The main document governing the all RISC-V Technical Committees is the Policies and Procedures document provide here as a downloadable PDF and in browsable form. Questions and issues can be submitted to the RISC-V Policies JIRA.

This document is subordinate to the RISC-V INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION AMENDED AND RESTATED INTERNAL REGULATIONS which itself is subordinate to the RISC-V International Association Articles of Association. Any conflict between this document and the superior documents shall defer to the superior documents as described therein.

Capitalized terms that are not defined in the body of this document are defined in its Appendix.

As specified in Article 3 of the Internal Regulations:

(1) The Association shall establish a Technical Steering Committee which makes recommendations to the Board of Directors and has jurisdiction over all other Technical Committees or subcommittees or other Member working groups of the Association.

(2)… [T]he Board of Directors or the Technical Steering Committee shall have the sole authority to establish and appoint all technical committees (“Technical Committees”) …

As used in this document, Technical Committees includes Task Groups, SIGs, and all other collaborative technical groups except the Technical Steering Committee (TSC).

1. The Technical Steering Committee (TSC) oversees all Technical Committees of RISC-V International Association (RISC-V), including:

   1. Horizontal Committees (HC) – Each Horizontal Committee oversees an aspect that is common across the RISC-V Architecture. For example, the security horizontal committee is responsible for ensuring new extensions do not introduce security vulnerabilities. In addition, some of the horizontal committees serve as the Governing Committee for Task Groups that fall specifically in their domain. Taking the example of the security horizontal committee, it is the Governing Committee over Task Groups that define security features.

   2. ISA Committees (IC) – There are two ISA Committees, each responsible for its own portion of the RISC-V ISA:

      1. The Privileged ISA Committee is responsible for developing and maintaining the RISC-V Privileged ISA Specification which is comprised of privileged instructions, state, and behaviour. The Privileged ISA Committee is the Governing Committee over a Task Group developing a privileged Specification unless there is a Horizontal Committee that is acting as the Governing Committee over that Task Group.

      2. The Unprivileged ISA Committee is responsible for developing and maintaining the RISC-V Unprivileged ISA Specification which is comprised of unprivileged instructions, state, and behaviour. In general, unprivileged instructions are those that can be executed in all privilege modes, including User mode. The Unprivileged ISA Committee is the Governing Committee over a Task Group developing an unprivileged Specification unless there is a Horizontal Committee that is acting as the Governing Committee over that Task Group.

   3. Task Groups (TG) – A task group is created to complete a specific task --- usually developing a Specification, along with its associated collateral --- and then is dissolved when the task has been completed. A Task Group that develops an ISA extension is overseen by the appropriate ISA Committee or Horizontal Committee. A Task Group that develops another kind of specification is overseen by a Horizontal Committee.

   4. Special interest groups (SIG) – A SIG usually exists to investigate the requirements of a specific domain and may propose Task Groups as necessary to fill any gaps in the RISC-V Architecture. A SIG may produce white papers, studies, application notes, gap analyses, or the like.

   5. Architectural Review Committee (ARC) – The ARC is an advisory committee to the TSC. It is led by the Chief Architect, a position established and appointed by the Board of Directors every two years. The ARC is composed of the Chief Architect, the Chairs and Vice Chairs of the ISA Committees, and any non-voting participants invited by the Chief Architect. The ARC:

      • makes a recommendation to the TSC on the approval of a new architecture proposal to be pursued as a Fast Track extension.

      • makes a recommendation to the TSC on the approval of an architecture extension as having completed the Architectural Review.

      • reviews and provides feedback to TGs and Fast Track developers on architecture Specifications as part of Architecture Review and as requested, during development of an architecture Specification.

   6. Any other Technical Committees, subcommittees, or other Member working groups which may be formed from time to time.

2. Other responsibilities of the TSC include but are not limited to: Approval of Specifications to be sent to the RISC-V International Board of Directors for a ratification vote.

   1. Approval of titles, scopes, and programs of Technical Committees.

   2. Allocation of priorities, if necessary, to items of technical work.

   3. Coordination of technical work within and between Technical Committees, subcommittees and any other Member working groups.

