9 Voting

9.1    General

9.1.1  All P members have an obligation to vote (see 3.1).  Decisions of JTC 1 and its SCs are made either by meeting or by correspondence, as appropriate.  Each P member has one vote which, for meeting votes, may also be cast by e-mail, facsimile or letter, or by proxy granted to another P member.   Proxy voting is valid only if the committee Secretariat has been informed in writing by the P-member granting the proxy in advance.  A P-member may not cast a proxy vote on behalf of more than one other P-member. Votes by P members in attendance may be cast only by the head of that delegation or an individual designated by the head of delegation. 
NOTE: For a P-member not attending a meeting, written notification of a proxy must be provided to the committee Secretariat in advance of the meeting.  For a P-member leaving a meeting, this written notification shall be provided by the Head of Delegation before the member leaves. 

9.1.2  A P member which has given appropriate notification that it will abstain from participation in specific work items (see 3.1.2) is entitled to abstain from voting on these work items.

9.1.3  The Chairman has no vote and questions on which the vote is equally divided shall be subject to further discussion.

9.1.4  In a meeting, except as otherwise specified in these directives, questions are decided by a majority of the votes cast at the meeting by P members expressing either approval or disapproval.

9.1.5  For votes by correspondence ( letter ballots) in JTC 1 and its SCs, except as specified elsewhere in these directives, questions are decided by a majority of the votes cast by P members expressing either approval or disapproval.  Letter ballots may be cast by web based balloting, e-mail, facsimile or, if absolutely necessary, by mail.  Due account shall be taken of minority views.

9.1.6  In certain cases, consensus may be confirmed for questions which are expected to contain no controversial issues and for which agreement of the committee is foreseen in advance. Such questions will be distributed for a period of 60 days. If no objection is received during this period, the question is considered to be approved. If any P-member objects to the question during this period, the question will be decided by a vote, either at a meeting or by letter ballot. Questions for which this may be used are: 9.1.7   JTC 1 and its SCs shall pay special attention to negative votes by P-members and shall attempt as far as possible to resolve the underlying differences and achieve the maximum level of approval.
9.1.8  JTC 1 instructs its Secretariats to close all letter ballots on the declared closure date.  Late votes and comments shall not be accepted.  JTC 1 allows actions to be taken between JTC 1 plenary meetings by 60-day letter ballots within JTC 1.  Actions for approval may be proposed by the JTC 1 chairman, JTC 1 SCs or JTC 1 SWGs (if any).  Otherwise, no letter ballot period shall close in less than three months from the date of notification of issue.

9.1.9  If a P member of JTC 1 fails to vote on a DIS/ FDIS, the Secretaries-General shall remind the NB of its obligation to vote (unless the conditions of 9.1.2 apply).  In the absence of a response to this reminder, the NB shall automatically have its status changed to that of O member.  An NB having its status so changed may, after a period of twelve months, be reinstated to P member status on request.

9.1.10  At all levels of voting, if more than 50% of the P-members have not voted, the vote will have failed.  Late votes shall not be counted.  No extensions shall be granted.

9.2    Conciliation Panels

JTC 1 may be given the help of a conciliation panel to resolve differences particularly when polarised positions appear to have developed.  Ad hoc conciliation panels are formed by the chairmen of the ISO and IEC Presidents when needed.  Councils may also be used for this purpose.

9.3    Votes on NPs

9.3.1  NPs should be considered as expeditiously as possible by those best qualified to assess the technical merit and effect on the current program of work.  An NB may submit a NP either to a SC or to JTC 1.  JTC 1 should consider a NP only in exceptional circumstances, such as the NP is not within the scope of an existing SC.  In all other cases, the appropriate SC should ballot the NP.Votes on NPs at the SC Level

9.3.1.1  For NPs voted at the SC level, a copy of the SC-level ballot shall be forwarded by the SC Secretariat to the JTC 1 Secretariat for information in parallel with circulation of the NP ballot.

