Subject: Draft Revised Cooperative Agreement with SEDRIS

From: Steve Carson <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 00:51:12 -0700

We have made a few "minor" changes to the Cooperative Agreement with SEDRIS
that we circulated as SC 24 N 2058 in October 1999. These changes were in
response to a review of the draft by ITTF and to changes requested by
Resolution 11 of JTC 1's Seoul plenary. A summary of the changes follows
with the full revised text following after that. If any NB objects to the
changes please let Jean and I know by 1200 UTC on Monday 13 March 2000.

Summary of Changes:
------------------

1) In Clause 1 (Introduction) added: "Both organizations understand that
both editorial and technical change may occur under the ISO/IEC process.
Therefore a joint working group even at the initial stages will be
considered."

2) In Clause 2 (Distribution of final standards) we clarified the
distinction between a SEDRIS version and the ISO version, and stated that
"in the case of FDIS only the "SEDRIS Equivalent FDIS", with the SEDRIS
presentation and in the case of the final IS only the "SEDRIS equivalent
specification", with the SEDRIS presentation."

3) In Clause 3 (Document interchange) we removed the phrase "and on the web
sites associated with each particular technology."

4) In Clause 4 (Intellectual property rights) removed the word "copyright"
from "copyright statement" because the paragraph above it stated that the
base documents were free of IPR restrictions (including copyright).

5) In Clause 5 (Alignment of procedures) we corrected a typo in the second
line, replacing "ISO" by "ISO/IEC JTC 1". We rewrote 5.1 to cover the case
where an SC other than SC 24 might want to also cooperate with SEDRIS under
this agreement. (Note that SC 29 and SC 24 currently cooperate with Web3D
under the same agreement.) In 5.2 we clarified that the Style Guide was to
be based on "Part 3 of the ISO/IEC Directives" and again noted that
technical changes could not be ruled out as a result of the ISO process. In
5.3 we corrected another typo that used "ISO" instead of "ISO/IEC JTC 1".
We also updated some document type names to match changes in JTC 1
procedures. In 5.4 in one place we changed "editorial changes" to
"editorial and technical changes." In 5.5 we changed "DIS" to "FCD" again
to accommodate recent changes in JTC 1 procedures.

6) Finally, in Clause 7 we again clarified how SEDRIS and ISO versions of
specifications would differ.

The new revised text in full:
----------------------------

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC24 N nnnn

Cooperative Agreement between ISO/IEC JTC 1 and the SEDRIS Organization 

Version 2
23 February 2000

1 Introduction

The purpose of this document is to establish the detailed procedures
whereby ISO/IEC JTC1 and SEDRIS Organization will cooperate to continue the
development of a series of ISO/IEC standards based on the work of and the
SEDRIS Organization, including the SEDRIS Specifications. The general
principles from which the details of this agreement are derived are: 

a)	The SEDRIS Organization produces "publicly available" industry
specifications through an open, consensus based process with international
participation by hundreds of individuals and organizations. 

b)	ISO/IEC JTC1 wishes to adopt suitable industry specifications as ISO and
IEC standards. 

c)	Both organizations desire to harmonize their procedures. Initial
technical development work is done primarily in the SEDRIS Organization
with provisions for ISO/IEC participation.  Once the technical work is
stable and the editorial state is satisfactory-as indicated, for example,
by the issuing of the work as a SEDRIS Organization Specification-final
editorial and independent assessment technical work, eventually resulting
in an International Standard, is done primarily in the ISO/IEC JTC1 with
provisions for SEDRIS Organization participation. 

d)	Both organizations understand that both editorial and technical change
may occur under the ISO/IEC process. Therefore a joint working group even
at the initial stages will be considered.

e)	Both Organizations desire that SEDRIS Organization Specifications be
adopted as ISO and IEC standards as quickly as is feasible and with only
minimal changes based on an agreed set of criteria. 

2 Distribution of final standards

With the two exceptions noted below, all documents developed under this
agreement, including the final ISO/IEC standards, will be made available
through ISO/IEC sources and also through normal SEDRIS Organization
sources, including the open SEDRIS Organization web and ftp sites.
Recognizing that neither the ISO/IEC FDIS nor ISO/IEC IS can be publicly
available, the SEDRIS Organization agrees to disseminate in the case of
FDIS only the "SEDRIS Equivalent FDIS", with the SEDRIS presentation and in
the case of the final IS only the "SEDRIS equivalent specification", with
the SEDRIS presentation.