   4. Monitoring the progress of Technical Committees, subcommittees and any other Member working groups with the assistance of the RISC-V staff and taking appropriate action to improve organizational performance.

   5. Reviewing the need for, and planning of, work in new fields of technology.

   6. Maintenance, amendment, and revision of the RISC-V project management framework.

   7. Enforcement of Board of Directors-established policies and procedures upon Technical Committees, subcommittees, and any other Member working groups.

   8. Providing recommendations to the Board of Directors on the technical direction of RISC-V and other matters.

There are three types of Members of the Technical Steering Committee: 

1. Premier - One TSC Representative is appointed by each of the Premier Members while they remain a Premier Member.

2. Strategic - Two TSC Representatives are elected by the Strategic Members.

3. Community – One TSC Representative is elected by the Community Members.

4. HC/IC Chairs - The Chairs of duly established Horizontal Committees and ISA Committees of RISC-V shall each serve as a TSC Representative.  At a Chair’s discretion, the Vice Chair can serve in their stead, either on an interim or permanent basis. However, no HC/IC Chair or Vice Chair may serve as a TSC Representative if another Member Representative of the same Member is also serving on the TSC.

The TSC shall establish at least a Chair and a Vice Chair, each of whom shall serve for a term of one (1) year.

To keep their TSC voting rights, TSC Representatives must participate in a minimum of 50% of all combined meetings and votes (Events) over the preceding three calendar months.

A TSC Representative who falls below this threshold will be notified and given a chance to avoid immediate Probation by participating in the next TSC meeting or vote. Failing that, they will be placed on Probation for a minimum of 30 days.

1. Participation Evaluation

   1. Each TSC meeting and each TSC vote counts as a single Event.

   2. The participation percentage is calculated by dividing a TSC Representative's participated Events by the total number of all Events during the period.

2. Probation Notification and Opportunity

   1. Any TSC Representative who falls below the 50% minimum will be notified via email that they are about to be placed on Probation

   2. They can avoid Probation for that month by participating in the next TSC meeting or vote.

      • If the notice is sent less than seven days before the next Event, they can choose to participate in the next one immediately following the seven-day window instead.

3. Status While on Probation
   While on Probation, a TSC Representative:

   1. Will not be permitted to vote.

   2. Will not be counted for the purposes of establishing quorum.

4. Exiting Probation
   A Representative may exit Probation by completing the following:

   1. Declaring to the TSC Chair and Vice Chair their intent to be an active participant, and then

   2. Waiting 30 days during which they must attend every TSC meeting.

5. Defining Participation in a Vote

   1. A TSC Representative is deemed to have participated in a vote by completing an electronically sent ballot (e.g., via OpaVote) within the allotted time

   2. Abstaining from a vote is not considered a failure to vote.

   3. Each electronic ballot (e.g., OpaVote) counts as an individual vote. If a vote is recalled, only the official, final vote is counted for participation purposes.

6. Quorum Encouragement
   TSC Representatives are encouraged to attend meetings on time so that quorum can be met early.

All RISC-V Members have the right to be represented on, or serve on Technical Committees.

1. Voting Rights:

   1. In the TSC, all representatives who are not on Probation have voting rights.

   2. In each Technical Committee, only Voting Participants who are not on Probation in that Technical Committee have voting rights.

2. Only one Member Representative per Member may cast a vote.

3. A Member and all its Member Affiliates shall be treated for voting purposes as one single Member on a combined basis, and the vote of a Member and all its Member Affiliates shall be aggregated into a single vote.

4. Member Representatives should combine their Member’s input in an efficient and timely manner, taking account all relevant interests of their organization.

5. Any Member Representative may cast that Member’s vote. If more than one vote is cast on behalf of a Member, the first such vote (as determined by RVI staff) shall be counted. It is up to the Member to determine its vote, and which Member Representative will cast that vote.

6. Eligibility for voting is established as of the date of the commencement of the voting period.

7. It is the intention that Technical Committees make a best effort to come to consensus before taking a vote. In such a case, the vote is a formality to memorialize the consensus.

