060" d="M242,124C238,114 244,104 260,104 271,104 277,108 279,114"
- stroke-dasharray="5 11" stroke-dashoffset="8" fill="none"></path>
- <polygon points="282,114 277,124 275,113"></polygon> </a>
-
- <a xlink:href="#Rectrac-nodePR" id="Rectrac-ToPR"
- aria-labelledby="Rectrac-topr-label Rectrac-topr-text" fill="#060">
- <title id="Rectrac-topr-label">Advance to Proposed Recommendation</title>
- <text role="none" id="Rectrac-topr-text" x="300" y="134" font-size="8">Director's approval</text>
- <path d="M298,140h77" stroke="#060"></path>
- <polygon points="374,136 384,140 374,144"></polygon> </a>
-
- <a xlink:href="#Rectrac-nodeWD" id="Rectrac-backToWD"
- aria-labelledby="Rectrac-backtowd-label Rectrac-backtowd-text" fill="#600">
- <title id="Rectrac-backtowd-label">Return to Working Draft</title>
- <text role="none" id="Rectrac-backtowd-text" font-size="8">
- <tspan x="142" y="160">WG or Director decision</tspan>
- <tspan x="144" y="170">e.g. for further review</tspan></text>
- <path d="M140,147h84" stroke-dasharray="4 4" stroke="#600"></path>
- <polygon points="140,145 133,147 140,149"></polygon> </a>
- </g>
-
- <g id="Rectrac-nodePR" role="list" aria-labelledby="Rectrac-nodepr-label">
- <title id="Rectrac-nodepr-label">Proposed Recommendation - Advisory Committee Review</title>
- <a xlink:href="#RecsPR">
- <ellipse ry="18" rx="28" cy="140" cx="413" stroke="black" fill="#fff"></ellipse>
- <text font-size="14" font-family="Times,serif" y="144" x="413" text-anchor="middle">PR</text></a>
-
-<!-- use a[role=listitem] instead of g -->
-
- <a xlink:href="#Rectrac-nodeRec" id="Rectrac-ToRec" role="listitem"
- aria-labelledby="Rectrac-torec-label Rectrac-torec-text" fill="#060">
- <title id="Rectrac-torec-label">Advance to Recommendation</title>
- <text role="none" id="Rectrac-torec-text" x="300" y="138" font-size="8">
- <tspan x="445" y="124">Advisory Committee Review</tspan>
- <tspan x="445" y="134">Director's Decision</tspan></text>
-
- <path d="M441,140h100" stroke="#060"></path>
- <polygon points="534,136 544,140 534,144"></polygon> </a>
-
- <a xlink:href="#Rectrac-nodeCR" id="Rectrac-BackToCR" role="listitem"
- aria-labelledby="Rectrac-backtocr-label Rectrac-backtocr-text" fill="#600">
- <title id="Rectrac-backtocr-label">Return to Working Draft</title>
- <text id="Rectrac-backtocr-text" font-size="8">
- <tspan x="306" y="160">AC Review, </tspan>
- <tspan x="302" y="170">Director Decision</tspan>
- <tspan x="304" y="180">e.g. for minor changes</tspan></text>
- <path d="M301,147h88" stroke-dasharray="3 5" stroke="#600"></path>
- <polygon points="301,145 296,147 301,149"></polygon> </a>
-
- <a xlink:href="#Rectrac-nodeWD" id="Rectrac-PRBackToWD" role="listitem"
- aria-labelledby="Rectrac-prbacktowd-label Rectrac-prbacktowd-text" fill="#c00">
- <title id="Rectrac-prbacktowd-label">Return to Working Draft</title>
- <text role="none" id="Rectrac-prbacktowd-text" font-size="9">
- <tspan x="90" y="202">Advisory Committee review and Director's Decision, e.g. for further work and review</tspan></text>
- <path d="M413,158v32h-316v-26" stroke-dasharray="2 2" stroke="#c00" fill="none"></path>
- <polygon points="95,164 97,159 99,164"></polygon> </a>
- </g>
-
- <g id="Rectrac-nodeRec" stroke="black" aria-labelledby="Rectrac-noderec-label" role="list">
- <title id="Rectrac-noderec-label">W3C Recommendation</title>
- <a xlink:href="#RecsW3C" aria-labelledby="Rectrac-noderec-label">
- <ellipse ry="18" rx="28" cy="140" cx="573" fill="#fff" stroke-width="2"></ellipse>
- <text font-size="16" y="144" x="573"
- text-anchor="middle" stroke-width=".3">REC</text></a>
-
-
- </g>
- </g>
-
-</svg>
- </p>
-
- <p>W3C <em class="rfc2119">may</em> <a href="#tr-end">end work on a technical report</a> at any time.</p>
-
- <p>The Director <em class="rfc2119">may</em> decline a request to advance in maturity level, requiring a Working Group
- to conduct further work, and <em class="rfc2119">may</em> require the specification to return to a lower
- <a href="#maturity-levels">maturity level</a>. The Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> inform the
- <a href="#AC">Advisory Committee</a> and Working Group Chairs when a Working Group's request for a specification
- to advance in maturity level is declined and the specification is returned to a Working Group for further work.</p>
-
- <h4 id="maturity-levels">6.1.2 Maturity Levels</h4>
-
- <dl>
- <dt id="RecsWD">Working Draft (WD)</dt>
- <dd>A Working Draft is a document that W3C has published for review by the community, including W3C Members, the public,
- and other technical organizations. Some, but not all, Working Drafts are meant to advance to Recommendation; see the
- <a href="#DocumentStatus">document status section</a> of a Working Draft for the group's expectations. Any
- Working Draft not, or no longer, intended to advance to Recommendation <em class="rfc2119">should</em> be
- published as a Working Group Note. Working Drafts do not necessarily represent a consensus of the Working Group,
- and do not imply any endorsement by W3C or its members beyond agreement to work on a general area of technology.</dd>
- <dt id="RecsCR">Candidate Recommendation (CR)</dt>
- <dd class="changed">A Candidate Recommendation is a document that satisfies the Working Group's technical requirements,
- and has already received wide review. W3C publishes a Candidate Recommendation to
- <ul>
- <li>signal to the wider community that it is time to do a final review</li>
- <li>gather <a href="#implementation-experience">implementation experience</a></li>
- <li>begin formal review by the Advisory Committee, who <em class="rfc2119">may</em> recommend that the document
- be published as a W3C Recommendation, returned to the Working Group for further work, or abandoned.</li>
- <li>Provide an exclusion opportunity per the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a>
- [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>]. <strong>Note</strong>: A Candidate Recommendation under this process
- corresponds to the "Last Call Working Draft" discussed in the Patent Policy.</li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- <dd><strong>Note</strong>: Candidate Recommendations are expected to be acceptable as Recommendations. Announcement of a
- different next step <em class="rfc2119">should</em> include the reasons why the change in expectations comes at so late
- a stage.</dd>
- <dt id="RecsPR">Proposed Recommendation</dt>
- <dd>A Proposed Recommendation is a document that has been accepted by the W3C Director as of sufficient quality to become
- a W3C Recommendation. This phase establishes a deadline for the Advisory Committee review that begins with
- Candidate Recommendation. Substantive changes <em class="rfc2119">must</em> not be made to a Proposed Recommendation
- except by publishing a new Working Draft or Candidate Recommendation.</dd>
- <dt id="RecsW3C">W3C Recommendation (REC)</dt>
- <dd>A W3C Recommendation is a specification or set of guidelines or requirements that, after extensive
- consensus-building, has received the endorsement of W3C Members and the Director. W3C recommends the wide deployment
- of its Recommendations as standards for the Web. The W3C Royalty-Free IPR licenses granted under the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>]
- apply to W3C Recommendations.</dd>
- <dt id="RecsObs">Obsolete Recommendation</dt>
- <dd>An Obsolete Recommendation is a specification that W3C does not believe has sufficient market relevance to continue
- recommending that the community implement it, but does not consider that there are fundamental problems that require the
- Recommendation be Rescinded. It is possible for an Obsolete Recommendation to receive sufficient market uptake that W3C
- decides to restore it to Recommendation status. An Obsolete Recommendation has the same status as a W3C Recommendation
- with regards to W3C Royalty-Free IPR licenses granted under the Patent Policy.</dd>
- <dt id="RescindedRec">Rescinded Recommendation</dt>
- <dd>A Rescinded Recommendation is an entire Recommendation that W3C no longer endorses, and believes is unlikely to ever
- be restored to Recommendation Status. See also clause 10 of the licensing
- requirements for W3C Recommendations in
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Requirements">section 5</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</dd>
- <dt id="WGNote">Working Group Note, Interest Group Note (NOTE) </dt>
- <dd>A Working Group Note or Interest Group Note is published by a chartered Working Group or Interest Group to provide
- a stable reference for a useful document that is not intended to be a formal standard, or to document work that was
- abandoned without producing a Recommendation.</dd>
- </dl>
-
- <p>Working Groups and Interest Groups <em class="rfc2119">may</em> make available "Editor's drafts". Editor's drafts have
- no official standing whatsoever, and do not necessarily imply consensus of a Working Group or Interest Group, nor are
- their contents endorsed in any way by W3C.</p>
-
- <h3 id="requirements-and-definitions">6.2 General requirements and definitions</h3>
-
- <p>Please note that <dfn>publishing</dfn> as used in this document refers to producing a version which is listed as a
- W3C Technical Report on its <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/">Technical Reports page https://www.w3.org/TR</a>
- [<a href="#ref-doc-list">PUB11</a>].</p>
-
- <h4 id="general-requirements">6.2.1 General requirements for Technical Reports</h4>
-
- <p>Every document published as part of the technical report development process <em class="rfc2119 old">must</em> be
- a public document. The <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/">index of W3C technical reports</a>
- [<a href="#ref-doc-list">PUB11</a>] is available at the W3C Web site. W3C strives to make archival documents
- indefinitely available at their original address in their original form.</p>
-
- <p>Every document published as part of the technical report development process <em class="rfc2119 old">must</em> clearly
- indicate its <a href="#maturity-levels">maturity level</a>, and <em id="DocumentStatus" class="rfc2119">must</em>
- include information about the status of the document. This status information</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> be unique each time a specification is published,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> state which Working Group developed the specification, </li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> state how to send comments or file bugs, and where these are recorded, </li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> include expectations about next steps,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> explain how the technology relates to existing international standards and
- related work inside or outside W3C, and</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> explain or link to an explanation of significant changes from the previous version.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>Every Technical Report published as part of the Technical Report development process is edited by one or more editors
- appointed by a Group Chair. It is the responsibility of these editors to ensure that the decisions of the Group are
- correctly reflected in subsequent drafts of the technical report. An editor <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be a
- participant, per <a href="#group-participation">section 5.2.1</a> in the Group responsible for the document(s) they are
- editing. </p>
- <p>The Team is <em class="rfc2119">not required</em> to publish a Technical Report that does not conform to the Team's
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/pubrules">Publication Rules</a> [<a href="#ref-pubrules">PUB31</a>](e.g., for
- <span id="DocumentName">naming</span>, status information, style, and
- <span id="document-copyright">copyright requirements</span>). These rules are subject to change by the Team from
- time to time. The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> inform group Chairs and the Advisory Committee of any changes to
- these rules.</p>
- <p>The primary language for W3C Technical Reports is English. W3C encourages the translation of its Technical Reports.
