    Network Working Group                        Internet Architecture Board
    Request for Comments: 2850                          B. Carpenter, Editor
    Obsoletes: 1601                                                 May 2000
    BCP: 39
    Category: Best Current Practice

                Charter of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)

    Status of this Memo

       This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
       Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
       improvements.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

    Copyright Notice

       Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

    Abstract

       This memo documents the composition, selection, roles, and
       organization of the Internet Architecture Board. It replaces RFC
       1601.

    Table of Contents:

       1. IAB Membership...............................................2
       1.1  Selection of full IAB members..............................2
       1.2 Ex-Officio and Liaison members..............................2
       2.  The Role of the IAB.........................................3
       2.1 Architectural oversight in more detail......................4
       3. IAB Organization.............................................5
       3.1 IAB chair...................................................5
       3.2 Executive Director..........................................5
       3.3 Selection of the IRTF chair.................................5
       3.4 Liaisons within the IETF....................................5
       3.5 Decision taking.............................................6
       3.6 Openness and confidentiality................................6
       Security Considerations.........................................6
       Summary of Changes from RFC 1601................................6
       References......................................................7
       Author's Address................................................7
       Full Copyright Statement........................................8

    IAB                      Best Current Practice                  [Page 1]

    RFC 2850                      IAB Charter                       May 2000

    1. IAB Membership

       The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) shall consist of thirteen full
       members, composed of the chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force
       (IETF), and of twelve sitting members.  The IETF chair, who is also
       the chair of the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), may
       participate in all official IAB actions except the approval of IESG
       members and appeals against IESG decisions. Ex-officio and liaison
       members of the IAB may also attend IAB meetings but shall not
       participate in determination of official actions.

       Members of the IAB shall serve as individuals, and not as
       representatives of any company, agency, or other organization.
       Members of the IAB shall owe no fiduciary duty of loyalty or care to
       IAB, IETF, IRTF or IESG.

    1.1  Selection of full IAB members

       Full IAB members, including the IETF chair, are selected and
       appointed according to the procedures defined in [BCP 10] . Normally,
       six sitting members are appointed each year to sit for two years, and
       the IETF chair is appointed every two years.

       There is no limit to the number of terms that a member of the IAB may
       serve, subject to the process defined by [BCP 10].

       Mid-term vacancies are filled as defined in [BCP 10] and do not
       affect the IAB's power to take decisions.

    1.2 Ex-Officio and Liaison members

       Ex-officio and liaison members of the IAB have no standing to
       participate in IAB decisions but are expected to participate in IAB
       discussions as appropriate to their roles.  However, an ex-officio
       position may be held by a full member, who does not thereby lose his
       or her standing to participate in IAB decisions.

       The chair of the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) is an ex-officio
       member of the IAB. The IAB has an Executive Director who is an ex-
       officio member of the IAB.

       The Internet Society, the RFC Editor, the IANA and the IESG each
       appoints a liaison member to the IAB. These liaison positions may not
       be held by a full member of the IAB.

       Vacancies in the liaison and ex officio positions do not affect the
       IAB's power to take decisions.

    IAB                      Best Current Practice                  [Page 2]

    RFC 2850                      IAB Charter                       May 2000

    2.  The Role of the IAB

       The IAB is chartered both as a committee of the IETF and as an
       advisory body of the Internet Society.  Its responsibilities include:

       (a) IESG Appointment

       The IETF nominating committee established under [BCP 10] annually
       provides a list of candidates for vacant IESG seats and for the IETF
       Chair if vacant. The IAB reviews the candidates, consenting to some,
       all, or none.

       (b) Architectural Oversight

       The IAB provides oversight of the architecture for the protocols and
       procedures used by the Internet. This point is expanded in Section
       2.1 below.

       (c) Standards Process Oversight and Appeal

       The IAB provides oversight of the process used to create Internet
       Standards [BCP 9].