3 Document interchange

ISO/IEC documents developed under this agreement will be made available to
the SEDRIS Organization and its community by placing copies on the SEDRIS
Organization Web site.  Relevant documents on the SEDRIS Organization Web
site will be referenced in the ISO/IEC activity.  No documents will be
referenced which are not generally available.  Notification of availability
of new documents will be announced on an e-mail reflector limited to the
appropriate ISO/IEC WG(s) and SEDRIS Organization participants only.

4 Intellectual property rights

In accordance with SEDRIS Organization procedures, the text of all working
documents developed under this agreement, as well as the final ISO/IEC
standards, shall remain free of intellectual property right restrictions
which would limit their open distribution following normal SEDRIS
Organization practices.  The name of the standards (including, for the
SEDRIS specification, the words "SEDRIS" and "Synthetic Environment Data
Representation and Interchange Specification") shall also remain free of
intellectual property right restrictions. The SEDRIS Organization certifies
to ISO/IEC that, to the best of its knowledge, the initial set of base
documents (SEDRIS base document set) are free of intellectual property
right restrictions, and in particular, contain no material which any
Organization claims is proprietary or confidential or is the subject of any
patent. 

The SEDRIS Organization grants to ISO and IEC the rights to use the text of
the SEDRIS document set (as well as other document sets to be identified at
a later date) as the base document(s) for the development of ISO/IEC
standards under this agreement.  ISO and IEC agree that the resulting
ISO/IEC International Standard(s) shall contain a suitable statement in the
forward indicating that the standard was derived from SEDRIS Organization
documents.

The name SEDRIS will be a registered trademark whose use will be authorized
by the SEDRIS Organization.

5 Alignment of procedures

To allow coordinated review of all working documents developed under this
agreement, appropriate portions of ISO/IEC JTC 1 and SEDRIS Organization
procedures must be aligned.  The various aspects of this alignment are
described in the following subclauses.

5.1 Liaison

The ISO/IEC JTC 1 Class C Liaison mechanism will be used as a primary
mechanism to enable cooperation. ISO/IEC JTC 1 will be asked initially to
appoint the SEDRIS Organization as a Class C liaison Organization to
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24. Class C liaison may be established between the SEDRIS
Organization and other JTC 1 SCs in the future as required. This will allow
SEDRIS Organization members, SEDRIS Organization technical staff and SEDRIS
Organization nominated experts to attend ISO/IEC JTC 1 working meetings and
to participate in the work.  The SEDRIS Organization agrees to accept
ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC representative(s) as a liaison to the SEDRIS Organization
so that liaison in the other direction can be achieved.  Each SC
representative to SEDRIS shall have the following responsibilities: 

a)	at the point that the SEDRIS Organization agrees that work should be
passed to his ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC for further processing, forward documents to
his ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC;

b)	pass formal comments from his ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC to the SEDRIS
Organization community and to any communities associated with the
particular standard upon which comments have been received;

c)	report on the work of the SEDRIS Organization at each relevant
subcommittee meeting;

d)	in coordination with the SEDRIS Organization, provide early notification
to his ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC of SEDRIS Organization work that is likely to
eventually be submitted to that SC; and

e)	coordinate his ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC participation in the SEDRIS Organization
commenting and voting process that approves the SEDRIS Specifications.

5.2 Early collaboration

Both Organizations desire that any SEDRIS Organization Specifications that
are input into ISO/IEC JTC 1 be as close to meeting ISO/IEC style and
quality requirements as possible.  To help achieve this goal, ISO/IEC JTC 1
agrees to produce a "Style Guide" based on Part 3 of the ISO/IEC Directives
and on the ISO templates and provide it as an aid to the SEDRIS
Organization in the original creation of their specifications.  As a
general rule, submitted specifications shall have reached the status of the
SEDRIS Organization Specifications by the time of their submission to
ISO/IEC JTC 1. 

Participation in SEDRIS Organization Working Groups is open to any SEDRIS
Organization member plus SEDRIS Organization technical staff and any
technical experts nominated by the Chair of the Working Group.  ISO/IEC JTC
1 National Bodies are encouraged to participate in the technical work on
SEDRIS Organization technologies by participating in these Working Groups.
While both organizations  recognize that technical change cannot be ruled
out as a result of the ISO/IEC process, each desires that major technical
changes not be made once work has been passed to ISO/IEC JTC 1 for
finalization. Therefore, ISO/IEC JTC 1 National Bodies will encourage their
technical experts to participate in SEDRIS Organization Working Groups.