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Translation/">Information about translations of W3C technical reports</a>
- [<a href="#ref-translations">PUB18</a>] is available at the W3C Web site.</p>
-
- <h4 id="transition-reqs">6.2.2 Advancement on the Recommendation Track</h4>
-
- <p>For <em>all</em> <dfn>Transition Requests</dfn>, to advance a specification to a new maturity level other than Note,
- the Working Group:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> record the group's decision to request advancement.</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must </em> obtain Director approval.</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119 ">must</em> provide public documentation of all
- <a href="#substantive-change">substantive changes</a> to the
- technical report since the previous publication.</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> <a href="#formal-address">formally address</a> all issues raised about the document
- since the previous maturity level.</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> provide public documentation of any <a href="#FormalObjection">Formal Objections</a>.</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> provide public documentation of changes that are not substantive.</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> report which, if any, of the Working Group's requirements for this document have
- changed since the previous step.</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> report any changes in dependencies with other groups.</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> provide information about implementations known to the Working Group.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>For a First Public Working Draft there is no "previous maturity level", so many requirements do not apply, and
- approval is normally fairly automatic. For later stages, especially transition to Candidate or Proposed Recommendation,
- there is usually a formal review meeting to ensure the requirements have been met before Director's approval is given.</p>
-
- <p>Transition Requests to First Public Working Draft or <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a> will not normally
- be approved while a Working Group's charter is undergoing or awaiting a Director's decision on an
- Advisory Committee Review.</p>
-
- <h4 id="doc-reviews">6.2.3 Reviews and Review Responsibilities</h4>
-
- <p>A document is available for review from the moment it is first published. Working Groups <em class="rfc2119">should</em>
- <a href="#formal-address">formally address</a> <em>any</em> substantive review comment about a technical report in a
- timely manner. </p>
- <p>Reviewers <em class="rfc2119">should</em> send substantive technical reviews as early as possible. Working Groups are
- often reluctant to make <a href="#substantive-change">substantive changes</a> to a mature document, particularly if this
- would cause significant compatibility problems due to existing implementation. Working Groups
- <em class="rfc2119">should</em> record substantive or interesting proposals raised by reviews but not incorporated into
- a current specification.
-
- <h5 id="wide-review">6.2.3.1 Wide Review</h5>
-
- <p>The requirements for wide review are not precisely defined by the W3C Process. The objective is to ensure that the
- entire set of stakeholders of the Web community, including the general public, have had adequate notice of the progress
- of the Working Group (for example through notices posted to
- <a href="mailto:public-review-announce@w3.org">public-review-announce@w3.org</a>) and were able to actually perform
- reviews of and provide comments on the specification. A second objective is to encourage groups to request reviews
- early enough that comments and suggested changes can still be reasonably incorporated in response to the review. Before
- approving transitions, the Director will consider who has been explicitly offered a reasonable opportunity to review the
- document, who has provided comments, the record of requests to and responses from reviewers, especially
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/Charter.html#horizontal-review">W3C Horizontal Groups</a> and groups identified as
- dependencies in the charter or identified as <a href="https://www.w3.org/2001/11/StdLiaison.html">liaisons</a>
- [<a href="#ref-liaison-list">PUB29</a>], and seek evidence of clear communication to the general public about appropriate
- times and which content to review and whether such reviews actually occurred. </p>
-
- <p>For example, inviting review of new or significantly revised sections published in Working Drafts, and tracking those
- comments and the Working Group's responses, is generally a good practice which would often be considered
- positive evidence of wide review. Working Groups <em class="rfc2119">should</em> announce to other W3C Working Groups
- as well as the general public, especially those affected by this specification, a proposal to enter
- <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a> (for example in approximately four weeks). By contrast a
- generic statement in a document requesting review at any time is likely not to be considered as sufficient evidence
- that the group has solicited wide review. </p>
-
- <p>A Working Group could present evidence that wide review has been received, irrespective of solicitation. But it is
- important to note that receiving many detailed reviews is not necessarily the same as wide review, since they might only
- represent comment from a small segment of the relevant stakeholder community.</p>
-
- <h4 id="implementation-experience">6.2.4 Implementation Experience</h4>
-
- <p>Implementation experience is required to show that a specification is sufficiently clear, complete, and relevant to market
- needs, to ensure that independent interoperable implementations of each feature of the specification will be realized.
- While no exhaustive list of requirements is provided here, when assessing that there is
- <dfn>adequate implementation experience</dfn> the Director will consider (though not be limited to):</p>
- <ul>
- <li>is each feature of the current specification implemented, and how is this demonstrated?</li>
- <li>are there independent interoperable implementations of the current specification?</li>
- <li>are there implementations created by people other than the authors of the specification?</li>
- <li>are implementations publicly deployed?</li>
- <li>is there implementation experience at all levels of the specification's ecosystem (authoring, consuming, publishing…)?</li>
- <li>are there reports of difficulties or problems with implementation?</li>
- </ul>
- <p>Planning and accomplishing a demonstration of (interoperable) implementations can be very time consuming. Groups are
- often able to work more effectively if they plan how they will demonstrate interoperable implementations early in the
- development process; for example, developing tests in concert with implementation efforts.</p>
-
- <h4 id="correction-classes">6.2.5 Classes of Changes</h4>
-
- <p>This document distinguishes the following 4 classes of changes to a specification. The first two classes of change are
- considered <dfn id="editorial-change">editorial changes</dfn>, the latter two
- <dfn id="substantive-change">substantive changes</dfn>.</p>
- <dl>
- <dt>1. No changes to text content</dt>
- <dd>These changes include fixing broken links, style sheets or invalid markup.</dd>
- <dt>2. Corrections that do not affect conformance</dt>
- <dd>Changes that reasonable implementers would not interpret as changing architectural or interoperability requirements
- or their implementation. Changes which resolve ambiguities in the specification are considered to change
- (by clarification) the implementation requirements and do not fall into this class.</dd>
- <dd>Examples of changes in this class include correcting non-normative code examples where the code clearly conflicts with
- normative requirements, clarifying informative use cases or other non-normative text, fixing typos or grammatical errors
- where the change does not change implementation requirements. If there is any doubt or dissent as to whether requirements
- are changed, such changes do not fall into this class.</dd>
- <dt>3. Corrections that do not add new features</dt>
- <dd>These changes <em class="rfc2119">may</em> affect conformance to the specification. A change that affects conformance
- is one that:
- <ul>
- <li>makes conforming data, processors, or other conforming agents become non-conforming according to the new version,
- or</li>
- <li>makes non-conforming data, processors, or other agents become conforming, or</li>
- <li>clears up an ambiguity or under-specified part of the specification in such a way that data, a processor, or an
- agent whose conformance was once unclear becomes clearly either conforming or non-conforming.</li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- <dt>4. New features</dt>
- <dd>Changes that add a new functionality, element, etc.</dd>
- </dl>
-
- <h3 id="working-draft">6.3 Working Draft</h3>
-
- <p>A Public Working Draft is published on the <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/">W3C's Technical Reports page</a>
- [<a href="#ref-doc-list">PUB11</a>] for review, and for simple historical reference. For all Public Working Drafts a
- Working Group:</p>
- <ul>
- <li> <em class="rfc2119">should</em> document outstanding issues, and parts of the document on which the Working Group
- does not have consensus, and</li>
- <li> <em class="rfc2119">may</em> request publication of a Working Draft even if its content is considered unstable
- and does not meet all Working Group requirements.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <h4 id="first-wd">6.3.1 First Public Working Draft</h4>
-
- <p>To publish the First Public Working Draft of a document, a Working Group <em class="rfc2119">must</em> meet the
- applicable <a href="#transition-reqs">general requirements for advancement</a>.</p>
- <p>The Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> announce the publication of a First Public Working Draft publication to
- other W3C groups and to the public. </p>
- <p>Publishing the First Public Working Draft triggers a Call for Exclusions, per
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/#sec-Exclusion">section 4</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</p>
-
- <h4 id="revised-wd">6.3.2 Revising Public Working Drafts</h4>
-
- <p>A Working Group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> publish a Working Draft to the W3C Technical Reports page when there have
- been significant changes to the previous published document that would benefit from review beyond the Working Group. </p>
- <p>If 6 months elapse without significant changes to a specification a Working Group <em class="rfc2119">should</em> publish
- a revised Working Draft, whose status section <em class="rfc2119">should</em> indicate reasons for the lack of change.</p>
- <p>To publish a revision of a Working draft, a Working Group:</p>
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> record the group's decision to request publication. Consensus is not required, as this
- is a procedural step,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> provide public documentation of <a href="#substantive-change">substantive changes</a>
- to the technical report since the previous Working Draft,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> provide public documentation of significant
