Below is a revised statement,
based on suggestions made during our conference call this afternoon.
Please provide comments and suggestions no later than close of business
May 13, 2003. I
propose that when we get this statement in a form acceptable to the Technical
Committee, we provide it to the Legal XML Member Section Steering Committee
and to the co-chairs of the COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee for their
comments before publishing it.
Implementation Policy
Statement
The specifications developed by
this Technical Committee, and approved as “proposed standards” by the
COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee, have not yet been recommended for
approval as “recommended standards” by COSCA and NACM or OASIS because they
are still undergoing interoperability testing. The Technical Committee
expects that implementers will make significant modifications and extensions
to these specifications as they test them in specific operational
settings.
A number of courts have included
in their procurement documents requirements that an electronic filing
application “comply” with the technical specifications approved by this
Technical Committee or by the COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee.
Application vendors do not know how to respond to such
requirements.
The Technical Committee hereby
authorizes application providers to represent that their products “follow” one
of more of this Technical Committee’s specifications if all of the following
statements are true:
1)
the application in question uses
XML substantially in accordance with the structure and content of the
Electronic Court Filing 1.O, Electronic Court Filing 1.1, Court Document 1.1,
or Query & Response specification; and
2) all
extensions are made in the manner called for by the specification;
and
3)
the application provider has provided to the OASIS Legal XML
Member Section Electronic Court Filing Technical Committee an “implementation
report” describing all modifications and extensions to the TC’s proposed
specification, together with a narrative statement of the reasons for making
those modifications and extensions.
The OASIS Legal XML Member Section
Electronic Court Filing Technical Committee will publish all “implementation
reports” along with the proposed specifications on the OASIS website for the
benefit of all users of these specifications and for the purpose of furthering
our own understanding of the operational requirements for future versions of
the specifications.
An application provider’s
assertion should be in the form, “[company or court] asserts that [name of
product] follows the OASIS Legal XML Member Section Electronic Court Filing
Technical Committee [name of specification] as defined in the Technical
Committee’s “Implementation Policy Statement” of [date], subject to the
limitations set forth in that policy statement.”
Courts and other entities using
products about which such assertions are made should
understand:
-
that the OASIS Legal XML Member
Section Electronic Court Filing Technical Committee specifications have been
approved as “proposed standards” for the purpose of comment and experimental
implementation; their efficacy has not yet been demonstrated through complete
interoperability testing; they will undoubtedly be refined and expanded beyond
their current content before they are suitable for “recommended standard”
status;
-
that the assertion that an
application “follows” a Technical Committee specification is a statement by an
application provider; such statements are not reviewed or verified by OASIS,
the Legal XML Member Section, or its Electronic Court Filing Technical
Committee; none of the foregoing make any representations concerning the
accuracy of such assertions, nor any representations that implementations that
in fact “follow” the current specifications will successfully
interoperate;
-
that the assertion that an
application vendor has provided an “implementation report” to the Electronic
Court Filing Technical Committee can be verified by anyone to whom the
assertion is made by searching for the report on the OASIS website;
and
-
that “implementation reports”
filed by application providers also represent assertions by the providers;
neither OASIS, the Legal XML Member Section, nor its Electronic Court Filing
Technical Committee independently verify that the modifications and extensions
reported are in fact contained in the application or that they are the only
modifications or extensions contained in it.
John M.
Greacen
Greacen Associates,
LLC
HCR 78,
Box 23
Regina,
New Mexico
87046
505-289-2164
505-780-1450
(cell)