5.3 Initiation of ISO/IEC work

No work on SEDRIS Organization Specifications shall start within ISO/IEC
JTC 1 until the SEDRIS Organization has agreed that the work will be
forwarded to ISO for processing as an ISO/IEC Standard. This requirement
shall not prevent individual experts who participate in the work of ISO/IEC
JTC 1 from simultaneously participating in the technical work of one or
more SEDRIS Organization Working Groups.  The criteria that shall be
applied by the SEDRIS Organization 1 with the assistance of the ISO/IEC
liaison representative in selecting specifications to forward to JTC include: 

a)	the work is of sufficient interest and importance the SEDRIS
Organization to become an ISO/IEC standard; 

b)	the work is of sufficient completeness for review within ISO/IEC as
measured by the style guide; 

c)	the work is technically stable. 

Initiation of work within ISO/IEC JTC 1 will follow the process defined in
the ISO Directives.  Such initiation can be either as an NP/WD (New Work
Item Proposal/Working Draft) or as an NP/CD (New Work Item
Proposal/Committee Draft) as deemed appropriate through mutual agreement of
the two organizations.

5.4 Late stage technical changes

It is expected that editorial and technical changes may be made to the
document as it is processed to become an ISO/IEC standard.

Technical changes to a specification once ISO/IEC processing has been
initiated at the Committee Draft stage shall be allowed only in accordance
with the following criteria: 

a)  clarification is necessary for the sake of completeness or consistency; 

b)  a serious technical flaw is found that would render the specification
unusable.

When making such changes, issues of backwards compatibility with the
associated installed base of software should be considered.

5.5 Finalization of ISO/IEC work

ISO/IEC JTC 1 and the SEDRIS Organization agree to the following procedures
for the processing work once it has entered ISO/IEC JTC 1: 

a)	From the time of initiation of processing through to the publication of
the IS text, ISO/IEC JTC 1 procedures shall be followed. 

b)	The SEDRIS Organization can participate in this stage of the work
through the Category C liaison mechanism. 

c)	The ISO/IEC FCD text shall be published by the SEDRIS Organization for
review within the Organization according to Organization practices
simultaneously with the DIS ballot within ISO/IEC. This review will involve
a full ballot, similar to that involved in moving from the SEDRIS
Organization Proposed Specification to the SEDRIS Organization
Specification.  Every effort shall be made to resolve negative votes to the
satisfaction of both parties prior to further processing of the text.  In
case of different results in the SEDRIS Organization and ISO/IEC JTC1,
decisions on further processing will be taken by mutual agreement.

6 Joint meetings

All formal work under this agreement will take place at appropriately
scheduled meetings of ISO/IEC JTC 1, its subcommittees and working groups.
The SEDRIS Organization can participate in formal ISO meetings through the
Class C liaison mechanism.

7 Publication rights

Both the SEDRIS Organization and ISO/IEC retain the rights to publish their
own versions of all documents developed under this agreement according to
their practices.  In the event of successful balloting, a corresponding
version of the resulting International Standard will be published as a
SEDRIS Organization Specification on the SEDRIS Organization Web site.

8 Base document

At the time that a SEDRIS Organization Specification is submitted to
ISO/IEC JTC 1 for processing as an ISO/IEC standard (either as an initial
draft or as a Committee Draft), the SEDRIS Organization shall identify the
base document(s) for the work. 

To insure that users of both the SEDRIS Organization Specifications and
ISO/IEC International Standards can readily ascertain changes introduced
during ISO/IEC JTC1 processing, any standards developed under this
agreement shall contain: 

a) a link back to the original SEDRIS Organization Specification(s) from
which it was derived; and 

b) a complete list of technical changes from the SEDRIS Organization base
document.

9 Availability of drafts and other working documents 

All drafts and working documents will be freely available to participants
according to each party's normal practices. 

10. Maintenance of standards

Both Organizations agree to coordinate matters of interpretation and defect
correction in any ISO/IEC standards that result from this agreement.  When
requests for interpretation or reports of defects are submitted to ISO/IEC
JTC 1, they shall be forwarded to the SEDRIS Organization to provide
solutions which shall then be processed through normal ISO/IEC JTC 1
processes for defect resolution and interpretation. 

ISO/IEC JTC 1 agrees to establish Defects Editing Committees as needed to
work with the SEDRIS Organization.

Both Organizations acknowledge that a registration authority will be
required for items in the expected ISO/IEC standard(s).  The existing
Registration Authority for Graphical Items shall be used for these new
registered items.

Steve Carson
Chair, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24
Computer Graphics and Image Processing
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Steve Carson       http://www.huntel.com/~carson/
GSC Associates     http://www.gscassociates.com/
5272 Redman Road   phone:+1-505-521-7399; fax:+1-505-521-9321
Las Cruces, NM 88011 USA     e-mail:  [email-masked]
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