- <a href="#editorial-change">editorial changes</a> to the technical report since the previous step,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> report which, if any, of the Working Group's requirements for this document
- have changed since the previous step,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> report any changes in dependencies with other groups,</li>
- </ul>
- <p>Possible next steps for any Working Draft:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>Revised <a href="#revised-wd">Public Working Draft</a></li>
- <li><a href="#last-call">Candidate recommendation</a>.</li>
- <li><a href="#Note">Working Group Note</a></li>
- </ul>
- <h4 id="tr-end">6.3.3 Stopping Work on a specification</h4>
- <p>Work on a technical report <em class="rfc2119">may</em> cease at any time. Work <em class="rfc2119 new">should</em>
- cease if W3C or a Working Group determines that it cannot productively carry the work any further. If the Director
- <a href="#GeneralTermination">closes a Working Group</a> W3C <em class="rfc2119">must </em> publish any unfinished
- specifications on the Recommendation track as <a href="#Note">Working Group Notes</a>. If a Working group decides, or
- the Director requires, the Working Group to discontinue work on a technical report before completion, the Working Group
- <em class="rfc2119">should</em> publish the document as a <a href="#Note">Working Group Note</a>. </p>
-
- <h3 id="candidate-rec"><a id="last-call">6.4 Candidate Recommendation </a></h3>
-
- <p>To publish a Candidate recommendation, in addition to meeting the
- <a href="#transition-reqs">general requirements for advancement</a> a Working Group:</p>
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> show that the specification has met all Working Group requirements, or explain why the
- requirements have changed or been deferred,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> document changes to dependencies during the development of the specification,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> document how adequate <a href="#implementation-experience"> implementation experience</a>
- will be demonstrated,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> specify the deadline for comments, which <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be
- <strong>at least</strong> four weeks after publication, and <em class="rfc2119">should</em> be longer for
- complex documents,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> show that the specification has received <a href="#wide-review">wide review</a>, and</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">may</em> identify features in the document as "at risk". These features
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be removed before advancement to Proposed Recommendation without a requirement to publish a
- new Candidate Recommendation.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>The Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> announce the publication of a Candidate Recommendation to other W3C groups
- and to the public, and <em class="rfc2119">must</em> begin an Advisory Committee Review on the question of whether the
- specification is appropriate to publish as a W3C Recommendation.</p>
- <p> A Candidate Recommendation corresponds to a "Last Call Working Draft" as used in the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].
- Publishing a Candidate Recommendation triggers a Call for Exclusions, per
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/#sec-Exclusion">section 4</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</p>
- <p>Possible next steps:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>Return to <a href="#revised-wd">Working Draft</a></li>
- <li>A revised <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a></li>
- <li><a href="#rec-pr">Proposed Recommendation</a> (The expected next step)</li>
- <li><a href="#Note">Working Group Note</a></li>
- </ul>
- <p><a href="#AC">Advisory Committee</a> representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> of the decision to advance the technical report.</p>
-
- <h4 id="revised-cr">6.4.1 Revising a Candidate Recommendation</h4>
-
- <p>If there are any <a href="#substantive-change">substantive changes</a> made to a Candidate Recommendation other than to
- remove features explicitly identified as "at risk", the Working Group <em class="rfc2119">must</em> obtain the Director's
- approval to publish a revision of a Candidate Recommendation. This is because substantive changes will generally require a
- new Exclusion Opportunity per <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/#sec-Exclusion">section 4</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].
- Note that approval is <em>expected</em> to be fairly simple compared to getting approval for a transition from
- Working Draft to Candidate Recommendation.</p>
-
- <p>In addition the Working Group:</p>
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> show that the revised specification meets all Working Group requirements, or explain
- why the requirements have changed or been deferred,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> specify the deadline for further comments, which <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be
- <strong>at least</strong> four weeks after publication, and <em class="rfc2119">should</em> be longer for
- complex documents,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> document the changes since the previous Candidate Recommendation, </li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> show that the proposed changes have received <a href="#wide-review">wide review</a>,
- and</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">may</em> identify features in the document as "at risk". These features
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be removed before advancement to Proposed Recommendation without a requirement to publish a
- new Candidate Recommendation.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>The Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> announce the publication of a revised Candidate Recommendation to
- other W3C groups and the Public.</p>
-
- <h3 id="rec-pr">6.5 Proposed Recommendation</h3>
- <p>In addition to meeting the <a href="#transition-reqs">general requirements for advancement</a>,</p>
- <ul>
- <li>The status information <em class="rfc2119">must</em> specify the deadline for Advisory Committee review, which
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be <strong>at least</strong> 28 days after the publication of the
- Proposed Recommendation and <em class="rfc2119">should</em> be at least 10 days after the end of the
- last Exclusion Opportunity per
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/#sec-Exclusion">section 4</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</li>
- </ul>
- <p>A Working Group:</p>
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> show adequate <a href="#implementation-experience">implementation experience</a>
- except where an exception is approved by the Director,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> show that the document has received <a href="#wide-review">wide review,</a></li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> show that all issues raised during the Candidate Recommendation review period other
- than by Advisory Committee representatives acting in their formal AC representative role have been
- <a href="#formal-address">formally addressed</a>,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must </em>identify any substantive issues raised since the close of the Candidate Recommendation
- review period by parties other than Advisory Committee representatives acting in their formal AC representative role,</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">may</em> have removed features identified in the Candidate Recommendation document as "at risk"
- without republishing the specification as a Candidate Recommendation.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>The Director:</p>
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> announce the publication of a Proposed Recommendation to the
- <a href="#AC">Advisory Committee</a>, and</li>
- <li><span><em class="rfc2119">may</em> approve a Proposed Recommendation with minimal implementation experience where
- there is a compelling reason to do so. In such a case, the Director <em class="rfc2119">should</em> explain the
- reasons for that decision.</span></li>
- </ul>
- <p>Since a W3C Recommendation <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> include any substantive changes from the
- Proposed Recommendation it is based on, to make any substantive change to a Proposed Recommendation the Working Group
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> return the specification to <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a> or
- Working Draft.</p>
- <p>Possible Next Steps:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>Return to <a href="#revised-wd">Working Draft</a></li>
- <li>Return to <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a></li>
- <li><a href="#rec-publication">Recommendation status</a> (The expected next step)</li>
- <li><a href="#Note">Working Group Note</a></li>
- </ul>
- <p><a href="#AC">Advisory Committee</a> representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> of the decision to advance the technical report.</p>
-
- <h3 id="rec-publication">6.6 W3C Recommendation</h3>
- <p>The decision to advance a document to Recommendation is a <a href="#def-w3c-decision">W3C Decision</a>.</p>
- <p>In addition to meeting the <a href="#transition-reqs">general requirements for advancement</a>,</p>
- <ul>
- <li>A Recommendation <em class="rfc2119">must</em> identify where errata are tracked, and</li>
- <li>A Recommendation <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> include any substantive changes from the Proposed Recommendation
- on which it is based.</li>
- <li>If there was any
- <a href="#def-Dissent" rel="glossary" title="Definition of Dissent"><span class="dfn-instance">dissent</span></a>
- in Advisory Committee reviews, the Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> publish the substantive content of the dissent
- to W3C and the general public, and <em class="rfc2119">must</em> <a href="#formal-address">formally address</a>
- the comment at least 14 days before publication as a W3C Recommendation.</li>
- <li><a href="#AC">Advisory Committee</a> representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> of the W3C decision</li>
- <li>The Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> announce the publication of a W3C Recommendation to <a href="#AC">Advisory
- Committee</a>, other W3C groups and to the public.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>Possible next steps:</p>
- <p>A W3C Recommendation normally retains its status indefinitely. However it</p>
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">may</em> be republished as an <a href="#rec-modify">(Edited) Recommendation</a>, or</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">may</em> be <a href="#rec-rescind">rescinded</a>.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <h3 id="rec-modify">6.7 Modifying a W3C Recommendation</h3>
-
- <p>This section details the management of errors in, and the process for making changes to a Recommendation. Please see also
- the <a href="https://www.w3.org/2003/01/republishing/">Requirements for modification of W3C Technical Reports</a>
