Policies & Procedures

How we are governed

These policies and procedures, as well as the formal texts (by laws and intellectual property documents) cover our methodology for doing business:

• Bylaws – The Board of Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium approved the current Bylaws of Open Geospatial Consortium – Revised 16 December 2021. It replaces any and all prior versions of the Bylaws of the Open Geospatial Consortium. Copies of Bylaws versions prior to and including the last revision of 4 April 2019 are available upon request from the Consortium’s Secretary.
• Principles of Conduct – govern personal and public interactions in any OGC activity.
• Consortium Environmental Policy – To provide an effective framework for realizing OGC’s commitment to protecting and where possible, enhancing the environment by reducing the Organization’s environmental impacts, preventing pollution, mitigating and adapting to climate change and a low carbon future.
• Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) – The current OGC IPR Policy as adopted by the Board of Directors.
• OGC Collaborative Solutions and Innovation Program Intellectual Property Rights Rules.

How we are run

These policies and procedures govern the operation of OGC Committees, Subcommittees, and its Programs:

• Technical Committee Policies and Procedures – The OGC Technical Committee uses the Technical Committee Policies and Procedures document in order to carry out its work in Standards Development.
• Technical Committee Policy Directives  – This database captures OGC Policies and Directives related to the proper writing of technical content in an OGC standards document as directed by the Technical and Executive Planning Committees.
• Policies and Procedures for the OGC Naming Authority – The OGC Technical Committee uses the policies of the OGC Naming Authority to govern key resources delivered as part of or in addition to OGC standards. It defines a series of policy requirements for OGC API standards, repositories, definitions, and specification elements.
• Collaborative Solutions and Innovation Program Policies, Processes, and Procedures (COSI P&P) – The OGC Collaborative Solutions and Innovation Program Policies and Procedures describe the various initiative types run by the Collaborative Solutions and Innovation Program and explain the organization of COSI initiative types with respect to a Technology Readiness Level scale.
• Policies and Procedures for the OGC Architecture Board (OAB) – OAB policy to provide the structure and mechanism to review, document, and provide guidance related to the architecture of OGC standards, including life cycle guidance and governance. 
• Policies and Procedures for the Compliance Testing Program (CITE) – Policy that describes the roles and responsibilities, compliance testing procedures, development of test packaging, and policies for developing and releasing the software used for testing.
• Policies and Procedures for Translation of OGC Public Documents

Please make sure you refer to these documents on occasion as they are, by their nature, often revised.