The JTC 1 Secretariat shall circu late a copy of the SC-level ballot to JTC 1 NBs and JTC 1 SCs for information and comment.

For the ballot to be successful at the SC level, the NP shall be supported by a majority of all P-members of the SC with at least five P-members committed to active participation.

A NP should be balloted only once within a SC If a NB submits a NP to a SC that the SC has not previously considered, the SC should not conduct a ballot to determine if the SC Secretariat should issue a ballot for the NP.  In this case, the NP ballot itself should be issued.  It should be noted that if a NB submits a NP for ballot without prior consultation of the SC, there is a risk that the ballot may fail because the necessary consensus and support are absent.  However, if a sufficient number of NBs agree the work should be done and agree to participate, the work can begin without delay.

A Sc Chairman or Secretariat may schedule a newly submitted NP for discussion at a Plenary or WG meeting before issuing a ballot, as long as unreasonable delay is not introduced (recognizing  that “unreasonable” is a subjective term).

9.3.1.2 On completion of the SC ballot, the SC Secretariat shall send the JTC 1 Secretariat the Summary of Voting.  If the SC voting failed, the JTC 1 Secretariat shall forward comments collected from NBs and other SCs, if there have been any, to the SC for information only.  At the same time, the JTC 1 Secretariat shall inform the comment orginiator(s) that the voting failed, but their comments were forwarded to the SC.
 
If the SC voting passed and there have been no comments received from NBs or other SCs, then the NP is qualified as approved.
        
If the SC voting passed and comment(s) have been received from NBs or other SCs, which the JTC 1 Secretariat judges will influence the acceptance of the NP, the JTC 1 Secretariat shall forward the comment(s) to the SC to solicit a response from it, with a copy to the comment originator(s).

9.3.1.3 Upon receipt of a response from the SC, the JTC 1 Secretariat shall initiate a 60-day JTC 1 letter ballot (see Form G4) on the NP attaching the SC's Summary of Voting, the comments from NBs and other SCs accompanied by the SCs response to them

9.3.1.4 Upon completion of the ballot, the JTC 1 Secretariat shall inform all NBs and the SC of the result (together with the project number assigned by ITTF if the ballot is successful).

9.3.2    Votes on NPs at the JTC 1 Level

9.3.2.1  Each NP shall be voted on by JTC 1 letter ballot (see Form G4), even if it has appeared on the agenda of a meeting.  The normal ballot period for an NP shall be three months from the date of notification of issue (see 6.2.1.3).  JTC 1 should consider a NP only in exceptional circumstances, such as the NP is not within the scope of an existing SC.  In all other cases, the appropriate SC should ballot the NP.

9.3.2.2  In order to be approved, the NP shall be supported by a majority of all P members of JTC 1 with at least five P members of the SC to which the project will be assigned committed to active participation.

9.4    Votes on CDs/PDAMs/PDISPs/P DTRs

9.4.1  If the consideration of a CD/PDAM/PDISP/PDTR is dealt with by correspondence, P members and TCs and organisations in liaison are asked to submit their comments (and P members their votes, see 9.1.5) by a specified date (see Form G8).  In the case of CDs/PDAMs/PDISPs /PDTRs, this date should be no less than three months from the date of notification of issue.  For an FCD/FPDAM/FPDISP, the ballot period shall be no less than four months.  JTC 1 or the SC may extend the ballot period in instances when the complexity of the text requires additional time for review or to allow additional time for enquiry, as long as the total ballot period does not exceed six months.

9.4.2  Abstention by an NB on a CD/PDAM/PDISP/PDTR ballot does not bar the NB from voting on subsequent versions of the document at the same or later stages (see 9.1.2).

9.4.3  Consideration of successive CDs/PDAMs/PDISPs/PDTRs (types 2 and 3) shall continue until the substantial support of the P members of the committee has been obtained or a decision to abandon or defer the project has been reached.