- [<a href="#in-place-tr-mod">PUB35</a>].</p>
- <p>
-
-<svg xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="-10 60 635 240" width="100%">
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-
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-
-
- <g id="Modif-repeatWD" role="listitem">
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-nodeWD" aria-labelledby="modif-repeatwd-label modif-repeatwd-text">
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- <tspan x="30" y="84">WG Decision: review needed, or</tspan>
- <tspan x="40" y="96">No change for 6 months</tspan></text>
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-
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- </g>
-
- <g id="Modif-nodeCR" role="list" aria-labelledby="modif-nodecr-label">
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- <a xlink:href="#RecsCR">
- <ellipse ry="18" rx="38" cy="140" cx="260" stroke="black" fill="#fff"></ellipse>
- <text font-size="14" y="144" x="260" text-anchor="middle">CR</text></a>
-
-<!-- use a instead of g -->
-
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-nodeCR" id="Modif-repeatCR"
- aria-labelledby="modif-repeatcr-label modif-repeatcr-text" fill="#060">
- <title id="modif-repeatcr-label">Publish a revised CR</title>
- <text role="none" font-size="8" id="modif-repeatcr-text">
- <tspan x="225" y="84">Working Group Decision,</tspan>
- <tspan x="240" y="96">Directors approval</tspan></text>
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-
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-nodePR" id="Modif-ToPR"
- aria-labelledby="modif-topr-label modif-topr-text" fill="#060">
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-
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- <tspan x="140" y="160">WG or Director decision</tspan>
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- </g>
-
- <g id="Modif-nodePR" role="list" aria-labelledby="modif-nodepr-label">
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- <a xlink:href="#RecsPR">
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- <text font-size="14" font-family="Times,serif" y="144" x="413" text-anchor="middle">PR</text></a>
-
-<!-- use a[role=listitem] instead of g -->
-
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-nodeRec" id="Modif-ToRec" role="listitem"
- aria-labelledby="modif-torec-label modif-torec-text" fill="#060">
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- <tspan x="306" y="158">AC Review, </tspan>
- <tspan x="302" y="168">Director Decision</tspan>
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-
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-nodeWD" id="Modif-PRBackToWD" role="listitem"
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- <title id="modif-prbacktowd-label">Return to Working Draft</title>
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- <tspan x="92" y="202">Advisory Committee review and Director's Decision, e.g. for further work and review</tspan></text>
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-
- <g id="Modif-nodeRec" stroke="black" aria-labelledby="modif-noderec-label" role="list">
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- <a xlink:href="#RecsW3C" aria-labelledby="modif-noderec-label">
- <ellipse ry="18" rx="28" cy="140" cx="573" fill="#fff" stroke-width="2"></ellipse>
- <text font-size="16" y="144" x="573"
- text-anchor="middle" stroke-width=".3">REC</text></a>
-
-
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-TextChanges" id="Modif-ChangeProposal" aria-labelledby="Modif-changeproposal-title">
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- </g>
- </g>
- </g>
-
-<g aria-labelledby="modif-overall-title">
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- <tspan x="573" y="222">Changes?</tspan></text></g>
-
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-nodeRec" aria-labelledby="modif-editedrec-title">
- <title id="modif-editedrec-title">Only editorial changes: Edited Recommendation</title>
- <text role="none" x="510" y="207" font-size="10" stroke="none">No</text>
- <text text-anchor="end" font-size="10" stroke="none">
- <tspan x="507" y="170">Director's</tspan><tspan x="504" y="180">approval</tspan></text>
- <path fill="none" d="M520,213h-16c0,-35 11,-54 44,-60"></path>
- <polygon points="548,152 543,152 545,156"></polygon></a>
-
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-SubstantiveChanges">
- <text x="578" y="255" font-size="10" stroke="none">Yes</text>
- <path fill="none" d="M573,238v22h-108c-25,0 -30,-44 -55,-49h-80v15"></path>
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-
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- <text font-size="10" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">
- <tspan x="330" y="250">New</tspan>
- <tspan x="330" y="260" text-anchor="middle">Features?</tspan></text></g>
-
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-nodeCR" aria-labelledby="modif-nonewfeatures-label director-approval-text"
- stroke="black" stroke-width="2">
- <title id="modif-nonewfeatures-label">No new features - return to Candidate Recommendation</title>
- <path d="M290,253h-30v-44" fill="none"></path>
- <path d="M260,185v-20"></path>
- <text role="none" x="280" y="245" stroke="none" font-size="10">No</text>
- <text text-anchor="end" font-size="10" stroke="none">
- <tspan x="254" y="225">Director's</tspan><tspan x="254" y="235">approval</tspan></text>
- <polygon points="260,160 262,165 258,165" stroke="black"></polygon></a>
-
- <a xlink:href="#Modif-FPWD" aria-labelledby="modif-fpwd-label modif-fpwd-text"
- stroke="black" stroke-width="2">
- <text x="335" y="286" font-size="10" stroke="none">Yes</text>
- <path d="M330,278v12h-335v-150h10" fill="none"></path></a>
- </g>
- </g>
-</svg>
-
- </p>
-
- <h4 id="errata">6.7.1 Errata Management</h4>
-
- <p>Tracking errors is an important part of a Working Group's ongoing care of a Recommendation; for this reason,
- the scope of a Working Group charter generally allows time for work after publication of a Recommendation.
- In this Process Document, the term "erratum" (plural "errata") refers to any error that can be resolved by one or more
- changes in classes 1-3 of section <a href="#correction-classes">7.2.5 Classes of Changes</a>.</p>
-
- <p>Working Groups <em class="rfc2119">must</em> keep a record as errors are reported by readers and implementers.
- Such error reports <em class="rfc2119">should</em> be processed no less frequently than quarterly. Readers of the
- Recommendation <em class="rfc2119">should</em>
- be able easily to find and see the errata that apply to that specific Recommendation.</p>
-
- <p> Working Groups decide how to document errata. The best practice is a document that identifies itself as based on the
- Recommendation text and clearly identifies the errata and any proposed corrections; other approaches include various
- forms of an errata page, possibly auto-generated from a database.</p>
-
- <p>An erratum is resolved by an informative, "proposed" correction generated by the Working Group. A correction
- becomes part of the Recommendation by the process for Revising a Recommendation described in the next section.</p>
-
- <h4 id="revised-rec">6.7.2 Revising a Recommendation</h4>
-
- <p>A Working group <em class="rfc2119">may</em> request republication of a Recommendation, or W3C
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> republish a Recommendation, to make corrections that do not result in any changes to the
- text of the specification.</p>
-
- <p><a href="#editorial-change">Editorial changes</a> to a Recommendation require no technical review of the proposed changes.
- A Working Group, provided there are no votes against the resolution to publish <em class="rfc2119">may</em> request
- publication of a <a href="#rec-publication">Recommendation</a> or W3C <em class="rfc2119">may</em> publish a
- <a href="#rec-publication">Recommendation</a> to make this class of change without passing through earlier maturity levels.
- Such publications are called <dfn>Edited Recommendation</dfn>s.</p>
-
- <p>To make corrections to a Recommendation that produce <a href="#substantive-change">substantive changes</a> but do not
- add new features, or where there were votes against publishing the corrections directly as a
- <a href="#rec-pr">Recommendation</a>, a Working Group <em class="rfc2119">may</em> request publication of a
- <a href="#last-call">Candidate Recommendation</a>, without passing through earlier maturity levels.</p>
-
- <p>In the latter two cases, the resulting Recommendation is called an
- <dfn id="rec-edited">Edited Recommendation</dfn>.</p>
- <p>When requesting the publication of an Edited Recommendation as described in this section, in addition to meeting the
- requirements for the relevant maturity level, a Working Group</p>
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> show that the changes to the document have received
- <a href="#wide-review">wide review</a>, and </li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> address all recorded errata.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>For changes which introduces a new feature or features, W3C <em class="rfc2119">must</em> follow the full process of
- <a href="#rec-advance">advancing a technical report to Recommendation</a> beginning with a new
- First Public Working Draft.</p>
-
- <h3 id="Note">6.8 Publishing a Working Group or Interest Group Note</h3>
-
- <p>Working Groups and Interest Groups <em class="rfc2119">may</em> publish work as W3C Notes. Examples include:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>supporting documentation for a specification, such as explanations of design principles or
- use cases and requirements,</li>
- <li>non-normative guides to good practices,
- <li>specifications where work has been stopped and there is no longer consensus for making them a new standard.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>In order to publish a Note, a Working Group or Interest Group: </p>
- <ul>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">may</em> publish a Note with or without its prior publication as a Working Draft.</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">must</em> record the group's decision to request publication as a Note, and</li>
- <li><em class="rfc2119">should</em> publish documentation of significant changes to the technical report since any previous
- publication.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>Possible next steps:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>End state: A technical report <em class="rfc2119">may</em> remain a Working or Interest Group Note indefinitely</li>
- <li>A Working Group <em class="rfc2119">may</em> resume work on technical report within the scope of its charter at any
- time, at the maturity level the specification had before publication as a Note</li>
- </ul>
- <p>The <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>]
- does not specify any licensing requirements or commitments for Working Group Notes.</p>
-
- <h3 id="rec-rescind">6.9 Obsoleting or Rescinding a W3C Recommendation</h3>
-
- <p>It is possible that W3C decides that implementing a particular Recommendation is no longer recommended.
- There are two designations for such specifications, chosen depending on how strongly W3C wishes to advise against
- using the specification.</p>
-
- <p>W3C <em class="rfc2119">may</em> obsolete a Recommendation, for example if the W3C Community decides that
- the Recommendation no longer represents best practices, or is not adopted and is not apparently likely to be adopted.
