The FAQs for IEEE SA’s Public Review are presented in two sections: for the Public Review Commenter and for the Working Group.
FAQs For the Public Review Commenter
The IEEE SA Public Review process gives the public the ability to impact the content of IEEE standards, which are often implemented globally. As public review commenters are materially-interested parties, IEEE is able to further ensure that it provides appropriate opportunities to further its work through an open process.
The draft standard is available for purchase by any public review commenter who needs access to the draft standard in order to provide comments.
The IEEE SA Public Review draft will be available for sale from IEEE, and links to purchase the draft will be available from the IEEE SA Public Review page.
Although there is no automated notification of drafts that become available for review, there is a frequently updated list of projects and drafts that are upcoming or available for comment on the IEEE SA Public Review page. Interested parties are encouraged to review the list regularly.
Comments may be submitted through the IEEE SA Public Review System using the “add comments” submission format provided. An IEEE Account is required prior to accessing the Public Review comment area. There is no cost to set up this IEEE account.
The Help button in the Public Review system provides an opportunity to obtain help with several topics. You can review the FAQ’s or click “Contact Us” for further assistance.
You will not be able to submit comments in the IEEE SA Public Review system after the 60 day Public Review period. Comments submitted to the Working Group outside the Public Review period or outside the system will be handled in accordance with IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual 5.4.6.
No. Drafts are purchased under license from IEEE under terms and conditions that do not allow further distribution of the draft.
The Working Group will consider your comments and provide a response. You will be able to view the responses in the IEEE SA Public Review system.
Yes. However, your comments submitted through the Public Review system will not be associated with a vote and will be treated as any other Public Review comment.
The IEEE SA Public Review process starts simultaneously with the initiation of the IEEE SA Standards Association Ballot and runs for 60 days.
Public Review comments can be technical or editorial in nature. Technical comments are required to have a technical justification supporting the comment. A submitted comment needs to include a detailed and specific suggested change to the draft.
Public Review comments are captured in the IEEE SA Public Review system, and can be accessed from the system after you are logged in.
Comments are available for edits for 24 hours after they are initially entered. After that time, the comments cannot be edited or deleted.
Access to the Public Review system and any Public Review comments will remain available through the Public Review system.
You will see only your comments.
FAQ for Working Groups
IEEE SA Public Review is an enhancement to the IEEE SA process that provides the public the ability to submit comments on the initial ballot draft via an online tool. Previously, such comments were submitted outside the IEEE SA electronic tools directly to the Working Group.
The IEEE SA Public Review process starts simultaneously with the initiation of the SA Ballot and runs for 60 days. During the 60-day period, public review commenters are able to purchase a copy of the initial ballot draft and submit comments through the IEEE SA Public Review system to the Working Group. Public Review comments submitted to the Working Group will need to be considered and responded to, and will be reviewed by RevCom which is the IEEE Standards Association Standards Board Committee that oversees the review process. However, Public Review comments will not be associated with the SA balloting requirements for balance and consensus.
No, public review commenters do not have a vote associated with their comments, and they are not included in the balance requirement for SA Ballot.
Comments can be downloaded from the Public Review system and uploaded to the myBallot system via the non-ballot comments feature.
There are three options for the SA Ballot process:
- The initial ballot period is usually 30 days, but the IEEE SA Public Review period is 60 days. Standards Committees have the option to choose a 60 day initial ballot if they so desire. This will allow them to address all Public Review comments as they address the initial ballot comments.
- If the Chair prefers to continue the ballot process, including recirculations, during the 31 to 60 day period, they are able to do so. If the response by the Working Group indicates that the draft should be further changed in response to a Public Review comment, then the updated draft showing the changes shall be recirculated. If a recirculation was not already intended, then the Public Review comment would result in an additional recirculation. However, if a recirculation was already intended, then there would be no additional impact on the SA Ballot.
- If the ballot group reaches successful consensus and no further changes are made to the draft after the initial ballot, the Standards Committee can submit the standard to RevCom for consideration. However, after the Public Review period, the Working Group will still need to consider and respond to the Public Review comments. If the response by the Working Group to the Public Review comments does not identify that changes will be made to the draft, then after finalizing the responses, the Standards Committee should immediately submit all Public Review comments and responses to RevCom in order to meet RevCom requirements for submittals. If the response by the Working Group to the Public Review comments does identify that changes need to be made to the draft, then the Standards Committee should request that the RevCom administrator remove the draft from the RevCom agenda and initiate a recirculation.