       The IAB serves as an appeal board for complaints of improper
       execution of the standards process, with powers defined in [BCP 9].

       (d) RFC Series and IANA

       The RFC Editor executes editorial management and publication of the
       IETF "Request for Comment" (RFC) document series, which is the
       permanent document repository of the IETF.  The RFC series
       constitutes the archival publication channel for Internet Standards
       and for other contributions by the Internet research and engineering
       community. RFCs are available free of charge to anyone via the
       Internet. The IAB must approve the appointment of an organization to
       act as RFC Editor and the general policy followed by the RFC Editor.

       The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) administers various
       protocol parameters used by IETF protocols, delegating this
       administration as appropriate. The IAB must approve the appointment
       of an organization to act as IANA on behalf of the IETF. The IANA
       takes technical direction on IETF protocols from the IESG.

       (e) ISOC Liaison

       The IAB acts as a source of advice and guidance to the Board of
       Trustees and Officers of the Internet Society concerning technical,
       architectural, procedural, and (where appropriate) policy matters

    IAB                      Best Current Practice                  [Page 3]

    RFC 2850                      IAB Charter                       May 2000

       pertaining to the Internet and its enabling technologies. If
       necessary the IAB may convene panels of knowledgeable people, hold
       hearings, and otherwise pursue the investigation of specific
       questions or topics presented to it by the Internet Society.

       (f) External Liaison

       The IAB acts as representative of the interests of the IETF and the
       Internet Society in technical liaison relationships with other
       organizations concerned with standards and other technical and
       organizational issues relevant to the world-wide Internet. Liaisons
       are kept as informal as possible and must be of demonstrable value in
       improving the quality of IETF specifications.  Individual members of
       the IETF are appointed as liaisons to other organizations by the IAB
       or IESG as appropriate.

    2.1 Architectural oversight in more detail

       A major role of the IAB is long range planning and coordination
       between different areas of IETF activity.  The IAB, both collectively
       and on an individual basis, is expected to pay attention to important
       long-term issues in the Internet, and to make sure that these issues
       are brought to the attention of the group(s) that are in a position
       to address them.  It is also expected to play a role in assuring that
       the people responsible for evolving the Internet and its technology
       are aware of the essential elements of the Internet architecture.

       IAB members pay special attention to emerging activities in the IETF
       and to "Birds of a Feather" sessions at IETF meetings.  The IAB
       assists the IESG in evaluating such activities and in determining
       whether an IETF or an IRTF group is more appropriate.  When a new
       IETF working group is proposed, the IESG will forward a preliminary
       version of the charter to the IAB for review of architectural
       consistency and integrity.  The IAB shall review these proposed
       charters and give feedback to the IESG as appropriate.

       Pursuant to the architectural oversight function, the IAB sponsors
       and organizes the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) [BCP 8].  The
       IAB reviews proposed IRTF groups.

       The IAB will convene invitational workshops to perform in-depth
       reviews of particular architectural issues.  Such reviews may include
       consideration of relevant IETF and IRTF activities, and of work in
       other organizations, and for this purpose the workshop may invite
       presentations by qualified parties on the design goals and decisions,
       technology choices, and other pertinent aspects of these activities.
       The results of such a review will be a report which may give advice
       to the IETF community and the IESG.

    IAB                      Best Current Practice                  [Page 4]

    RFC 2850                      IAB Charter                       May 2000

       The IAB may organize ad hoc bodies of independent technical experts
       to adjudicate technical disputes.

    3. IAB Organization

    3.1 IAB chair

       The members of the IAB shall select one of its full members to serve
       as the chair of the IAB, with all of the duties and responsibilities
       normally associated with such a position.  The term of the IAB chair
       shall be one year, with no restriction on renewal.  The chair of the
       IAB may be removed at any time by the affirmative vote of two-thirds
       of the members of the IAB, or as a result of his or her departure
       from the IAB.

       The chair of the IAB shall have the authority to manage the
       activities and meetings of the IAB.