- An Obsolete Recommendation <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be restored to normal Recommendation,
- for example because despite marking it Obsolete the specification is later more broadly adopted.</p>
-
- <p>W3C <em class="rfc2119">may</em> rescind a Recommendation if W3C believes there is no reasonable prospect
- of it being restored for example due to burdensome patent claims that affect implementers and cannot be resolved; see the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a>
- [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>] and in particular
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-Requirements">section 5</a> (bullet 10) and
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-PAG-conclude">section 7.5</a>.</p>
-
- <p>W3C only rescinds or obsoletes entire Recommendations. To rescind or obsolete some part of a Recommendation,
- W3C follows the process for <a href="#rec-modify">modifying a Recommendation</a>.</p>
-
- <p class="note">For the purposes of the <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a>
- [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>] an Obsolete Recommendation has the status of an active Recommendation,
- although it is not recommended for future implementation; a Rescinded Recommendation ceases to be in effect
- and no new licenses are granted under the Patent Policy.</p>
-
- <p>The Director <em class="rfc2119">may</em> recommend obsoleting, rescinding, or restoring a Recommendation. The Director
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> begin an <a href="#ACReview">Advisory Committee review</a> of a
- proposal to obsolete, rescind, or restore a Recommendation when requested to do so by any of the following:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>The Working Group who produced, or is chartered to maintain, the Recommendation.</li>
- <li>The TAG, if there is no such Working Group</li>
- <li>Any individual who made a request to the relevant Working Group as described above, or the TAG if such a group
- does not exist, to obsolete, rescind, or restore a Recommendation, where the request was not answered
- within 90 days</li>
- <li>5% of the members of the Advisory Committee</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p id="proposed-rescinded-rec">For any <a href="#ACReview">Advisory Committee review</a> of a
- proposal to obsolete, rescind, or restore a Recommendation the Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em>:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>announce the proposal to all Working Group Chairs, and to the Public, as well as to the Advisory Committee</li>
- <li>indicate that this is a proposal to Rescind, Obsolete, or restore, a Recommendation as appropriate</li>
- <li>identify the Recommendation by URL</li>
- <li>publish a rationale for the proposal</li>
- <li>identify known dependencies and solicit review from all dependent Working Groups</li>
- <li>solicit public review</li>
- <li>specify the deadline for review comments, which <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be at least four weeks after
- the Director's announcement</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>and <em class="rfc2119">should</em></p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>identify known implementations.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>If there was any <a href="#def-Dissent" rel="glossary"><span class="dfn-instance">dissent</span></a>
- in the Advisory Committee review, the Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> publish the substantive content of
- the dissent to W3C <strong>and the public</strong>, and <em class="rfc2119">must</em>
- <a href="#formal-address">formally address</a> the dissent at least 14 days before publication as an
- Obsolete or Rescinded Recommendation.</p>
-
- <p>The <a href="#AC">Advisory Committee</a> <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> of the Director's decision.</p>
-
- <p>W3C <em class="rfc2119">must</em> publish an Obsolete or Rescinded Recommendation with up to date status.
- The updated version <em class="rfc2119">may</em> remove the main body of the document. The Status of this Document section
- <em class="rfc2119">should</em> link to the explanation of <a href="https://www.w3.org/2016/11/obsoleting-rescinding/">Obsoleting and Rescinding W3C Specifications</a> [<a href="#ref-obs-resc">PUB39</a>] as appropriate.</p>
-
- <p>Once W3C has published a Rescinded Recommendation, future W3C technical reports
- <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> include normative references to that technical report.</p>
-
- <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Note:</span> W3C strives to ensure that all Technical Reports will continue to be
- available at their version-specific URL.</p>
-
- <h3 id="further-reading">6.10 Further reading</h3>
-
- <p>Refer to <a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/Transitions">"How to Organize a Recommendation Track Transition"</a> in
- the <a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/">Member guide</a> for practical information about preparing for the reviews
- and announcements of the various steps, and
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/2002/05/rec-tips">tips on getting to Recommendation faster</a>
- [<a href="#ref-rec-tips">PUB27</a>].</p>
-
- <h2 id="ReviewAppeal">7 Advisory Committee Reviews, Appeals, and Votes</h2>
-
- <p>This section describes how the Advisory Committee reviews proposals from the Director and how Advisory Committee
- representatives initiate an Advisory Committee Appeal of a W3C decision or Director's decision. A
- <dfn id="def-w3c-decision">W3C decision</dfn> is one where the Director (or the Director's delegate) has exercised the role
- of assessing consensus after an <a href="#ACReview">Advisory Committee review</a>.</p>
-
- <h3 id="ACReview">7.1 Advisory Committee Reviews</h3>
-
- <p>The Advisory Committee reviews:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li><a href="#CharterReview">new and modified Working and Interest Groups</a>,</li>
- <li><a href="#cfr">Proposed Recommendations</a>, <a href="#cfr-edited">Proposed Edited Recommendations</a>,
- <a href="#proposed-rescinded-rec">Proposal to Rescind a Recommendation</a>, and</li>
- <li><a href="#GAProcess">Proposed changes to the W3C process</a>.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <h4 id="ACReviewStart">7.1.1 Start of a Review Period</h4>
-
- <p>Each Advisory Committee review period begins with a Call for Review from the Team to the Advisory Committee. The
- <dfn id="reviewform">Call for Review</dfn> describes the proposal, raises attention to deadlines, estimates when the decision
- will be available, and includes other practical information. Each Member organization <em class="rfc2119">may</em> send one
- review, which <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be returned by its Advisory Committee representative.</p>
-
- <p>The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> provide two channels for Advisory Committee review comments:</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>an archived <a href="#Team-only">Team-only</a> channel;</li>
- <li>an archived <a href="#Member-only">Member-only</a> channel.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <p>The Call for Review <em class="rfc2119">must</em> specify which channel is the default for review comments on that Call.</p>
-
- <p>Reviewers <em class="rfc2119">may</em> send information to either or both channels. They <em class="rfc2119">may</em> also
- share their reviews with other Members on the <a href="#ACCommunication">Advisory Committee discussion list</a>.</p>
-
- <p>A Member organization <em class="rfc2119">may</em> modify its review during a review period (e.g., in light of comments
- from other Members).</p>
-
- <h4 id="ACReviewAfter">7.1.2 After the Review Period</h4>
-
- <p>After the review period, the Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> announce to the Advisory Committee the level of
- support for the proposal (<a href="#def-Consensus">consensus</a> or <a href="#def-Dissent">dissent</a>). The Director
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> also indicate whether there were any Formal Objections, with attention to
- <a href="#confidentiality-change">changing confidentiality level</a>. This <a href="#def-w3c-decision">W3C decision</a>
- is generally one of the following:</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>The proposal is approved, possibly with minor changes integrated.</li>
- <li>The proposal is approved, possibly with <a href="#substantive-change">substantive changes</a> integrated. In this case
- the Director's announcement <em class="rfc2119">must</em> include rationale for the decision to advance the document
- despite the proposal for a substantive change.</li>
- <li>The proposal is returned for additional work, with a request to the initiator to
- <a href="#formal-address">formally address</a> certain issues.</li>
- <li>The proposal is rejected.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <p>This document does not specify time intervals between the end of an Advisory Committee review period and the
- <a href="#def-w3c-decision">W3C decision</a>. This is to ensure that the Members and Team have sufficient time to consider
- comments gathered during the review. The Advisory Committee <em class="rfc2119">should not</em> expect an announcement
- sooner than <span class="time-interval">two weeks</span> after the end of a Proposed Recommendation review period. If,
- after <span class="time-interval">three weeks</span>, the Director has not announced the outcome, the Director
- <em class="rfc2119">should</em> provide the Advisory Committee with an update.</p>
-
- <h3 id="ACAppeal">7.2 Appeal by Advisory Committee Representatives</h3>
-
- <p>Advisory Committee representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> appeal certain decisions, though appeals are only expected
- to occur in extraordinary circumstances.</p>
-
- <p>When a W3C decision is made following an <a href="#ACReview">Advisory Committee review</a>, Advisory Committee
- representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an <a href="#def-w3c-decision">Advisory Committee Appeal</a>.
- These W3C decisions include those related to group creation and modification, and transitions to new maturity levels
- for Recommendation Track documents and the Process document.</p>
-
- <p>Advisory Committee representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> also initiate an appeal for certain Director's decisions
- that do not involve an Advisory Committee review. These cases are identified in the sections which describe the
- requirements for the Director's decision and include additional (non-reviewed) maturity levels of Recommendation Track
- documents, group charter extensions and closures, and Memoranda of Understanding.</p>
-
- <p>In all cases, an appeal <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be initiated within <span class="time-interval">three weeks</span>
- of the decision.</p>
-
- <p>An Advisory Committee representative initiates an appeal by sending a request to the Team. Within one week the Team
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> announce the appeal process to the Advisory Committee and provide a mechanism for
- Advisory Committee representatives to respond with a statement of support (yes, no, or abstain) and comments, as desired.
- The archive of these comments <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be Member-visible. If, within
- <span class="time-interval">one week</span> of the Team's announcement, 5% or more of the Advisory Committee support the
- appeal request, the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> organize an appeal vote asking the Advisory Committee to
- approve or reject the decision.
