Preserving due process in standards work

Abstract

■ Due process refers to a legal concept and to the practice based on that concept. We begin with a brief review of the relevant legal and historical ideas, then more fully address the ways of preserving due process when developing information-technology standards. We identify the necessary and minimum procedures for preserving due process in standards working groups and make connections between (a) the defined elements of due process and (b) the ways in which ANSI’s X3 and other standards working groups preserve due process. We also address briefly the need to balance timely standards development with due process; in the case of accelerated procedures, to accommodate rapidly developing technology and identify the advantages—to the standards user—of preserving due process in standards development. ur purpose is to identify the ways in which a lay standards worker can preserve due process in a standards working group without relying on legal counsel for a definition of “due process” in action. The discussion, which is limited to lay language and avoids legal terminology, concerns itself with standards working groups that develop information-technology (IT) standards—international standards, national standards, and military standards. De facto standards (i.e., industry standards) and consortia standards are not addressed, except by way of comparison. The discussion is aimed at answering the question, “Why should I, as a standards worker, preserve due process in my standards committee work?”