OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, has finalized its technical process for the development of industry-specific standards.

The effort, led by Jon Bosak, means that OASIS has streamlined its Technical Committee process and has made it possible for industry groups to formally organize under the OASIS umbrella, through "Member Sections."

Laura Walker, Executive Director of OASIS, explained that the new process makes the Technical Committees autonomous:

Once they're chartered by the Board, they have a decision making process that is independent of the rest of the Consortium. Therefore, TCs can issue Recommendations. The only time the rest of the voting members of the Consortium would be involved is if the TC wanted to describe their specification as an "OASIS Standard" -- then the specification would go to the Consortium for a full vote.

Walker also explained that technical committees can either be autonomous, or group themselves under an Advisory Committee--used, for example, for the coordination of several related committees. This parallels the W3C's "Working Group" versus "Activity" distinction.

• OASIS press release