Help Develop Consensus Industry Standards on Automation
Thank you for your interest in ISA standards committee participation. The primary expectation for participation is knowledge of the area covered and a willingness to contribute your time and expertise. Many of our committees do a considerable amount of their work online.
View a List of ISA Standards Committees
ISA standards committees have two types of membership status:
- Voting Members are encouraged to attend as many meetings as possible and are responsible for voting on standards and administrative actions, and commenting on draft standards. However, you may still be an active voting member, even if you are unable to attend meetings, by contacting the committee chairperson and by consistently corresponding with the committee via electronic communications.
- Information Members receive committee mailings, may attend committee meetings, and may submit draft comments or other information when requested by the committee, but have no vote.
An individual's membership status is determined by the committee chair based on the need to have a balance in voting membership between users and supplier, and distributed fairly across many companies.
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ISA membership is not a requirement for participation in standards committees. ISA is an ANSI-accredited standards developer; per ANSI and ISA requirements, participation on ISA standards committees "shall be open to all parties who are directly and materially interested in the activity in question."
If you would like to apply to be a member of a standard committee, please read the requirements for participating (brief but essential information) listed below, then complete the following application form. If you have any questions or concerns about the participation requirements, please contact us at standards@isa.org.
Standards Committee Participation Requirements
Click here to read the requirements for participating.
Requirements for Participating on ISA Standards Committees
Participation in ISA standards committees is open to automation professionals from any country who agree with and abide by the following:
- To follow the ISA Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy.
- To understand that you serve on an ISA standards committee strictly as an individual expert, not as a company or organizational representative.
- To never represent yourself in discussions, presentations, articles, or other communications such as speaking for or on behalf of ISA or of a specific ISA standards committee or project without prior approval by the ISA's staff Director of Standards.
- To focus strictly on the technical content of standards, with no discussion or consideration of commercial/business issues in standards committee meetings or at any other time within the context of ISA standards development. This includes pricing of components or systems, sales information, market shares, warranties and guarantees.
- To recognize and understand that ISA asserts ownership of all rights of copyright to its standards, including drafts, technical reports, recommended practices and the completed, adopted standards for the convenience and benefit of all concerned.
Specifically, ISA standards committee members:
- Must respect the intellectual property rights of others and must not knowingly provide or insert any copyrighted works into any committee materials for which the member has not received permission as necessary for use with the standard.
- Must not disclose any proprietary or confidential information in the course of ISA standards committee participation without authorization.
- Must agree to irrevocably transfer to ISA all right, title, and interest in and to any standard or other material developed under the auspices of ISA, including copyright, that such participant might otherwise acquire by law.
Voting and Nonvoting Members
ISA main committees include voting and nonvoting (also called information) members. The voting membership of the main committees must be balanced across interest categories that include users, suppliers, integrators, consultants, government/regulators and test/certification providers. This balance is intended to allow fair and open input from all categories without domination by any one category.
Voting members must meet active participation requirements (such as submitting content to documents) as defined by the main committees to qualify for and maintain their voting status. There may be no more than one voting member employed by the same company or organization.
New members to ISA standards committees typically join as information (nonvoting) members. Information members are observers who may submit review comments on documents and participate directly in committee work, including writing documents and leading working groups. They may apply for voting status if they can meet a committee-defined level of participation. Working groups under a main committee may conduct informal votes on documents or other matters, but do not have official voting and nonvoting members.