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The Open Group Standards Process

6. Standards Adoption Criteria

This procedure describes the criteria of openness which must be considered before any specification may be adopted by The Open Group as the basis for the development and possible publication as a standard of The Open Group or inclusion in the Standards Information Base.

Criteria to be considered include:

  • Legal considerations
  • Market need
  • Cost
  • Availability of conformant products
  • Timing

Not all of the criteria defined are absolute requirements, but all must be considered before the final decision is taken on adoption of a specification.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Although statements regarding conformance to these criteria must be based on the submitters' good faith claims, it is recognized that some constraints, such as licenses and/or patents, may not be known at the time of submission and The Open Group can provide no immunity from legal action to any company utilizing the specifications.

Contents

6.1 Applicability of Criteria
6.2 Criteria to be Applied
6.3 Process Implementation

Human Actors

Sub-Processes

  • Copyright transfer
  • Patent disclosure and licensing under royalty-free terms (see Section 7 of the Standards Process)
  • Process implementation

6.1 Applicability of Criteria

In the following sections, the applicability of each criterion is defined as follows:

Required:

The specification may not be adopted as a standard unless the criterion is satisfied.

Recommended:

A good rationale must be presented if the criterion is not satisfied.

Desirable:

Although, ideally, it is desirable that this criterion be satisfied, it is recognized that circumstances may preclude this.

Informational:

This information must be known, before any decision to adopt the standard is taken.


6.2 Criteria to be Applied

6.2.1 Legal Criteria

Required:

Desirable:

6.2.2 Market Need Criterion

Recommended:

6.2.3 Stability Criteria

Required:

Desirable:

Informational:

6.2.4 Implementation Criteria

Required:

Informational:

6.2.5 Future Criteria

Recommended:

Desirable:


6.3 Process Implementation

The Open Group Manager is appointed and designated as responsible for each review. It is the responsibility of The Open Group Manager to ensure that the Standards Adoption Criteria are met.

When it is proposed to select a specification as the basis of The Open Group work in an area, The Open Group Manager shall advise The Open Group Governing Board.

At any stage during the development and/or adoption of the standard, any member of The Open Group Governing Board may ask for a formal report that the Standards Adoption Criteria have been met; in which case, The Open Group Manager shall prepare a report demonstrating that all of the defined criteria have been considered, and that all of the required conditions are satisfied.

The report shall be signed off by:

  1. The Open Group Manager – to confirm that market need, stability, implementation, and future criteria have been considered and met.
  2. The Open Group Legal Counsel – to confirm that legal criteria have been met.

Under normal circumstances, a formal report will be requested only when the submitter of a proposed standard is from outside The Open Group, and not from a formal standards development organization or liaison consortium that has comparable acceptance criteria. However, it is the responsibility of all parties in the standards development and approval process to ensure that the criteria are satisfied in all standards of The Open Group. To that end, and to avoid confusion late in the approval process, The Open Group Manager shall ensure that all participants in Work Groups and, where relevant, all participants in Forums, have been informed of the details of the criteria and that these groups evaluate all aspects of their work to ensure the criteria are met.

Last updated: October 2018