Subject: SC 22 N 3156 - Refinements to the SC 22 Internal Procedures

From: Lisa Rajchel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 12:22:44 -0400

_____________________beginning of title page___________
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces
Secretariat:  U.S.A.  (ANSI)

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
N3156

TITLE:
Refinements to the SC 22 Internal Procedures

DATE ASSIGNED:
2000-08-27

SOURCE:
National Body of The Netherlands

BACKWARD POINTER:
N/A

DOCUMENT TYPE:
National Body Contribution

PROJECT NUMBER:

STATUS:
This document will be discussed under Agenda Item 11.9 at the JTC 1/SC 22
Plenary Meeting. 

ACTION IDENTIFIER:
FYI to SC22 Member Bodies

DUE DATE:
N/A

DISTRIBUTION:
text

CROSS REFERENCE:

DISTRIBUTION FORM:
Def

Lisa Rajchel
ANSI
11 West 42nd Street
New York, NY  10036
Telephone:  (212) 642-4932
Fax:             (212) 840-2298
Email:  [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> 
_____________________end of title page___________

Title:	Refinements to the SC22 internal Procedures
Source:	Dutch SC22 Panel
Date:	August 2000
Status:	For discussion the the SC22 Plenary in Nara, September 2000

In the past period, the handling of FCD 14651 (International String
Ordering) and the progression of this document to FDIS has caused some
unease (to put it mildly) within our committee.  Several NO votes and
lengthy comments were issued during the FCD 14651 ballot, resulting in
extensive changes in the document.  In our opinion this implied that the
document was not yet ready for FDIS ballot.  Still, WG20 recommended
progression to the FDIS stage, a recommendation that was adopted by the SC22
Secretariat.  The Dutch SC22 committee found this highly unsatisfactory.
Clause 12.6.3.9 of the Directives (N2793) states that "An FCD shall be
advanced to FDIS only if the text has been stabilized, consensus has been
demonstrated, and the substantial support of the P-members of the SC has
been obtained".  The first paragraph of clause 12.6.3.6 makes the SC
Secretariat responsible for that judgment call; the second paragraph of that
clause (which is a strange mixture of sentences making it difficult to
deduct a binding between those sentences) makes it possible to delegate a
recommendation on the progression to the WG.  It is (apparently) the current
practice that the SC Secretariat simply follows the WG recommendation.  And
that is where, in our opinion, the handling of FCD 14651 went wrong: the
text was not stabilized, but the WG wanted progression.
We realize that it is difficult (if not impossible) for the
Secretariat to judge whether a document is (technically) stable or not.
Still we feel that the Secretariat has and should retain the responsibility
for the judgment call, and not automatically adopt the opinion of the WG.
After all, the WG recommends, but the Secretariat has the final
responsibility.  Also, the Secretariat has to produce the Explanatory Report
(clause 12.6.3.9, specifically the last bullet of that clause!), a task that
cannot be delegated.
Therefore, we propose that the 2000 SC22 Plenary meeting discusses the
following refinements to the SC22 internal procedures:
	1) When an FCD ballot closes, the SC22 Secretariat applies the FDIS
Approval Criteria (see JTC1 Directives, clause 9.6) to the FCD ballot votes
received, and indicates the result on the coverage of the summary of
comments document; when the approval criteria are not met, the WG
responsible for the disposition of the comments will NOT have the option to
recommend progression of the document to FDIS.  The remaining options for
recommendation by the WG are then WD, CD or FCD.
	2) SC22 reaffirms the responsibility of the SC Secretariat to
establish whether the FCD to FDIS advancement criteria (see 12.6.3.9) are
met; the grounds on which a decision is made are to be documented in the
Explanatory Report.
Finally, the Netherlands wants to stress its opinion that in the normal case
(i.e., in practically all cases) the directives are used and implemented
correctly and hence the above proposals will not have any noticeable effect.
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