5 Consensus body policies and operations

 

5.1        Patent policy

AAMI shall comply with the current ANSI patent policy.

 

5.2        Commercial terms and conditions

AAMI shall comply with the current ANSI policy for commercial terms and conditions.

 

5.3        Antitrust policy

AAMI shall comply with AAMI’s Antitrust Policy (Annex B).

 

5.4        Intellectual Property policy

 

AAMI shall comply with AAMI’s Intellectual Property policy (Annex C).

 

5.5        Transaction of consensus body business

Consensus body business is conducted via electronic correspondence, conference calls, web meetings, and face-to-face meetings.

 

5.6        Announcement of meetings

All consensus body meetings will be announced as early as possible but at least 30 calendar days in advance for face-to-face meetings. Teleconference or web meetings should also be announced as early as possible but not less than 15 calendar days in advance, except in unusual and urgent circumstances. An agenda and any necessary agenda materials should be distributed in advance of the meeting.

5.7        Conduct of meetings

Consensus body meetings are run by the chairs, standards staff, or a designee. There is no quorum requirement to hold the meeting, but absent consensus body members shall be given the opportunity to object to any final substantive actions relating to the disposition of a proposed document.

Meetings are conducted in accordance with general parliamentary principles and procedures, with some consensus body decisions made by motion and vote. Only voting members of the consensus body or a member's appointed alternate or proxy may vote at a meeting. Less consequential matters may be decided less formally.

Formal votes on consensus body approval of a candidate document as a standard or TIR shall take place electronically (not at meetings), and all consensus body members shall be afforded the opportunity to vote

 

5.8        Public participation in meetings

All AAMI consensus body meetings are open to the public; however, at the discretion of the chairs, it is permissible to limit comments to members.

 

5.9        Closed meetings

Meetings of standing consensus bodies shall not be held in closed session on matters related to standards or TIRs. Committee advisory groups or task groups may, however, conduct meetings in closed session.

 

5.10    Documentation of meetings

All consensus body meetings, including substantive actions taken by the consensus body, shall be documented by minutes or a brief report.

 

5.11    Distribution of documents

Meeting minutes, documents in progress, and other consensus body materials are normally distributed by AAMI staff. Only materials distributed by or with the explicit permission of AAMI staff are part of the official record.

 

Only meeting agendas and public review draft documents are publicly available. Other documentation from consensus body meetings may be shared outside of the consensus body membership on a case-by-case basis only after the explicit permission of AAMI staff.

 

5.12    Committee advisory groups

Consensus bodies may create committee advisory groups to advise the chairs in developing and directing the consensus body's program of work. The consensus body chairs appoint the members of a committee advisory group in consultation with AAMI staff or the Standards Board. Such boards should have balanced representation from significant interest categories and adhere to AAMI’s policies for participation in AAMI Standards Program activities.

 

5.13    Task groups and project leaders

Task groups may be appointed by the consensus body chairs to address specific technical issues, research technical questions, organize work, or prepare early drafts. Assigning a project leader to write the first draft of a document or revise a working draft in response to consensus body input also is acceptable.