8. For votes by OpaVote or other approved online means, or during a Technical Committee meeting, a simple majority of the Voting Participants voting is required for approval.

9. Quorum for all matters requires a simple majority (i.e., more than 50%) of the eligible Voting Participants are present physically or virtually.

10. All votes must include the possibility to abstain. Abstaining from a vote is not considered a failure to vote. In all votes, abstentions are counted for quorum establishment but not counted in majority establishment.

11. Proxy voting is not permitted.

12. Voting in all elections is done anonymously

Elections for the Chair and Vice Chair in each Technical Committee and the TSC shall follow the same operational procedures for the election of Strategic Board Directors as set forth in the Internal Regulations except as below:

1. Eligibility for Chair and Vice Chair

   1. All TSC Representatives are eligible to be nominated and elected as Chair or Vice Chair of the TSC

   2. All Voting Participants in a Technical Committee are eligible to be nominated and elected as Chair or Vice Chair in that Technical Committee

2. Voting Procedure
   For any election where there are more than 2 candidates for a single office on the ballot, the following voting method will be utilized:

   1. Each eligible voter completes a ballot by ranking the candidates from 1st choice to last.

   2. If any candidate is no longer running, which could be due to winning a vote for a superior position (e.g., Chair) or withdrawing their candidacy, all the ballots listing this candidate above the last place would be updated with this candidate removed and the lower choices moved up one position. Therefore, where the removed candidate in first place in a ballot, for example, the 2nd choice on that ballot becomes the 1st choice.

   3. In any round of tabulation (including the first), only the 1st choice on the ballot is considered. If any candidate receives more than 50% of these votes, that candidate is elected.

   4. If no candidate is elected in a round, the candidate with the lowest number of 1st choice votes is eliminated from each of those ballots. Each ballot is then updated by shifting any lower ranked candidates to fill any spaces left by the eliminated candidate. For example, if the 2nd choice on a ballot has been eliminated, the 3rd choice now becomes the 2nd, and the 4th choice becomes the 3rd, etc.

   5. If there is a tie between remaining candidates which cannot be resolved by going through the round process as described above, the tie breaking procedure is followed.

3. Tie breaking procedure:

   1. The tied candidate who appears on the least ballots (regardless of the ranking on the ballots) is eliminated from further tabulation rounds. This repeats until there is one candidate left or there is still a tie.

   2. If there is a still a tie, the ranking on each of the ballots ( e.g., 1 for 1st choice, 2 for 2^nd choice, 3 for 3^rd choice, etc.) is added up for each of the tied candidates with a score of N+1 for each ballot where the candidate is not listed as any choice.
      The tied candidate who has the highest sum (i.e. least preferred) of the tied candidates is eliminated from further tabulation rounds.  This repeats until there is one candidate left or there is still a tie.

   3. The winner is chosen by a coin flip.

If the same candidate runs for both chair and vice chair, and they win the chair position, they are eliminated from all tabulation rounds of the election for the vice chair.

1. Establishment of Technical Committees 

   1. Technical Committees are proposed to be established and dissolved by the TSC. 

   2. The TSC may transform an existing Technical Committee into a new Technical Committee through amending its charter to change its scope of work or title following consultation with the Technical Committee concerned.

   3. The TSC may establish a Technical Committee other than a SIG or TG by collaborating within the TSC to produce a detailed proposal and then voting on it.

      1. If a two thirds majority of the Technical Steering Committee voting are in favor of the proposal --- with abstentions excluded when the votes are counted --- the proposal shall be TSC approved, otherwise the proposal shall be rejected.

   4. To request the formation of a new SIG or TG, a proposal of work (PoW) must be submitted to the TSC. The request may be made by a RISC-V Member or a Technical Committee.

   5. The proposal shall be made on a form which covers: 

      1. the proposer. 

      2. the subject proposed. 

      3. the scope of the work envisaged and the proposed initial program of work. 

      4. a statement of need for the proposal

      5. if applicable, a survey of similar work undertaken in other bodies or existing RISC-V Technical Committee(s). 