- <!-- Voting procedure to be determined --></p>
-
- <h3 id="ACVotes">7.3 Advisory Committee Votes</h3>
-
- <p>The Advisory Committee votes in <a href="#AB-TAG-elections">elections for seats on the TAG or Advisory Board</a>, and in
- the event of an <a href="#def-w3c-decision">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> achieving the required support to trigger an
- appeal vote.. Whenever the Advisory Committee votes, each Member or group of <a href="#MemberRelated">related Members</a>
- has one vote. In the case of <a href="#AB-TAG-elections">Advisory Board and TAG elections</a>, "one vote" means
- "one vote per available seat".</p>
-
- <h2 id="GAEvents">8 Workshops and Symposia</h2>
-
- <p>The Team organizes <dfn id="EventsW">Workshops</dfn> and <dfn id="EventsS">Symposia</dfn> to promote early involvement in
- the development of W3C activities from Members and the public.</p>
-
- <p>The goal of a Workshop is usually either to convene experts and other interested parties for an exchange of ideas about a
- technology or policy, or to address the pressing concerns of W3C Members. Organizers of the first type of Workshop
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> solicit position papers for the Workshop program and <em class="rfc2119">may</em> use those
- papers to choose attendees and/or presenters.</p>
-
- <p>The goal of a Symposium is usually to educate interested parties about a particular subject.</p>
-
- <p>The Call for Participation in a Workshop or Symposium <em class="rfc2119">may</em> indicate participation requirements or
- limits, and expected deliverables (e.g., reports and minutes). Organization of an event does not guarantee further
- investment by W3C in a particular topic, but <em class="rfc2119">may</em> lead to proposals for
- new activities or groups.</p>
-
- <p>Workshops and Symposia generally last one to three days. If a Workshop is being organized to address the pressing concerns
- of Members, the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> issue the Call for Participation no later than
- <span class="time-interval">six weeks</span> prior to the Workshop's scheduled start date. For other Workshops and
- Symposia, the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> issue a Call for Participation no later than
- <span class="time-interval">eight weeks</span> prior to the meeting's scheduled start date. This helps ensure that speakers
- and authors have adequate time to prepare position papers and talks.</p>
-
- <h2 id="Liaisons">9 Liaisons</h2>
-
- <p>W3C uses the term "liaison" to refer to coordination of activities with a variety of organizations, through a number of
- mechanisms ranging from very informal (e.g., an individual from another organization participates in a W3C Working Group,
- or just follows its work) to mutual membership, to even more formal agreements. Liaisons are not meant to substitute for
- W3C membership.</p>
-
- <p>All liaisons <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be coordinated by the Team due to requirements for public communication;
- patent, copyright, and other IPR policies; confidentiality agreements; and mutual membership agreements.</p>
-
- <p>The W3C Director <em class="rfc2119">may</em> negotiate and sign a <dfn id="mou">Memorandum of Understanding
- (<abbr>MoU</abbr>)</dfn> with another organization. Before signing the MoU, the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> inform
- the Advisory Committee of the intent to sign and make the MoU available for Advisory Committee review; Advisory Committee
- representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> of the decision
- to sign the MoU. Once approved, a Memorandum of Understanding <em class="rfc2119">should</em> be made public.</p>
-
- <p>Information about <a href="https://www.w3.org/2001/11/StdLiaison">W3C liaisons with other organizations</a> and the
- guidelines W3C follows when creating a liaison [<a href="#ref-liaison-list">PUB28</a>] is available on the Web.</p>
-
- <h2 id="Submission">10 Member Submission Process</h2>
-
- <p>The Member Submission process allows Members to propose technology or other ideas for consideration by the Team. After
- review, the Team <em class="rfc2119">may</em> publish the material at the W3C Web site. The formal process affords Members
- a record of their contribution and gives them a mechanism for disclosing the details of the transaction with the Team
- (including IPR claims). The Team also publishes review comments on the Submitted materials for W3C Members, the public, and
- the media.</p>
-
- <p>A <dfn id="MemberSubmission">Member Submission</dfn> consists of:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>One or more documents developed outside of the W3C process, and</li>
- <li>Information about the documents, provided by the Submitter.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>One or more Members (called the "Submitter(s)") <em class="rfc2119">may</em> participate in a Member Submission. Only W3C
- Members <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be listed as Submitter(s).</p>
-
- <p>The Submission process consists of the following steps:</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>One of the Submitter(s) sends a request to the Team to acknowledge the Submission request. The Team and Submitter(s)
- communicate to ensure that the Member Submission is complete.</li>
- <li>After Team review, the Director <em class="rfc2119">must</em> either acknowledge or reject the Submission request.
-
- <ul>
- <li>If <a href="#SubmissionYes">acknowledged</a>, the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> publish the Member Submission
- at the public W3C Web site, in addition to Team comments about the Member Submission.</li>
- <li>If <a href="#SubmissionNo">rejected</a>, the Submitter(s) <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate a
- <dfn>Submission Appeal</dfn> to either the <a href="#TAG">TAG</a> or the <a href="#AB">Advisory Board</a>.</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- </ol>
-
- <p><strong>Note:</strong> To avoid confusion about the Member Submission process, please note that:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>Documents in a Member Submission are developed outside of W3C. These documents are <strong>not</strong> part of the
- <a href="#Reports">technical report development process</a> (and therefore are not included in the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/">index of W3C technical reports</a>). Members wishing to have documents developed outside
- of W3C published by W3C <em class="rfc2119">must</em> follow the Member Submission process.</li>
- <li>The Submission process is <strong>not</strong> a means by which Members ask for "ratification" of these documents as
- <a href="#RecsW3C">W3C Recommendations</a>.</li>
- <li>There is no requirement or guarantee that technology which is part of an acknowledged Submission request will receive
- further consideration by W3C (e.g., by a W3C Working Group).</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>Publication of a Member Submission by W3C does not imply endorsement by W3C, including the W3C Team or Members. The
- acknowledgment of a Submission request does not imply that any action will be taken by W3C. It merely records publicly that
- the Submission request has been made by the Submitter. A Member Submission published by W3C
- <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> be referred to as "work in progress" of the W3C.</p>
-
- <p>The list of <a href="https://www.w3.org/Submission/">acknowledged Member Submissions</a>
- [<a href="#ref-submission-list">PUB10</a>] is available at the W3C Web site.</p>
-
- <h3 id="SubmissionRights">10.1 Submitter Rights and Obligations</h3>
-
- <p>When more than one Member jointly participates in a Submission request, only one Member formally sends in the request.
- That Member <em class="rfc2119">must</em> copy each of the Advisory Committee representatives of the other participating
- Members, and each of those Advisory Committee representatives <em class="rfc2119">must</em> confirm (by email to the Team)
- their participation in the Submission request.</p>
-
- <p>At any time prior to acknowledgment, any Submitter <em class="rfc2119">may</em> withdraw support for a Submission request
- (described in "<a href="https://www.w3.org/2000/09/submission">How to send a Submission request</a>"). A Submission request
- is "withdrawn" when no Submitter(s) support it. The Team <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> make statements about withdrawn
- Submission requests.</p>
-
- <p>Prior to acknowledgment, the Submitter(s) <em class="rfc2119">must not</em>, <strong>under any circumstances</strong>,
- refer to a document as "submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium" or "under consideration by W3C" or any similar phrase
- either in public or Member communication. The Submitter(s) <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> imply in public or Member
- communication that W3C is working (with the Submitter(s)) on the material in the Member Submission. The Submitter(s)
- <em class="rfc2119">may</em> publish the documents in the Member Submission prior to acknowledgment (without reference
- to the Submission request).</p>
-
- <p>After acknowledgment, the Submitter(s) <em class="rfc2119">must not</em>, <strong>under any circumstances</strong>, imply
- W3C investment in the Member Submission until, and unless, the material has been adopted as a deliverable of a W3C Working
- Group</p>
-
- <h4 id="SubmissionScope">10.1.1 Scope of Member Submissions</h4>
-
- <p>When a technology overlaps in scope with the work of a chartered Working Group, Members <em class="rfc2119">should</em>
- <a href="#group-participation">participate in the Working Group</a> and contribute the technology to the group's process
- rather than seek publication through the Member Submission process. The Working Group <em class="rfc2119">may</em>
- incorporate the contributed technology into its deliverables. If the Working Group does not incorporate the technology, it
- <em class="rfc2119">should not</em> publish the contributed documents as Working Group Notes since Working Group Notes
- represent group output, not input to the group.</p>
-
- <p>On the other hand, while W3C is in the early stages of developing a charter, Members <em class="rfc2119">should</em> use
- the Submission process to build consensus around concrete proposals for new work.</p>
-
- <p>Members <em class="rfc2119">should not</em> submit materials covering topics well outside the scope of
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/mission">W3C's mission</a> [<a href="#ref-mission">PUB15</a>].</p>
-
- <h4 id="SubmissionReqs">10.1.2 Information Required in a Submission Request</h4>
-
- <p>The Submitter(s) and any other authors of the submitted material <em class="rfc2119">must</em> agree that, if the request
- is acknowledged, the documents in the Member Submission will be subject to the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">W3C Document License</a>
- [<a href="#ref-doc-license">PUB18</a>] and will include a reference to it. The Submitter(s) <em class="rfc2119">may</em>
- hold the copyright for the documents in a Member Submission.</p>
-
- <p>The request <em class="rfc2119">must</em> satisfy the Member Submission licensing commitments of
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy#sec-submissions">section 3.3</a> of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">W3C Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>].</p>
-
- <p>The Submitter(s) <em class="rfc2119">must</em> include the following information:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>The list of all submitting Members.</li>
- <li>Position statements from all submitting Members (gathered by the Submitter). All position statements
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> appear in a separate document.</li>
- <li>Complete electronic copies of any documents submitted for consideration (e.g., a technical specification, a position
- paper, etc.) If the Submission request is acknowledged, these documents will be published by W3C and therefore
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> satisfy the Communication Team's
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/pubrules">Publication Rules</a> [<a href="#ref-pubrules">PUB31</a>].
