Standards Ratification Process

This document describes the process by which draft standards produced by FDC3 working groups are vetted and then codified into approved standards. 

Process

1. Proposed standard is created by WG and is raised to a proposition status:
   1. by consensus
   2. by majority vote if consensus can't be reached (after good faith effort)
   3. Only WG active participants who have commented on or contributed to the proposal can vote on it.
      1. Active Participation is defined as a minimum of:
         1. registered member of the WG Google group (or has been exempted for compliance reasons) AND
         2. attendance of 2 of the last 6 WG meetings OR
         3. active contribution of proposals, pull requests, or other materials to the WG
      2. Active Participation is to be audited by the PMC if there is a dispute around a vote.
      1. Quorum for a vote is at least 5 WG participants from at least 3 organizations
      2. Vote is done via email.  Voting is held open for a 1 week window. 
         1. Votes can be cast by proxy or in advance if a participant knows they will not be available for the vote period and have arranged with the WG chair ahead of time.
2. Proposal is published on Confluence or Github (depending on WG)*
3. Mailing Group set up for Proposal comments*
4. Proposed standard is presented at next available general meeting
5. 2 weeks comment period from community is opened*
6. PMC ratification*
   1. by consensus
   2. by majority vote if consensus can't be reached (after good faith effort)
7. Ratified standards are versioned and published on Confluence

*Steps 2, 3, 5, 6 do not apply to Use Cases