    3.2 Executive Director

       The chair of the IAB shall have the authority to appoint an honorary
       Executive Director (ExecD) for a one-year renewable term, and to
       remove him or her. The ExecD shall administer the internal operation
       of the IAB, e.g., organization of meetings and reporting of their
       results.

       The ExecD is an ex-officio member as defined in Section 1.2.

    3.3 Selection of the IRTF chair

       The IAB shall have the authority to appoint the chair of the Internet
       Research Task Force (IRTF) for a two-year renewable term, and to
       remove him or her. The IRTF chair shall be responsible for the
       management and organization of the IRTF according to [BCP 8].

       The IRTF chair is an ex-officio member as defined in Section 1.2.

    3.4 Liaisons within the IETF

       The chair of the IAB and another full IAB member (other than the IETF
       chair), to be selected by the IAB, shall serve as liaisons to the
       IESG. In addition, the IESG will appoint one of its members (other
       than the IETF chair) to serve as a liaison to the IAB.  The IESG
       liaison may attend IAB meetings.

       Vacancies in these liaison seats have no effect on the IAB's or the
       IESG's powers to make decisions.

    IAB                      Best Current Practice                  [Page 5]

    RFC 2850                      IAB Charter                       May 2000

    3.5 Decision taking

       The IAB attempts to reach all decisions unanimously.  If unanimity
       cannot be achieved, the chair may conduct informal polls to determine
       consensus.  The IAB may make decisions and take action if at least
       seven full members concur and there are no more than two dissents.

       The IAB may reach decisions by face to face meeting, teleconference,
       Internet communication, or any combination of the above.

    3.6 Openness and confidentiality

       The IAB publishes minutes of all its meetings on the Internet, and
       conducts an open meeting at every IETF meeting. It publishes all its
       findings as RFCs, Internet Drafts or messages to the IETF mailing
       list. However, discussion of personnel matters and possibly legal and
       financial matters may sometimes be required to be kept confidential,
       and the chair may, with the consent of the full members, exclude
       liaison and ex officio members from such discussions.

       Specifically, the IAB makes use of the second level domain iab.org
       and the URL http://www.iab.org to publish information.

    Security Considerations

       This memo does not raise any known security threats.

    Summary of Changes from RFC 1601

       This document replaces [RFC 1601]. The principal change is the
       removal of material now covered in [BCP 8], [BCP 9] and [BCP 10],
       with many consequent editorial changes.  Additional changes are:

          - description of decision making when unanimity cannot be achieved
          - note on openness and confidentiality
          - addition of liaison seats for the Internet Society and the IANA
          - revised text concerning the IANA and the RFC Editor
          - clarifications following legal review

    IAB                      Best Current Practice                  [Page 6]

    RFC 2850                      IAB Charter                       May 2000

    References

       [RFC 1601]  Huitema, C., "Charter of the Internet Architecture Board
                   (IAB)", RFC 1601, March 1994.

       [BCP 8]     Weinrib, A., and J. Postel, "IRTF Research Group
                   Guidelines and Procedures", BCP 8, RFC 2014, October
                   1996.

       [BCP 9]     Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
                   3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.

       [BCP 10]    Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and
                   Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall
                   Committees", BCP 10, RFC 2282, February 1998.

    Author's Address

       Brian E. Carpenter
       IBM
       c/o iCAIR
       Suite 150
       1890 Maple Avenue
       Evanston IL 60201
       USA

       EMail: brian@icair.org

    IAB                      Best Current Practice                  [Page 7]

    RFC 2850                      IAB Charter                       May 2000

    Full Copyright Statement

       Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

       This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
       others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
       or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
       and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
       kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
       included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
       document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
       the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
       Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
       developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
       copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
       followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
       English.

       The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
       revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

       This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
       "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
       TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
       BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
       HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
       MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

    Acknowledgement

       Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
       Internet Society.

    IAB                      Best Current Practice                  [Page 8]