9.4.4  CDs/PDAMs/PDISPs/PDTRs produced by a JWG should be balloted by all P members of all SCs formally involved in the joint work.  Each NB shall have only one vote.

9.5    Combined Voting Procedure

The voting procedure which uses simultaneous voting (one vote per country) by the P-members fo JTC 1 and by all ISO member bodies and IEC national committees on a letter ballot is called the combined voting procedure. This procedure shall be used on FDISs, DISs, FDAMs, DAMs and FDISPs.

9.6    FDIS/DIS/FDAM/DAM/FDISP Approval Criteria

For a FDIS/DIS/FDAM/DAM/FDISP to be approved, the count taken by ITTF shall meet the
following criteria:

A P member which has given appropriate notification that it will abstain from participation in specific work items (see 3.1.2) shall not be counted as a P member when counting votes for drafts relating to such items.
Abstentions are excluded from the count.
[Note:  If more than 50 of the P members have not voted, the FDIS/DIS/FDAM/DAM/FDISP will have failed.  Late votes shall not be counted.  No extensions shall be granted].

9.7    Votes on FDISs/FDAMs/FDISPs

The normal ballot period for a FDIS/FDAM/FDISP shall be two months.  NBs may reply in one of the following ways:
If the FDIS/FDAM/FDISP is approved, only minor corrections as judged by ITTF will be taken into consideration as modifications to the FDIS/FDAM/FDISP ballot text.  Technical and editorial comments will not be considered.

9.8    Votes on Fast-track DISs

The period for fast-track DIS (or DAM) voting shall be six months, consisting of a 30-day JTC 1 National Body review period followed by a five-month ballot period.  NBs may reply in one of the following ways:
[Note:  Conditional approval should be submitted as a disapproval vote.]

The criteria for approval are given in 9.6.  If these criteria are not met initially, but are subsequently met at the conclusion of ballot resolution in accordance with 13.9, the DIS (or DAM) is approved.

9.9    Discussion during ballot period

When a document is out for ballot at stage 3 or higher, NB/Liaison organisations are free to circulate their comments to other NBs provided they do not use the formal SC or JTC 1 documentation distribution system.  Formal distribution is prohibited because it could create confusion as to the status of the ballot.  Documents out for ballot at stage 3 or higher are not to be subject to formal discussion at any working level of JTC 1 during the balloting period.  Therefore, NB positions on the document under ballot are not to be formally discussed at any working level.
Circulation of such comments shall have no formal status within JTC 1 or its SCs, i.e. they shall not bear any document number nor shall they be considered in any ballot resolution meeting unless they were formally submitted to ITTF as comments accompanying the ballot.
[Note:  NBs may inform the appropriate Secretariat if they believe an error has been made in the production of the document under ballot.]

9.10    Votes on DTRs

9.10.1 The decision to publish a TR (type 1, 2, or 3) is taken by JTC 1 ballot on a DTR (see Form G14).  P members and TCs and organisations in liaison are asked to submit their comments (and P members their votes, see 9.1.5) by a specified date.  This date should be no less than three months from the date of notification of issue.  JTC 1 may extend the DTR ballot period in instances when the complexity of the text requires additional time for review, as long as the total ballot period does not exceed six months.

9.10.2  Abstention by an NB on a DTR ballot does not bar the NB from voting on subsequent versions of the document.

9.10.3  Publication is accepted if approved by a majority of P members of JTC 1.

9.11    Votes on DCORs

9.11.1  Consideration of a DCOR is dealt with by correspondence (see Form G19).  SC P members and TCs and organisations in liaison are asked to submit their comments (and SC P members their votes, see 9.1.5) by a specified date that should be no less than three months from the date of notification of issue.

9.11.2  Consideration of successive DCORs shall continue until the substantial support of the P members of the committee has been obtained or a decision to abandon or defer the project has been reached.


Foreword   Table of Contents   List of Abbreviations   Index
Chapter: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Annex: A B C D E F G H HA HB HD HE  HF HG I J K  L  LA LB M MA  N O