- Submitters <em class="rfc2119">may</em> hold the copyright for the material contained in these documents, but when
- published by W3C, these documents <em class="rfc2119">must</em> be subject to the provisions of the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">W3C Document License</a>
- [<a href="#ref-doc-license">PUB18</a>].</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>The request <em class="rfc2119">must</em> also answer the following questions.</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>What proprietary technology is required to implement the areas addressed by the request, and what terms are associated
- with its use? Again, many answers are possible, but the specific answer will affect the Team's decision.</li>
- <li>What resources, if any, does the Submitter intend to make available if the W3C acknowledges the Submission request and
- takes action on it?</li>
- <li>What action would the Submitter like W3C to take if the Submission request is acknowledged?</li>
- <li>What mechanisms are there to make changes to the specification being submitted? This includes, but is not limited to,
- stating where change control will reside if the request is acknowledged.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>For other administrative requirements related to Submission requests, see
- "<a href="https://www.w3.org/2000/09/submission">How to send a Submission request</a>"
- [<a href="#ref-member-sub">MEM8</a>].</p>
-
- <h3 id="TeamSubmissionRights">10.2 Team Rights and Obligations</h3>
-
- <p>Although they are not technical reports, the documents in a Member Submission <em class="rfc2119">must</em> fulfil the
- requirements established by the Team, including the Team's
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/pubrules">Publication Rules</a>.</p>
-
- <p>The Team sends a <a id="validation-notice">validation notice</a> to the Submitter(s) once the Team has reviewed a
- Submission request and judged it complete and correct.</p>
-
- <p>Prior to a decision to <a href="#SubmissionYes">acknowledge</a> or <a href="#SubmissionNo">reject</a> the request, the
- request is <a href="#Team-only">Team-only</a>, and the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> hold it in the strictest
- confidentiality. In particular, the Team <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> comment to the media about the Submission
- request.</p>
-
- <h3 id="SubmissionYes">10.3 Acknowledgment of a Submission Request</h3>
-
- <p>The Director <a href="#SubmissionYes">acknowledges</a> a Submission request by sending an announcement to the Advisory
- Committee. Though the announcement <em class="rfc2119">may</em> be made at any time, the Submitter(s) can expect an
- announcement between <span class="time-interval">four to six weeks</span> after the
- <a href="#validation-notice">validation notice</a>. The Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em>
- keep the Submitter(s) informed of when an announcement is likely to be made.</p>
-
- <p>Once a Submission request has been acknowledged, the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em>:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>Publish the Member Submission.</li>
- <li>Publish Team comments about the Submission request.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>If the Submitter(s) wishes to modify a document published as the result of acknowledgment, the Submitter(s)
- <em class="rfc2119">must</em> start the Submission process from the beginning, even just to correct editorial changes.</p>
-
- <h3 id="SubmissionNo">10.4 Rejection of a Submission Request, and Submission Appeals</h3>
-
- <p>The Director <em class="rfc2119">may</em> reject a Submission request for a variety of reasons, including any of the
- following:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>The ideas expressed in the request overlap in scope with the work of a chartered Working Group, and acknowledgment
- might jeopardize the progress of the group.</li>
- <li>The IPR statement made by the Submitter(s) is inconsistent with the W3C's
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy">Patent Policy</a> [<a href="#ref-patentpolicy">PUB33</a>],
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">Document License</a>
- [<a href="#ref-doc-license">PUB18</a>], or other IPR policies.</li>
- <li>The ideas expressed in the request are poor, might harm the Web, or run counter to
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/mission">W3C's mission</a>.</li>
- <li>The ideas expressed in the request lie well outside the scope of W3C's mission.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>In case of a rejection, the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> inform the Advisory Committee representative(s) of the
- Submitter(s). If requested by the Submitter(s), the Team <em class="rfc2119">must</em> provide rationale to the
- Submitter(s) about the rejection. Other than to the Submitter(s), the Team <em class="rfc2119">must not</em> make
- statements about why a Submission request was rejected.</p>
-
- <p>The Advisory Committee representative(s) of the Submitters(s) <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate a
- <a href="#SubmissionNo">Submission Appeal</a> of the Team's Decision to the <a href="#TAG">TAG</a> if the reasons are
- related to Web architecture, or to the <a href="#AB">Advisory Board</a> if the request is rejected for other
- reasons. In this case the Team <em class="rfc2119">should</em> make available its rationale for the rejection to the
- appropriate body. The Team will establish a process for such appeals that ensures the appropriate
- <a href="#confidentiality-levels">level of confidentiality</a>.</p>
-
- <h2 id="GAProcess">11 Process Evolution</h2>
-
- <p>The <span id="ProcessDoc">W3C Process Document</span> undergoes similar consensus-building processes as technical reports,
- with the <a href="#AB">Advisory Board</a> acting as the sponsoring Working Group.</p>
-
- <p>The Advisory Board initiates review of a Process Document as follows:</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>The Team sends a Call for Review to the Advisory Committee and other W3C groups.</li>
- <li>After comments have been <a href="#formal-address">formally addressed</a> and the document possibly modified, the Team
- seeks endorsement from the Members by initiating an <a href="#ACReview">Advisory Committee review</a> of a
- Proposed Process Document.
- The review period <em class="rfc2119">must</em> last at least <span class="time-interval">four weeks</span>.</li>
- <li><a href="#ACReviewAfter">After the Advisory Committee review</a>, if there is consensus, the Team enacts the new
- process officially by announcing the <a href="#def-w3c-decision">W3C decision</a> to the Advisory Committee.
- Advisory Committee representatives <em class="rfc2119">may</em> initiate an
- <a href="#ACAppeal">Advisory Committee Appeal</a> to the W3C.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <p>W3C <em class="rfc2119">may</em> also modify a Process Document by following the processes for
- <a href="#rec-modify">modifying a Recommendation</a>.</p>
-
- <p>Reviews of the Process Document are not public reviews.</p>
-
- <h2 id="references">12 References</h2>
-
- <h3 id="public-refs">12.1 Public Resources</h3>
-
- <p>The following public information is available at the <a href="https://www.w3.org/">W3C Web site</a>.</p>
-
- <dl>
- <dt id="ref-join-w3c">[PUB5]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/join">How to Join W3C</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-member-agreement">[PUB6]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Agreement/Member-Agreement">Membership Agreement</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-current-mem">[PUB8]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Member/List">The list of current W3C Members</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-activity-list">[PUB9]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/activities">The list of W3C Activities</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-submission-list">[PUB10]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Submission/">The list of acknowledged Member Submissions</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-doc-list">[PUB11]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/">The W3C technical reports index</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-submission-overview">[PUB13]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Submission/1996/Template/">Submission request overview</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-people">[PUB14]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/People/">The W3C Team</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-mission">[PUB15]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/">About the World Wide Web Consortium</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-team-submission-list">[PUB16]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/TeamSubmission/">The list of published Team Submissions</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-invited-expert">[PUB17]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/collaborators-agreement">Invited expert and collaborators agreement</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-doc-license">[PUB18]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">W3C Document License</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-software-license">[PUB19]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-software">W3C Software Notice and License</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-translations">[PUB20]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Translation/">Translations of W3C technical reports</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-pub-mailing-lists">[PUB21]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Mail/">Public W3C mailing lists</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-coi">[PUB23]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2000/09/06-conflictpolicy">Conflict of Interest Policy for W3C Team Members Engaged in Outside Professional Activities</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-tag-charter">[PUB25]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2004/10/27-tag-charter">Technical Architecture Group (TAG) Charter</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-tag-home">[PUB26]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2001/tag/">The TAG home page</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-rec-tips">[PUB27]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2002/05/rec-tips">Tips for Getting to Recommendation Faster</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-liaison-list">[PUB28]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2001/11/StdLiaison">W3C liaisons with other organizations</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-ab-home">[PUB30]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2002/ab/">The Advisory Board home page</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-pubrules">[PUB31]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/pubrules">Publication Rules</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-fellows">[PUB32]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Recruitment/Fellows">W3C Fellows Program</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-patentpolicy">[PUB33]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/">5 Feb 2004 version of the W3C Patent Policy</a></cite>. The
