Standards Board Operations Manual – Clause 7

A Standards Committee External Liaison is an information conduit that enables sharing of information from a Standards Committee/Subgroup to an organization external to IEEE.

A Standards Committee External Liaison shall be operated in the best interest of the Standards Committee/Subgroup and IEEE SA at all times.

A Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator is appointed by the Standards Committee/Subgroup and facilitates the sharing of information from a Standards Committee/Subgroup to an organization external to IEEE (see subclauses 7.1.6 and 7.1.7).

A Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator is not an External Representative as defined in the IEEE Standards Association Operations Manual, subclause 7.1.1.

The Standards Committee/Subgroup shall have activity in the relevant technical field of the organization external to IEEE with which the liaison is being established.

A Standards Committee/Subgroup interested in establishing a liaison with an organization external to IEEE shall vote to establish the liaison relationship and shall coordinate with the IEEE Standards Department to establish the liaison relationship.

Once a Standards Committee/Subgroup has established a Standards Committee External Liaison, the Standards Committee/Subgroup Chair shall appoint a coordinator and notify the IEEE Standards Department with the name and contact information of the coordinator.

The Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator:

1. Shall coordinate with the IEEE Standards Department on the administration of the liaison activities.
2. Shall indicate their Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator role when attending meetings of the organization external to IEEE.
3. Shall only express views authorized by or in alignment with the direction set by the Standards Committee/Subgroup from which they have been appointed while serving as the Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator in the organization external to IEEE.
4. Shall only share information with the organization external to IEEE as authorized by the Standards Committee/Subgroup while serving as the Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator. A template for sharing written information may be used and can be obtained from the IEEE SA Program Manager, see subclause 7.1.7 regarding the sharing of IEEE documents.
5. May represent another group (such as their employer and/or other affiliation), while also serving as the Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator in the same organization external to IEEE. In such a case, the Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator shall clearly identify the role associated with the views being expressed.
6. Is not authorized by IEEE to hold a leadership role in an organization external to IEEE if their eligibility for such a role is based solely on IEEE’s status in that organization.
7. May share materials from the organization external to IEEE with the Standards Committee/Subgroup subject to the other organization’s policies and procedures, including copyright policy.
8. Is responsible for adhering to the Standards Committee/Subgroup’s policies and procedures. All information shared by the Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator shall comply with the IEEE SA Copyright Policy, outlined in Clause 7 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Bylaws and subclause 6.1 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual.
9. If the Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator becomes aware of IEEE copyrighted material being used in another organization’s document, the Standards Committee External Liaison coordinator shall notify the IEEE SA Program Manager.

If a Standards Committee/Subgroup would like to share a draft IEEE standard with an organization external to IEEE, the procedures in subclause 6.1.3.4 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual apply.

If a Standards Committee/Subgroup would like to share a published standard with an organization external to IEEE, please contact IEEE SA and notify the IEEE SA Program Manager.

Any requests not addressed above shall be sent to [email protected].

Comments submitted to an organization external to IEEE are subject to that organization’s intellectual property rights policies.

An organization external to IEEE may request to establish a liaison relationship from the organization external to IEEE to a Standards Committee/Subgroup as an information conduit and may provide information as part of the consensus building process.

In order to establish a liaison relationship with a Standards Committee/Subgroup, the organization external to IEEE shall meet the following criteria:

a) Have technical competence or expertise in the field of technology represented by the Standards Committee/Subgroup with which the liaison relationship is established

b) Have a process for developing consensus on any input provided to the Standards Committee/Subgroup

An organization external to IEEE may request to establish a liaison with a Standards Committee/Subgroup. The Standards Committee/Subgroup that receives the request shall vote on acceptance of the liaison relationship and, if accepted, shall coordinate with the IEEE Standards Department to establish the relationship.

Liaison coordinators may attend and participate in Standards Committee/Subgroup meetings. If a meeting fee is being charged, the liaison coordinator is responsible for paying the fee.

While participating in IEEE standards development activities, all participants shall act in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations (nation-based and international), IEEE Policies including, but not limited to, Section 9.9 on Conflict of Interest and Section 7.8 on the IEEE Code of Ethics, the IEEE Code of Conduct, the IEEE Standards Association Operations Manual, the IEEE SA Standards Board Bylaws (see IEEE SA Standards Board Bylaws subclause 5.2.1 on “Participation in IEEE standards development”), the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual, and all applicable IEEE Standards policies and procedures.

Those serving as liaison coordinators cannot become a voting member of, nor attain voting rights in, an IEEE Standards Committee or Subgroup by virtue of their role as the liaison coordinator.

If a liaison organization external to IEEE makes a technical Contribution to an IEEE draft standard, the liaison organization thereby agrees to comply with IEEE SA’s policies and procedures related to Contributions (e.g., the IEEE SA Copyright Policy, outlined in Clause 7 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Bylaws and subclause 6.1 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual; the IEEE SA Patent Policy in regards to disclosure of potential essential patent holders, outlined in Clause 6 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Bylaws and subclause 6.3 of the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual).

If a liaison organization submits one of its copyrighted documents to a Standards Committee/Subgroup for coordination, the document shall not be considered to be a Contribution and shall not be used in any IEEE document without prior permission from the organization external to IEEE. Prior to distributing the organization’s document, the Standards Committee/Subgroup shall reference the Working Group Draft Sharing List to determine if guidance is required from the IEEE SA Program Manager.

The Chair of the Standards Committee or the Chair of the Subgroup is responsible for reviewing the liaison relationship(s) every three years with their respective group.

Liaisons may be terminated by the Standards Committee/Subgroup at their discretion for reasons including, but not limited to, the following:

a) All work is deemed to have been completed

b) The organization external to IEEE has not been compliant with the permission terms associated with an IEEE Standards draft provided to them

c) The relationship is determined to not be in the best interest of the Standards Committee/Subgroup, IEEE SA, or IEEE

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