The time spent reviewing and responding to Public Review comments can affect the timeline for the SA Ballot.
The IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual states, “All public review comments received during an IEEE SA Public Review shall be considered by the Standards Committee and a response shall be provided to the commenter. If the response indicates that a change is to be made to the draft, the commenter is entitled to receive a copy of the revised draft from the Standards Committee upon request.”
Standards Committee, Working Group Chairs, and SA Ballot designees do not have to take any additional notification steps. The IEEE SA Public Review process allows public review commenters to refer to an auto-generated list of public review drafts.
Yes. During the comment resolution process, the Working Group may consider and then reject any Public Review comments. However, an appropriate response has to be provided to the public review commenter.
During the review of the Public Review comments, the comment resolution group would identify in the responses whether the draft will be updated after considering the public review comments. If the response to a public review commenter identifies that the draft will be updated, then the public review commenter can request and download an updated version of the draft.
Public Review comments are only valid for the initial draft and Public Review comments cannot be submitted into the Public Review system after the Public Review period. If a public review commenter comments on the updated draft and submits the comment to the Working Group, then those comments will be treated as any other comments submitted outside the SA Ballot process.
No. Public Review occurs for the initial SA Ballot draft only, and only during the Public Review period.
The IEEE SA Public Review is a 60 day process that is automatically initiated by the system when the initial SA Ballot begins.
The IEEE SA website has links to the IEEE SA Public Review system and the public page listing upcoming and current IEEE SA Public Reviews. The Public Review commenter will be offered the opportunity to purchase a draft and submit comments using the IEEE SA Public Review system. Each comment will be available for review by the Standards Committee/Working Group Chair during the Public Review period. However, responses to comments can only be entered into the Public Review system following the 60-day Public Review period.
Public Review comments are captured in the IEEE SA Public Review system, and can be accessed from the IEEE SA website.
Yes, public review commenters have the right to appeal any actions that they believe do not comply with IEEE SA policies and procedures.
When a project is submitted to RevCom the Public Review comment file is automatically added to the RevCom submission package. If there were no comments, the file will state this.
RevCom will review the responses to Public Review comments (because they shall be considered and a response shall be provided and RevCom will consider whether the responses are appropriate) and confirm whether the draft has been updated based on the responses, and then confirm that the comment was included in a recirculation. RevCom will also review whether the responses were properly reviewed by the Working Group. In addition, RevCom may also check that updated drafts are made available when requested according to the policies and procedures.
Public Review comments can delay the draft from being submitted to RevCom only if a) responses were not provided to Public Review comments, or b) the Working Group made changes to the draft as identified in a response to a Public Review comment, and the draft was not recirculated (as happens with any other substantive changes to the draft).
Yes. If comments are received as a result of the Public Review they will need to be considered, which can result in the need for another recirculation.
Submission to RevCom can occur while Public Review is open. However, if substantive changes are made to the draft after submission, then the submission would have to be withdrawn and a recirculation of the draft would have to occur. RevCom will review the Public Review comments to ensure that all comments have been considered, and that a response was provided for each comment.
Access to Public Review comments is available through the Public Review system, and the ability to download the Public Review comments is provided.
There are three ways the WG can provide a response to Public Review comments:
- The Working Group can enter a response in the Public Review system directly,
- Download the comments and respond in the comment file provided then upload the file into the Public Review system,
- Download the comments and upload them into myProject for response then download the Public Review comments and upload them into the Public Review system.
Yes, all Public Review comments have to be considered and a response provided.
If the Working Group believes that there is undue influence by public review commenters it should notify the IEEE Staff Program Manager immediately. The Staff Program Manager will provide guidance on the best way to address the issue.
Yes. Since the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual requires that all Public Review comments be considered and a response provided, RevCom will reject or recommend disapproval of the project if the Standards Committee has not complied with the policies and procedures.
Public Review comments may affect the scope of a recirculation if the Working Group decides to update the draft as identified in the response to Public Review comments. These changes or any content affected by the changes will then be in-scope during a recirculation.
The Working Group has the discretion of determining which, if any, Public Review comments should be shown to balloters. Comments identified by the Working Group to be shown to balloters can be extracted after the Public Review period and included in the next SA Ballot recirculation.
If a Public Review comment(s) resulted in changes to the draft, the commenter is entitled to an updated draft upon request to the Working Group Chair.