      6. the names of at least three (3) RISC-V Premier and/or Strategic Members who have expressed their intention to participate actively

         1. These names may be added after the circulation of the proposals to Members seeking their support. However, they must be added before submitting the proposal to the TSC for the subsequent review.

   6. The TSC Chair and Vice-chair shall ensure that the proposal is properly developed in accordance with RISC-V policies and mission while providing sufficient information to support informed decision-making by RISC-V Members. They may consult with any HC or IC which might serve as the proposed SIG/TG’s Governing Committee. RISC-V Staff shall also assess the relationship of the proposal to existing work and may consult interested parties, including the TSC or other Technical Committees conducting related existing work.

      If necessary, an ad hoc group of Member Representatives may be established by the TSC Chair to examine the proposal. Following its review, the TSC Chair may decide to return the proposal to the proposer for further development before circulation for voting. In this case, the proposer shall make the changes suggested or provide justification for not making the changes. If the proposer does not make the changes and requests that its proposal be circulated for voting as originally presented, the TSC Chair will decide on appropriate action. This could include blocking the proposal until the changes are made or accepting that it be balloted as received.

   7. Proposers are strongly encouraged to conduct informal consultations with other RISC-V Members in the preparation of proposals in order to build consensus.

   8. The proposal shall be circulated to all RISC-V Members inquiring as to their: 

      1. support of the establishment of a new Technical Committee and asking them to provide a statement justifying their decision, and 

      2. intention to participate actively in the work of the new technical committee.

   9. The Technical Steering Committee evaluates the replies and either 

      1. votes on the establishment of the SIG or TG 

         1. If a two thirds majority of the Technical Steering Committee voting are in favor of the proposal --- with abstentions excluded when the votes are counted --- the proposal shall have TSC approval, otherwise the proposal shall be rejected.

      2. or offers the work to an existing Technical Committee, subject to the same criteria of acceptance by the Technical Committee. 

   10. If the TSC voted to approve the formation, the Board has the final say as to whether it approves of or rejects the proposal. If the Board approves the Proposal, an announcement shall be sent out to all Members letting them know of the newly created Technical Committee, providing a link to its PoW, and informing Members how they can participate.

   11. Any newly created Technical Committee shall meet to agree on its Charter, consistent with the proposal approved by the Board of Directors, as soon as possible after its establishment, preferably by correspondence. The Charter shall include the purpose, scope, deliverables, and other relevant details relating to the Technical Committee.

       1. Agreement on the Charter requires approval by a two thirds majority of the Voting Participants voting. 

       2. The scope component is a statement precisely defining the limits of the work of the Technical Committee. 

       3. The definition of the scope of a Technical Committee shall begin with the words “Specification of …” or “Specification in the field of …” and shall be drafted as concisely as possible. 

       4. The Charter shall be submitted to the TSC for approval. The TSC may request changes to the Charter before granting final approval. 

       5. Following the initial meeting of a Technical Committee, but no later than six (6) months, the Technical Committee is required to prepare a strategic plan for review and acceptance by the TSC. This plan may be submitted in conjunction with the Charter. 

       6. All elections of a Chair or Vice Chair or other officer for a Technical Committee shall be by Voting Participants of that Technical Committee and shall be conducted in conformance with Section 2C above.

   12. The TSC or a Technical Committee may propose a modification of the latter's title and/or Charter. The modified wording shall be proposed by the Technical Committee for review and approval by the TSC.

   13. The TSC may assign oversight of the newly formed Technical Committee to one of the Governing Committees; or it may assign governance to the TSC itself. In the case where governance remains at the TSC, the Board must also approve the formation and oversight arrangements. This ensures two levels of alignment. 

2. Technical Committees, once formed, shall be led by a Chair and a Vice Chair. 

   1. These two positions may not be filled by two people who are Member Representatives of the same Member.

   2. Upon the establishment of the new Technical Committee, the TSC shall appoint an interim chair and vice chair to serve until the Technical Committee elects the chair and vice chair.

