53/AC
1998-03-20
TO All National Committees
Chairmen, secretaries and assistant secretaries of technical committees and subcommittees
NEW PROCEDURES FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF
IEC PUBLICATIONS AND NEW WORK PROPOSALS
Following the meeting of the Committee of Action held in Geneva on 1998-02-24/25,the following decisions were made, effective as of 1998-06-01：
A new procedure for the maintenance of IEC publications was approved. The existing new work procedure will be applicable only to new standards and new parts of existing standards. A separate procedure has been established for the maintenance of existing publications.
The programme for maintenance of publications will be included in the Strategic Policy Statement and will be subject to approval by the Committee of Action.
Each committee may set up one or more maintenance teams, which are working groups of experts, designated by the P-members of the committee, by correspondance or during a TC/SC meeting and whose task is to keep a standard or a set of standards up to date. The maintenance team will be appointed at an appropriate point in the maintenance cycle (see below). Its members may be the same or different from those who developed the original publication. The convenor will be appointed by the TC/SC.
The SPS will include the maintenance cycle (revision, amendment or review) for each of its publications (typically between 2 and 12 years). The maintenance cycle must be agreed by the committee before submission of the draft for the approval stage (FDIS) and the information will be included in the front material of the final publication.
The maintenance team shall be responsible for initiating any project to revise or amend a standard, collating proposed changes and controlling a strict timetable to enable maintenance cycle dates to be met. Individual proposals for changes will be circulated for information only to the P-members of the committee and kept in hand by the TC/SC Secretary until the next scheduled amendment or revision. The cut-off date for submitting proposed changes for forthcoming maintenance cycles will be communicated to the P-members of the committee.
The steps for revision or amendment of a standard are the same as those for preparation of a new standard or part (CD, CDV, FDIS) and shall include the establishment of target dates for the completion of the relevant stages.
If a committee wishes to process amendments before the next series of scheduled changes in the Maintenance Cycle, it will need to submit a request to the Committee of Action, in order to ensure stability for the users of standards.
If at the time of scheduled review, it is determined that insufficient resources are available, or that there is no need for revision or amendment, the committee should take the decision to confirm the standard for a further period or withdraw it.
The principle of maintenance cycles is illustrated below (see next page).
In order to help committees in establishing their maintenance plans, the Central Office will supply committees with lists (in electronic form) of publications for which there is currently no recorded revision or amendment activity.
Committees are encouraged to prepare the maintenance cycle for their portfolio of publications as quickly as possible and to ensure that as from no later than 1998-06-01：
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