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/">latest version of the W3C Patent Policy</a> is available at
- https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy/.</dd>
- <dt id="in-place-tr-mod">[PUB35]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2003/01/republishing/">In-place modification of W3C Technical Reports</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-calendar">[PUB36]</dt>
- <dd>The <cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/participate/eventscal">calendar of all scheduled official W3C events</a></cite> replaced the <a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Eventscal">former member-confidential version</a> [<a href="#oldref-mem-calendar">MEM3</a>].</dd>
- <dt id="ref-guide">[PUB37]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/">The Art of Consensus</a></cite>, a guidebook for W3C Working Group Chairs and other collaborators</dd>
- <dt id="ref-cepc">[PUB38]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/cepc/">W3C Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-obs-resc">[PUB39]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2016/11/obsoleting-rescinding/">Obsoleting and Rescinding W3C Specifications</a></cite></dd>
-
- </dl>
-
- <h3>12.2 <a id="member-refs">Member-only Resources</a></h3>
-
- <p>The following <a href="#Member-only">Member-only</a> information is available at the
- <a href="https://www.w3.org/">W3C Web site</a>.</p>
-
- <dl>
- <dt id="ref-current-ac">[MEM1]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/ACList">Current Advisory Committee representatives</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-mailing-lists">[MEM2]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Mail/">Group mailing lists</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="oldref-mem-calendar">[MEM3]</dt>
- <dd>The Member-only <cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Eventscal">calendar of all scheduled official W3C events</a></cite> is no longer maintained. The information is now maintained in the public calendar [<a href="#ref-calendar">PUB36</a>]</dd>
- <dt id="ref-new-member">[MEM4]</dt>
- <dd>There is a <cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/faq.html">Member intro and FAQ</a></cite> as well as the <cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Intro">Process, Patent Policy, Finances Guide</a></cite> previously known as the "New Member Orientation", which includes an introduction to W3C processes from a practical standpoint, including relevant email addresses.</dd>
- <dt id="ref-ac-meetings">[MEM5]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/Meeting/">Advisory Committee meetings</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-member-web">[MEM6]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Member/">Member Web site</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-member-sub">[MEM8]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2000/09/submission">How to send a Submission request</a></cite></dd>
- <dt>[MEM9]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/Guide/">The Art of Consensus</a></cite>, a guidebook for W3C Working Group Chairs and other collaborators, is now a Public resource [<a href="ref-guide">PUB37</a>]</dd>
- <dt id="ref-discipline-gl">[MEM14]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2002/09/discipline">Guidelines for Disciplinary Action</a></cite></dd>
- <dt id="ref-election-howto">[MEM15]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/2002/10/election-howto">How to Organize an Advisory Board or TAG election</a></cite></dd>
- </dl>
-
- <h3 id="other-refs">12.3 Other References</h3>
-
- <dl>
- <dt id="ref-RFC2119">[RFC2119]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt">"Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels"</a></cite>, S. Bradner, March 1997.</dd>
- <dt id="ref-RFC2777">[RFC2777]</dt>
- <dd><cite><a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2777.txt">"Publicly Verifiable Nomcom Random Selection"</a></cite>, D. Eastlake 3rd, February 2000.</dd>
- </dl>
-
- <h2 id="acks">13 Acknowledgments</h2>
-
- <p>The following individuals (some as individuals, others with the affiliation listed) have contributed to this
- proposal for a revised Process: Daniel Appelquist,
- David Baron (Mozilla), J Alan Bird (W3C), Carine Bournez (W3C), Wayne Carr (Intel),
- Tantek Çelik (Mozilla), Michael Champion (Microsoft), Maria Courtemanche (IBM), Donald Deutsch (Oracle),
- Geoffrey Creighton (Microsoft), Kevin Fleming (Bloomberg), Virginia Fournier (Apple), Virginie Galindo (Gemalto),
- Daniel Glazman (Disruptive Innovations), Michael Geldblum (Oracle), Ian Jacobs (W3C), Jeff Jaffe (W3C),
- Jay Kishigami 岸上順一 (NTT), Philippe LeHégaret (W3C), Coralie Mercier (W3C),
- Mark Nottingham, Peter Patel-Schneider, Scott Peterson (Google), Delfí Ramírez, Florian Rivoal, Wendy Seltzer (W3C),
- David Singer (Apple), Geoffrey Snedden, Josh Soref, Ralph Swick (W3C),
- Léonie Watson (The Paciello Group), Ben Wilson, Chris Wilson (Google), Rigo Wenning (W3C), Helene Workman (Apple),
- Judy Zhu 朱红儒 (Alibaba), Steve Zilles (Adobe).
- <br>The editor is sorry for forgetting any names, and grateful to those who have listened patiently to conversations
- about this document, without feeling a need to add more.</p>
-
- <p>The following individuals contributed to the development of earlier versions of the Process:
- Jean-François Abramatic (IBM, and previously ILOG and W3C), Dan Appelquist (Telefonica), Art Barstow (Nokia, unaffiliated),
- Ann Bassetti (The Boeing Company), Jim Bell (HP), Robin Berjon (W3C), Tim Berners-Lee (W3C),
- Klaus Birkenbihl (Fraunhofer Gesellschaft), Judy Brewer (W3C), Don Brutzman (Web3D),
- Carl Cargill (Netscape, Sun Microsystems), Wayne Carr (Intel), Marcos Cáceres (Mozilla), Michael Champion (Microsoft),
- Paul Cotton (Microsoft), Mark Crawford (SAP), Tantek Çelik (Mozilla), Don Deutsch (Oracle), Karl Dubost (Mozilla),
- David Fallside (IBM), Fantasai (Mozilla), Wendy Fong (Hewlett-Packard), Virginie Galindo (Gemalto),
- Daniel Glazman (Disruptive Innovations), Paul Grosso (Arbortext), Eduardo Gutentag (Sun Microsystems), Joe Hall (CDT),
- Ivan Herman (W3C), Ian Hickson (Google), Brad Hill (Facebook), Steve Holbrook (IBM), Renato Iannella (IPR Systems),
- Ian Jacobs (W3C), Jeff Jaffe (W3C), Cullen Jennings (Cisco), Brain Kardell (JQuery), Sally Khudairi (W3C),
- John Klensin (MCI), Tim Krauskopf (Spyglass), Kari Laihonen (Ericsson), Ken Laskey (MITRE), Ora Lassila (Nokia),
- Håkon Wium Lie (Opera Software), Chris Lilley (W3C), Peter Linss (HP), Bede McCall (MITRE), Giri Mandyam (Qualcomm),
- Larry Masinter (Adobe Systems), Nigel Megitt (BBC), Olle Olsson (SICS), Mark Nottingham, Qiuling Pan (Huawei),
- TV Raman (Google),
- Thomas Reardon (Microsoft), Claus von Riegen (SAP AG), Natasha Rooney (GSMA), Sam Ruby (IBM), David Singer (Apple),
- David Singer (IBM), Henri Sivonen (Mozilla), Josh Soref (BlackBerry), Ralph Swick (W3C), Anne van Kesteren,
- Jean-Charles Verdié (MStar), Mike West (Google), Chris Wilson (Google), Lauren Wood (unaffiliated),
- and Steve Zilles (Adobe Systems).</p>
-
- <h2 id="changes">14 Changes</h2>
-
- <p>This document is based on the <a href="https://www.w3.org/2015/Process-20150901/">1 September 2015 Process</a>.
- <a href="https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/AB/">Detailed logs of all changes</a> are available.</p>
-
- <p>Substantive changes compared to the <a href="https://www.w3.org/2015/Process-20150901/">1 September 2015 Process</a>
- include:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>Added link to document explaining Obsolete and Rescinded Recommendations - section <a href="#rec-rescind">6.9</a></li>
- <li>Allow Edited Recommendations to incorporate editorial changes without Advisory Committee review
- - <a href="#revised-rec">Section 6.7.2</a></li>
- <li>Replace diagrams of Recommendation track with new versions to improve accessibility and accuracy
- - section <a href="#recs-and-notes">6.1.1</a> and section <a href="#rec-modify">6.7</a></li>
- <li>Remove statement that W3C does not organise conferences
- - section <a href="#GAEvents">8</a></li>
- <li>Added a process to make a Recommendation Obsolete - section <a href="#rec-rescind">6.9</a></li>
- <li>Clarified the process to rescind a Recommendation, aligning with with obsoleting a Recommendation
- - section <a href="#rec-rescind">6.9</a></li>
- <li>Clarified the process for continuing work on a specification initially developed under another charter
- - sections <a href="#CharterReview">5.2.3</a>, <a href="#cfp">5.2.4</a>, <a href="#WGCharter">5.2.6</a>,
- <a href="#transition-reqs">6.2.2</a>.</li>
- <li>Changed the voting for AB and TAG elections to Single Transferable Vote
- - section <a href="AB-TAG-Elections">2.5.2</a></li>
- <li>Clarified the rights and obligations of Member Consortia and their representatives
- - section <a href="#MemberBenefits">2.1.1</a></li>
- <li>Renumber: 5.2.8 becomes 5.2.7 because there was no section 5.2.7</li>
- <li>Simplify Appeals, so they can occur whether there was dissent or not, and in a broader range of cases
- - sections <a href="#candidate-rec">6.4</a>, <a href="#rec-publication">6.6</a>, <a href="#rec-rescind">6.9</a>,
- <a href="#ReviewAppeal">7</a>, <a href="#ACAppeal">7.2</a>, <a href="ACVotes">7.3</a>,
- <a href="#Submission">10</a>, <a href="#SubmissionNo">10.4</a>, <a href="#GAProcess">11</a></li>
- </ul>
-
- </main>
+ <p><a href="https://www.w3.org/"><img alt="W3C" src="https://www.w3.org/Icons/w3c_home" height="48" width="72"></a></p>
+ <h1>The Editor's Draft of the W3C Process Document has moved</h1>
+ <p>As of April 2017, following the adoption of the March 2017 version of the W3C Process</a>,
+ the Editor's Drafts for updates to the W3C Process Document are now managed through a
+ <a href="https://github.com/w3c/w3process/issues/29">W3C Process github repository</a>.</p>
+ <p>Chaals McCathie Nevile, Editor, 12 July 2017</p>
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