      1. The Technical Committee shall hold a Chair and Vice Chair election within six (6) months of its formation.

   3. Elections are held under the rules provided in this document.  Electors are the Voting Participants of the Technical Committee. The Chair and Vice Chair each serve a one-year term which is extended until their successors are elected. Each may be elected for one or more successive terms.  The TSC may establish the timing of the term at the formation of the committee.

   4. The Chair is responsible for managing meetings and the official communications of the Technical Committee.  The Chair is responsible for meeting planning, execution and minutes. It is the Chair’s responsibility to ensure that meeting minutes include all Contributions made by any Member during the meeting. The Minutes shall list the Member Representative who provided the Contribution, the Member, and the details of the Contribution. The Minutes shall be published and be reviewed by all participants. Any errors in the listing of Contributions must be objected to by the stated contributing Member within thirty days.

   5. The Vice Chair serves in responsibilities designated by the Technical Committee or its Chair and shall serve as the chair of meetings when the Chair is not present.  The Vice Chair can fill in for the Chair in other RISC-V meetings where the Chair cannot attend.

   6. If the Chair position becomes temporarily or permanently vacant, the Vice Chair becomes Acting Chair and assumes the duties of the Chair until such time as the vacancy is resolved. 

   7. The Chair and Vice Chair may switch roles if granted approval by the TSC and the relevant Governing Committee. 

3. The TSC may dissolve a Technical Committee by the same majority that established it. This may be for any organizational or technical reason, including resource requirements, strategic necessity, lack of activity, or other progress issues with achieving the goals set forth in the Technical Committee Charter.
   This decision of the TSC must be approved by the Board of Directors.

The Member shall, through any of its Member Representatives, inform the Chair of the Technical Committee if the Member:

1. opts in to be a “Voting Participant” of the Technical Committee by actively engaging in the Technical Committee meetings with an obligation to vote on:

   1. all questions before the Technical Committee, 

   2. new work item proposals, 

   3. initial drafts and drafts for approval, 

or instead,

2. opts in to be a “Non-voting Participant” of the Technical Committee by following the work as an observer, and therefore to receive Technical Committee documents and to have the right to submit comments --- including Contributions --- and to attend meetings, but not to vote

or instead

3. opts-out of participating in the Technical Committee.

   1. A Member who has opted-out of participating in a Technical Committee must not participate in the Technical Committee in any way including attending the Technical Committee’s meetings, subscribing to the Technical Committee’s mailing list, or making any Contributions.

   2. A Member that does not respond to an invitation to participate in a new Technical Committee within fourteen days will be deemed to have opted out.

F. Any Member Representative of a Member that has opted-in to participate in a Technical Committee may execute the rights and fulfil the obligations in that Technical Committee on behalf of that Member. The rights and obligations are tracked by Member, not Member Representative.

G. Only Member Representatives of Members who have opted in to participate in a Technical Committee may subscribe to that Technical Committee’s mailing list (https://lists.riscv.org ).

H. A RISC-V Member may, at any time, opt-out of or opt-in to a Technical Committee by informing the Chair of the Technical Committee. A Member that opts-in as a Voting Participant shall have full voting rights immediately upon joining a Technical Committee unless that Member is currently on Probation on that committee.

I. A RISC-V Member that is a Voting Participant, or a Non-voting Participant may voluntarily upgrade or downgrade its level of participation in a Technical Committee by informing the Chair of the Technical Committee concerned. However, a Non-voting Participant may not upgrade to Voting Participant while on Probation. Upon upgrading to a Voting Participant, the Member shall have full voting rights immediately.

J. The relevant Technical Committee Chair shall inform the Office of the CEO and the Chair and Vice Chair of the TSC if a Voting Participant of that Technical Committee has been functionally inactive or has failed to vote by either of the following criteria:

1. Functionally inactive criteria 

   1. A Voting Participant is considered functionally inactive in a Technical Committee when they have missed two (2) out of three (3) successive scheduled Technical Committee meetings. This attendance requirement holds even when a meeting does not achieve quorum (i.e., more than 50% of the Voting Participants are not in attendance).

