Contents

1. Standing Subcommittees
2. Finances
3. Publications
4. Standards writing
5. Coordination of Draft Standards
6. Appeals
7. Parliamentary Procedures

1 Standing Subcommittees.

1.1 Steering Committee

1.1.1 Composition.

1.1.1.1 Chair, Vice-Chairs, and Secretary of the AESSC;
1.1.1.2 Chairs and Vice-Chairs of all AES Supported Committees (as defined in the AESSC Operating Policy).

1.1.1.3 The Chair of the Technical Council, ex-officio, without vote.

1.1.2 Duties

1.1.2.1 Coordinate procedural aspect of Committee activities that affect the overall performance of the AES standards program;
1.1.2.2 Develop and maintain an overall plan for standards activities of the AES;
1.1.2.3 Develop recommendations to the AESSC on the type of publication and number of copies of documents developed by the standards committees to be printed by AES;
1.1.2.4 Assist the Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary of the AESSC in preparation of annual budget recommendations for the Standards Secretariat.
1.1.2.5 Develop nominations, to be submitted to the AESSC at its other meeting, for Chair and Vice-Chair of the AESSC, Chairs and Vice-Chairs of AES Supported Committees, and AES representatives to all standards committees on which AES maintains organizational membership, in accordance with the AESSC instructions.

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2 Finances.

The AESSC is responsible to AES for the financial management of the AES standards program, including the Secretariat functions that AES provides for itself and to AES Supported Committees, in accordance with the Operating Policy of the the AESSC. The following items require approval of at least two-thirds of the voting members of the AESSC prior to submission to the AES Board of Governors for final approval;

2.1 Annual Budget. The budget for the following calendar year, prepared by the Secretary, Chair, and Vice-Chair of the AESSC, with recommendations from the AESSC Steering Committee and the Treasurer of AES, submitted to the AESSC at the fall meeting;

2.2 Publication Pricing Policy. The unit prices, discount policies, and any other matters relating to the sales of publications published under the AES standards program;

2.3 Committee Membership Fees. Membership fees, if any, for participation in the AES Supported Committees;

2.4 Contracts. Contracts for grants and contributions in support of AES standards activities.

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3 Publications.

Publications of the AES standards program include American National Standards, Standards revisions and addenda, information documents which may evolve as adjuncts to standards activities, indices of standards, and other documents that relate to standards functions. Draft standards emanating from any AES Supported Committee, when approved in accord with its procedures, are published by AES without further approval by the AESSC. All other documents must be approved by the AESSC Steering Committee prior to publication.

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4 Standards writing.

4.1 The Subcommittees of the AESSC are responsible for the engineering and technical aspect of standards writing. The AESSC is responsible for the administrative aspect of standards writing, such as encouraging, coordinating and supervising the development of standards; reviewing proposed standards for conformity to editorial requirements, and for achieving consensus; and for coordination of the work both inside and outside of the Society, including developing and maintaining lists of the active projects and committees. The Subcommittees are formed by the AESSC by Letter Ballot, after consultation with the AES Technical Council.

4.2 The standards writing process would typically go as follows. At each point, unfavorable action returns the project to the preceding step, and favorable action sends the project on to the following step.

4.2.1 The initiation of work in the field of standards may be proposed by any person, whether a member of the Society or not. A standards proposal may be a document of any length -- from a sketchy outline to a detailed proposed standard. The standards proposal shall be directed to the AESSC Secretariat, either directly or through a Subcommittee. If the proposal pertains to the field of audio engineering or the allied arts and sciences and fills a demonstrable need not met elsewhere, the AESSC Secretariat will assign an appropriate project to the Subcommittee, with a recommendation for the assignment to the appropriate working group for further study and action, or form a new Subcommittee according to these procedures.**

4.2.2 The Subcommittee shall prepare an AES Standards Project Authorization Request (a form available from the Standards Committee), and submit it to the Subcommittee.

4.2.3 Following approval by the Subcommittee, the Request Form shall be submitted to the AESSC.

4.2.4 The AESSC shall circulate The Request Form to all AES administered organizations, and have it published in the Journal, so that all concerned interests may participate. Interested organizations may participate by circulation of drafts, by appointment of liaison representatives, by having common membership, or by establishing a joint standards writing body, or by any combination of these activities.

4.2.5 After coordination is established, the Subcommittee shall initiate, according to its procedures, a Standards Writing Group (Working Group) to carry out the actual standards writing project to prepare a Draft Standard. After the Draft Standard is written and agreed by the Writing Group, the Subcommittee shall ballot its entire membership, that is, its officers and chairs and vice-chairs of its working groups.

4.2.6 The Draft Proposal, the outcome of this ballot, and the history of activity shall be submitted to the Subcommittee for forwarding to the AESSC secretariat according to Subcommittee Procedures.

