[iai-discuss] definition of open standard

[Rufus Pollock]

 From http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/3473

EC approved definition of an open standard:
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USE OF OPEN STANDARDS To attain interoperability in the context of
pan-European eGovernment services, guidance needs to focus on open
standards17. The following are the minimal characteristics that a
specification and its attendant documents must have in order to be 
considered an open standard:

- The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an open
decision-making procedure available to all interested parties (consensus 
or majority decision etc.).

- The standard has been published and the standard specification 
document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be 
permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a 
nominal fee.

- The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of (parts 
of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.

- There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.