   2. Meetings may be held at whatever cadence is decided by the Chair. However, Voting Participants shall never be required to attend more than one meeting per week.

   3. For the purposes of these criteria, when a Voting Participant is unable to attend a meeting, they will be considered to have attended the most recent previous meeting if they have participated through other means such as providing non-trivial input to the Technical Committee’s mailing list, Confluence Page, or Github repo or the like.

2. Failing to vote criteria

   1. A Voting Participant is considered as failing to vote in a Technical Committee when that Member does not complete an electronically sent ballot (e.g., via OpaVote) within the allotted time specified with the ballot which shall be at least one week.

   2. Upon missing a meeting, a Voting Participant shall be notified that missing either of the next two meetings will constitute being functionally inactive and will cause them to be downgraded to Non-voting Participant and will be placed on Probation.   This shall occur automatically when the second meeting is missed.

   3. Upon failing to vote a second consecutive time, a Voting Participant shall be notified that they have been downgraded to a Non-voting Participant in that Technical Committee and that they have been placed on Probation.

   4. Probation lasts until the (now) Non-voting Participant attends two (2) consecutive meetings of the Technical Committee in which they were downgraded. It is up to the Non-voting Participant to opt-in to be a Voting Participant if they wish to vote in that Technical Committee.

1. General
   The primary duty of a Task Group is the development and maintenance of RISC-V International Specifications and Standards.
   Specifications shall be developed based on a project approach as described below.

2. Project stages and required approvals.
   Table 1 shows the sequence of project stages through which the technical work is developed and gives the name of the document associated with each project stage. The Planning Stage begins at inception. All subsequent stages begin at the completion of the prior stage.

3. Project description and acceptance

   A project is any work intended to lead to the issue of a new, amended, or revised RISC-V Specification.

   A project shall be undertaken only if a proposal has been accepted in accordance with the relevant procedures.

4. Program of work

   1. The program of work of a Task Group comprises all projects allocated to that Task Group by its Technical Committee or the TSC, including the maintenance of published documents.

   2. Projects shall be within the agreed scope of the Task Group.

   3. The agreed program of work of a new technical committee shall have been approved by the TSC  in order to take effect.

5. Target dates and extensions

   
   Technical Committees shall establish, for the completion of each of the above listed milestones.

   These target dates shall correspond to the shortest reasonably possible development times to produce Specifications rapidly and shall be reported to the Office of the CEO, which distributes the information to all RISC-V Members.

   All target dates shall be kept under continuous review and amended as necessary and shall be clearly indicated in the program of work. Revised target dates shall be notified to the TSC. The TSC will cancel all work items which have been on the work program for more than two (2) years and have not reached the approval stage.

   An extension of up to one (1) year on target dates can be approved by the TSC, after approval by the appropriate Governing Committee.

Proposers of a Fast Track Extension may provide their own approval to complete a project stage where a Task Group would normally be called on to provide such approval.

Since Task Groups are the type of Technical Committee that are responsible for delivering Specifications, they shall be managed as projects, with the Committee Chair acting as the project leader. The Task Group chair may delegate all or some of the project management responsibilities to the Vice Chair for as long as the Vice Chair is willing and able to take these on. The project management includes, amongst other things, monitoring the Task Group’s progress against the agreed target dates.

If target dates are not met, and there is insufficient support for the work, the Chair shall inform the TSC to help find a solution.

1. All meetings of a RISC-V Technical Committee are only open to Voting Participants and Non-Voting Participants of that Committee.

2. Committee Chairs, or in their absence, Vice-Chairs are responsible for conducting meetings under Roberts Rules including procedures for documenting outcomes and information received in the meeting. 

3. Agendas and supporting documents should be distributed at least 3 days prior to the designated meeting time to be included in meeting discussion and to conduct effective meetings and encourage thorough preparation and discussion. 

4. A Committee Chair may call for a Meeting by Correspondence by specifying the starting and end dates of the meeting, the agenda, the intended end product of the meeting, and the means (with all necessary links) to be used for interactions within the committee.