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5 Coordination of Draft Standards.

5.1 A Draft Standard with its record submitted to the AESSC shall be reviewed by the Secretariat for editorial style, and adherence to procedures.

5.2 Unless returned to the Subcommittee or Working Group, the corrected Draft shall be circulated to the membership of the the AESSC. Subject to Operating Policy regarding objections from the Membership, the Steering committee shall decide approval for publication in media accessible to the AES membership that are approved by the Steering Committee, in the Journal of the AES, and any concurrent submittal to other bodies.

5.3 If approved for publication, the Draft shall be composed for printing half-size with its draft status clearly indicated on all pages, unless another format is recommended by the Steering Committee.

5.4 Three months following publication, all comments shall be reviewed by the Secretariat. [Reduction from six to three months approved by the BOG 1996-05-15.] The Secretariat shall determine the need for editorial revisions based on the comments in consultation with the leader of the Writing Group. technical comments and objections shall be referred by the Secretariat to the Subcommittee for formulation of replies.

5.5 The Steering Committee shall review the record of comments, replies, and committee proceedings to determine whether to publish and whether to submit to other bodies. If the record so suggests, the Draft shall be returned to the Subcommittee for revision or withdrawal.

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6 Appeals

Directly and materially affected interests who believe they have been or will be adversely affected by a standards within the jurisdiction of the AESSC, or by the lack thereof, shall have the right to appeal substantive or procedural actions or inactions of the Committee or the Secretariat.

6.1 Complaint. The appellant shall file a written complaint with the Secretariat within thirty days after the date of notification of action or at any time with respect to inaction. The complaint shall state the nature of the objection(s) including any adverse effects, the section(s) of these procedures or the standard that are at issue, and the specific remedial action(s) that would satisfy the appellant's concerns. Previous efforts to resolve the objection(s) and the outcome of each shall be noted.

6.2 Response. Within thirty days after receipt of the complaint, the respondent (Chair or Secretariat representative) shall respond in writing to the appellant, specifically addressing each allegation of fact in the complaint to the extent of the respondent's knowledge.

6.3 Hearing. If the appellant and the respondent are unable to resolve the written complaint informally in a manner consistent with these procedures, the Secretariat shall schedule a hearing with an appeals panel on a date agreeable to all participants, giving at least ten working days notice.

6.4 Appeals Panel. The appeals panel is appointed by the Chair of AES Standards Committee, and shall consist of three individuals who have not been directly involved in the matter in dispute, and who will not be materially or directly affected by any decision made or to be made in the dispute. At least two members shall be acceptable to the appellant and at least two shall be acceptable to the respondent.

6.5 Conduct of the Hearing. The appellant has the burden of demonstrating adverse effects, improper actions or inactions, and the efficacy of the requested remedial action. The respondent has the burden of demonstrating that the Committee and the Secretariat took all actions in compliance with these procedures and that the requested remedial action would be ineffective or detrimental. Each party may adduce other pertinent arguments, and members of the appeals panel may address questions to individuals. Robert's Rules of Order (latest edition) shall apply to questions of parliamentary procedure for the hearing not covered herein.

6.6 Decision. The appeals panel shall render its decision in writing within thirty days, stating findings of fact and conclusions, with reasons therefor, based on a preponderance of the evidence. Consideration may be given to the following positions, among others, in formulating the decision;

6.6.1 Finding for the appellant, remanding the action to the Committee or the Secretariat with a list of the issues and facts in regard to which fair and equitable action was not taken;

6.6.2 Finding for the respondent, with a specific statement of the facts that demonstrate fair and equitable treatment of the appellant and the appellant's objections;

6.6.3 Finding that new, substantive evidence has been introduced, and remanding the entire action to the Committee or the Secretariat for appropriate reconsideration;

6.7 Further Appeal. If the appellant gives notice that further appeal to AES is intended, a full record of the complaint, response, hearing, and decision shall be submitted by the Secretariat to the AES Executive Committee.

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7 Parliamentary Procedures

On question of parliamentary procedure not covered in these procedures, Robert's Rules of Order (latest edition) may be used to expedite due process. ---------------------

* This policy is derived from a similar document of the Acoustical Society of America, dated 1982-09. In its 3rd draft, it was approved by the Board of Governors 1984-10-09.

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** A standards proposal is defined an idea or a document that has been put forward for consideration. A draft is defined as a preliminary version, for Committee use only, of the standard or information document. The proposal may be for " Full Status Standard," but it could be for a " Trial-Use Standard" if there is general approval but some substantial objection which cannot be resolved. It could also be for a "Committee Report" if there is substantial progress to report on a complicated, slowly developing project, especially if input from the general AES membership is needed.

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