Standards are developed by SDCA Technical Committees (TC) and Subcommittees (SC) by a six-step process derived from the ISO requirements for developing Standards.
1) Proposal stage
The first step in the development of a Standard is to confirm that a particular Standard is needed. A new work item proposal (NP) is submitted for vote by the Program members (P-members) of the relevant TC or SC to determine the inclusion of the work item in the scope of work.
The proposal is accepted if two-thirds majority of the P-members of the TC/SC votes in favour and if at least five P-members declare their commitment to participate actively in the project. At this stage a project leader responsible for the work item is normally appointed.
2) Preparatory stage
Usually, a working group of experts, the chairman (convener) of which is the project leader, is set up by the TC/SC for the preparation of a working draft. Successive working drafts may be considered until the working group is satisfied that it has developed the best technical solution to the problem being addressed. At this stage, the draft is forwarded to the working group’s parent committee for the consensus-building phase.
3) Committee stage
As soon as a first committee draft is available, it is assigned a version number. It is distributed for comment and, if required, voting, by the P-members of the TC/SC. Successive committee drafts may be considered until consensus is reached on the technical content. Once consensus has been attained, the text is finalized for submission as a draft Standard (DS).
4) Enquiry stage
The draft Standard (DS) is circulated to all SDCA member bodies for voting and comment within a period of five months. It is approved for submission as a final draft Standard (FDS) if a two-thirds majority of the P-members of the TC/SC are in favor and not more than one-quarter of the total number of votes cast are negative. If the approval criteria are not met, the text is returned to the originating TC/SC for further study and a revised document will again be circulated for voting and comment as a draft International Standard.
5) Approval stage
The final draft Standard (FDS) is circulated to all SDCA members for a final Yes/No vote within a period of two months. If technical comments are received during this period, they are no longer considered at this stage, but registered for consideration during a future revision of the International Standard. The text is approved as an International Standard if a two-thirds majority of the P-members of the TC/SC is in favor and not more than one-quarter of the total number of votes cast are negative. If these approval criteria are not met, the standard is referred back to the originating TC/SC for reconsideration in light of the technical reasons submitted in support of the negative votes received
6) Publication stage
Once a final draft Standard has been approved, only minor editorial changes, if and where necessary, are introduced into the final text. The final text is publishes as the SDCA Standard.
Review of International Standards (Confirmation, Revision, Withdrawal)
All SDCA Standards are reviewed at least every five years by all the SDCA member bodies. A majority of the P-members of the TC/SC decides whether a Standard should be confirmed, revised or withdrawn
Fast-track procedure
If a document with a certain degree of maturity is available at the start of a standardization project, for example a standard developed by another organization, it is possible to omit certain stages. In the so-called “Fast-track procedure”, a document is submitted directly for approval as a draft Standard (DS) to the SDCA member bodies (stage 4) or, if the document has been developed by an international standardizing body recognized by the SDCA, as a final draft Standard (FDS, stage 5), without passing through the previous stages.
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