   Within one week after the end of the meeting, the Technical Committee Chair shall compile a permanent record of all the discussions, proposals, Contributions, shared documents, and any other material from the meeting. All links to the permanent record shall be placed in the Technical Committee’s confluence page (https://lf-riscv.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces) in an appropriate and clearly marked section.

5. A Meeting by Correspondence is not treated as a meeting for purposes of tracking attendance; there are no participation requirements.

6. RISC-V supports open, constructive conversation that includes all Members with respect and makes accommodations for Members means of communication. Discussion and agreement and disagreement is part of an effective process.  Accordingly, technical activities are subject to the RISC-V Community Code of Conduct. 

7. Minutes are to be distributed with any presented materials in their final form to all Participating Members and Observing Members within 3 days after the meeting. 

8. All Approval votes will be conducted through OpaVote or other approved online means that all Members have access to. 

9. Other matters that require votes (agenda approval, etc.) under Roberts Rules can be done by voice or through chat/texting provided by the communication platform used for the meeting. 

10. Consensus is the goal of building specifications. This involves a technical agreement that a solution described is one way to solve the problem for which the solution was created. Technical Committees are encouraged to formulate metrics early in the process by which the quality of a solution might be evaluated such that alternatives might be viewed. Consensus should be reflected in documents completed by a rigorous process and approved. Dissent should also be captured and included for subjects in which agreement is not universal. 

    1. The process of coming to consensus includes collaborating in an effort to address the reasonable concerns of all interested parties. Ideally, this would mean that most are in favor of the proposal, and no one is strongly opposed.

11. Technical Committee Meetings shall be convened only to develop, discuss, and approve Technical Committee drafts or to discuss sufficiently substantial matters—that cannot be settled by any other means—to warrant a meeting.

12. The Chair of a Technical Committee may appoint an Ad Hoc Committee to complete a single specific task. When its task is completed, the Ad Hoc Committee provides its final suggestions to the forming Technical Committee and then is dissolved.

     

A Participant in a Technical Committee should try to resolve concerns or issues in consultation with the leadership (Chair and/or Vice Chair) of the Technical Committee. If leadership of the Technical Committee fails to respond within fourteen (14) days, or if the Participant believes that a determination made by leadership is not in compliance with RISC-V policies, they may so inform the Chair of the Governing Committee of that Technical Committee, and may copy each of the Chairs referred to in this appeals process with a concise description of their concern.

The Chair of the Governing Committee, or their designee(s), shall review any relevant records of the Technical Committee and shall allow any interested individual to respond to any contentions of the complainant, following which a written determination shall be made and communicated to the complainant, leadership of the Technical Committee, and each of the bodies referred to in this appeals procedure.

If the Governing Committee fails to respond to the complainant within fourteen (14) days, or if the complainant believes that the process followed by the Governing Committee or its determination are not in compliance with RISC-V policies, they may so inform the Chair of the Technical Steering Committee, and may additionally communicate their concern to the Chair of the Board of Directors on behalf of the Board of Directors.

The Chair of the Technical Steering Committee, or their designee(s), will review the determination or process, as appropriate, solely for purposes of determining whether the conduct in question was in compliance with RISC-V policies and make a determination within fourteen (14) days, and communicate the same to the complainant and each of the Chairs referred to in this appeals procedure. If a determination is not made, the complainant may so inform the Chair of the Board of Directors who may consider what further action, if any, is appropriate, within a further thirty (30) days.

All Definitions from RISC-V International Internal Regulations are incorporated herein by reference. 

1. “Contribution” means the written or oral or graphical submission of any technical information, concepts, designs or improvements, recommendations, comments or other materials by a Member to any Working Group for proposed inclusion in a Specification, Software, or other Work Product, including but not limited to any submission made (a) by email or text or posting on any website or server or other electronic transmission or (b) during a Working Group meeting, where such submission has been recorded in the minutes of such meeting, and where the maker of the contribution has been identified in such minutes and not objected to such text as being inaccurate after the minutes have been posted for review by all Working Group participants within 30 days.

