2. Presentation Contents
• What is a standard?
• Who defines standards?
• How is a standard defined?
• How is a standard maintained?
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3. What is a standard?
Standard
• document, established by consensus and approved by a
recognized body, that provides, for common and
repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for
activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the
optimum degree of order in a given context
• NOTE: Standards should be based on the consolidated
results of science, technology and experience, and aimed
at the promotion of optimum community benefits.
International standard
• standard that is adopted by an international
standardizing/standards organization and made available
to the public
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4. Who defines standards?
• Groups of experts
– International e.g. ISO, IEC, ITU
– Regional e.g. CEN, CENELEC, ETSI in Europe
– National
– Industry
– Company
– Project
– Individual
• Standards bodies facilitate common process and
consensus
– Technical committees – national groups often mirroring
international structures
– Editing
– Publication
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5. The four global de jure bodies
The International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC)
– http://www.iec.ch
The International Organization for Standardization
(ISO)
– http://www.iso.org
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
– http://www.itu.int
The United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe (UN/ECE)
– http://www.unece.org/cefact
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6. The four global de jure bodies
• The de jure standards bodies are committed to
operating by international consensus
• IEC and ISO are the “parents” of JTC1 on IT
standards
• ISO, IEC and ITU each have a number of
technical groups developing standards relevant
to e-Business
• UN/ECE also involves countries outside Europe
such as Canada and the USA
• UN/ECE is the “parent” of UN/CEFACT – the
UN’s Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic
Business
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7. Participating in International Standards Work
• Participation by national delegation – ANSI or
nominated secretariats
• National mirror committee
– Nominates delegates to meetings
– Agrees national inputs
– Agrees national votes
– Promotes results
• Various levels of participation
– P-member – participating
– O-member – observing
– A-liaison – external organisation actively working
– B-liaison – external organisation observing
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8. Consortia examples
• OASIS
– http://www.oasis-open.org
• GS1
– http://www.gs1.org
• OAGI
– http://www.openapplications.org
• SWIFT
– http://www.swift.com
– Over 140 in the eBusiness space
– Company rather than national representation
– Often provide results to ISO for endorsement
• E.g. ebXML specifications
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9. How is a standard defined?
• Staged process – ISO example
– Preliminary stage
– Proposal stage
– Preparatory stage
– Committee stage
– Enquiry stage
– Approval stage
– Publication stage
• Different criteria at each stage
• Similar structure in each of the organisations
• Consortia often more restrictive than ISO
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10. Preliminary stage
• Definition of areas of work for prospective future
standardisation
• No completion dates set
• Simple majority of P-members
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11. Proposal stage
• Formal proposal for new work
• a new standard;
• a new part of an existing standard;
• revision of an existing standard or part;
• an amendment to an existing standard or part;
• a Technical Specification or a Publicly Available Specification
• Can be submitted by
• a national body;
• the secretariat of that technical committee or subcommittee;
• another technical committee or subcommittee;
• an organization in liaison;
• the technical management board or one of its advisory groups;
• Description, justification and targets
• Acceptance by simple majority, + 5 active
participants Page 11
12. Preparatory stage
• Development of a Working Draft document
suitable for ballot
– Usually by Working Group or team of experts
– Ie no national representations
• Could be published as a Publicly Available
Specification
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13. Committee stage
• Ballot for acceptance as Committee Draft
• Major opportunity for national comments
• Successful if consensus achieved
“General agreement, characterized by the absence of
sustained opposition to substantial issues by any
important part of the concerned interests and by a
process that involves seeking to take into account the
views of all parties concerned and to reconcile any
conflicting arguments.
NOTE Consensus need not imply unanimity."
• Two-thirds majority of P-members will do
• May publish at this stage as Technical
Specification
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14. Inquiry stage
• Formal international acceptance as Draft
International Standard
– Edit and format by ISO
– Circulated by ISO to all national bodies for 5-month
vote
– Votes can be yes or no, with comments, or abstain
• Acceptance requires:
– a two-thirds majority of the votes cast by the P-
members of the technical committee or
subcommittee are in favor, and
– not more than one-quarter of the total number of
votes cast are negative
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15. Approval stage
• If the DIS ballot was unanimous, the final
standard can be sent for publication
• If the ballot was not unanimous, the final text
incorporating modifications is circulated for
approval
– Voting may be yes, no with comments, or abstain
• Acceptance requires:
– a two-thirds majority of the votes cast by the P-
members of the technical committee or subcommittee
are in favour, and
– not more than one-quarter of the total number of votes
cast are negative
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16. Publication stage
• Publication as International Standard
• Available at cost from ISO or national bodies
• Copyright asserted by ISO – just to be passed
back to national bodies like ANSI
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17. How is a standard maintained?
• International standards must be reviewed every
five years
– Confirm
– Modify
– Withdraw
• Technical Specifications must be reviewed every
three years, maximum of twice
– Confirm
– Modify
– Withdraw
– Convert to International Standard
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