2. "Draft Specification" means all versions of a document designated as a Draft Specification by a Task Group, including all Contributions thereto. 

3. “Final Specification” means (a) an Original Specification or (b) a specification that has been adopted and approved by the TSC and ratified by the Board of Directors. 

4. “Specification” means any Draft Specification or Final Specification

5. “Governing Committee” means a Technical Committee that oversees a TG or a SIG. Each TG or SIG has only one Governing Committee which is either the TSC, or an IC or Horizontal Committee assigned by the TSC.

6. “Committee Meeting” means a scheduled meeting of a Technical Committee. Technical Committees and Project Groups use electronic means, whether this is correspondence (e-mail), collaboration platforms, or teleconferencing as their primary method of collaboration.

7. “Ad Hoc Committee” means a subcommittee temporarily created by a Technical Committee to address a single specific task. This task could be, for example, to deliberate on a specific issue, draft a portion of a Specification, or perform research.

8. “Member” means a legal entity that is a Premiere Member, Strategic Member or an Organizational Community Member or an individual that is an Individual Community Member. Except for Individual Community Members, the use of the term Member always refers to the entity and not, for example, employees of the Member.

9. "Member Affiliate" means any person who is employed by a Member, or any entity that directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls the Member, is controlled by the Member or is under common control with the Member, for so long as such person or entity remains a Member Affiliate of the Member. For purposes of this definition, "control" as to an entity means possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of such entity whether through the ability to exercise voting ,power, by contract or otherwise.

10. “Member Representative” means a person who is either an Individual Community Member or is an authorized representative of a Member that is an organization or other entity. A Member Representative may only represent one Member.

11. “Voting Participant” is a Member participant in a Technical Committee that has opted in to have voting rights and responsibilities in that Technical Committee. It is the Member (which may be an entity) that is the Voting Participant, not the Member Representative.

12. “Non-Voting Participant” is a Member participant in a Technical Committee that has opted in to participate in the Technical Committee without the rights of voting or obligations of voting or attendance. It is the Member (which may be an entity) that is the Non-voting Participant, not the Member Representative. 

13. “Probation” is a period during which a Member’s voting rights are suspended in a specific Technical Committee due to inactivity or failure to vote.

14. “Meeting by Correspondence” means a virtual meeting conducted over a fixed and planned period but executed asynchronously with interactions between participants through emails, chats, and posted documents.

A business strategy-oriented committee, like the Certification Steering Committee, is not a technical committee under this definition and does not fall under the TSC jurisdiction. Technical Committees in support of the CSC fall under the jurisdiction of the TSC.

Prior technical committee policies and procedures were scattered in 26 individual documents on Google Drive:

Open

Open

3 documents were considered key 

• Groups & Chairs 

• Acceptance Criteria 

• Ratification

The following legacy documents are not part of policies and procedures but technical development details, therefore, moved to its dedicated folder.  Any conflicts due to legacy text shall give deference to this document.

• Acceptance Criteria Policy 

• ACT Requirements for Privileged Specification 

• Architectural Compatibility Test 

• Encumbered Information 

• Friendly Terminology 

• GitHub Repo Structure & Administration 

• GNU Tool Chain Sign-Off Criteria 

• ISA and Non-ISA 

• Non-ISA Definition of Done 

• Sail Requirements for Privileged Specification 

The following legacy documents describe specific aspects of RISC-V technical development directions, therefore, also moved to its own dedicated folder. Any conflicts due to legacy text shall give deference to this document.

• Architecture Review

• Fast Track Process

• Platforms Policy 

• Profiles 

• RISC-V Labs 

The absorbed / removed / phased out legacy documents include the following.

• CCM Guest Policy

• Chairs Best Practices 

• Contributor 

• Development Partner 

• Groups & Chairs 

• Joint Working Groups with External Organizations 

• policy

• Question Response 

• Ratification Policy 

• Rationale 

• Technical Voting

Below table shows key differences between legacy and latest policies and procedures. ISO baseline audit requires membership control, transparent decision making, clear processes and auditability as primary requirements.