RFC 7691

RFC 7691 📜💖

BCP 101 Update: IAOC Term Dates 🦋

Title block tea: This is RFC 7691, a Best Current Practice (that's BCP 101, the IETF's official "how we do this" doc). It came out in November 2015 and was written by S. Bradner, Ed. from Harvard University. It updates RFC 4071 and it doesn't obsolete anything. ISSN 2070-1721 is also on the cover, and that's the whole vibe 📚✨

---

Abstract 🌸

okay so BCP 101 sets the start and end dates for IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) terms, and it's giving impractical 😭 this memo updates BCP 101 so the IAOC can set more practical start and end dates for its members' terms 🫶

Status of This Memo 🧚

This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.

It's a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), it represents the consensus of the IETF community, it got public review, and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) approved it for publication. More info on BCPs is in Section 2 of RFC 5741 📖

Current status, errata, and how to send feedback live at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7691.

Copyright Notice 🎀

Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. ✨

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) as they stood on the publication date. Please read these carefully, because they spell out your rights and restrictions for this doc 💅 Code Components pulled out of this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions, and they come without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License 🍓

Table of Contents 🗂️

1. Background ..................................................... 2
2. Updates to BCP 101 ............................................. 3
3. Security Considerations ........................................ 3
4. Normative References ........................................... 3
Editor's Address .................................................. 4

---

1. Background 💭

Okay, so Section 4 of RFC 4071 [BCP101] says "IAOC terms normally end at the end of the first IETF meeting of a year." 🗓️ Having the IAOC terms expire at the end of that first meeting of the year has been impractical for the IAOC to get its work done and elect its Chair during meeting week 😩 For years the IAOC has been improvising: it defaults to an informal setup where the handover happens during the administrative plenary (the same thing the IESG does). Lowkey, this arrangement violates the letter of BCP 101 🙈 It's also messy if the handover happens after the IAOC's face-to-face meeting that week. The IAOC usually meets the morning of the administrative plenary, so the incoming IAOC members are there, but they aren't seated yet 🥺

When the new members take office after that face-to-face meeting, the chair selection and voting get tangled 🌀 People get confused about who should vote in the chair election and on any business that needs a vote of the Trustees. If the incoming members aren't seated, they should not vote. But to pick next year's chair, they arguably have more of a say than the outgoing members do 🤷‍♀️ There's also confusion about who can be elected chair. If an IAOC member's term hasn't started yet, could they be elected, since the chair is picked from among the members? 👀 And if the terms expire at the end of the week, the IAOC could fail to reach quorum if outgoing members decide not to show up to the meeting 📉 Since the IAOC members are also the Trustees of the IETF Trust, the same problems hit the Trust too, when it tries to do its business and elect a Chair during meeting week 💀

There's one more problem with BCP 101: how it defines the length of the IAOC Chair's term. RFC 4071 [BCP101] says "The term of the IAOC chair shall be one year from the time of selection or the remaining time of his or her tenure on the IAOC, whichever is less." 📝 The first IETF meeting of the year moves around from year to year, so the current text could leave the IAOC with no chair for weeks before a meeting, or with overlapping Chair terms 😵‍💫

2. Updates to BCP 101 🦋

This memo updates Section 4 of RFC 4071 [BCP101] to delete this sentence:

IAOC terms normally end at the end of the first IETF meeting of a year.

It also adds these requirements:

1. The IAOC and the IETF Trust each hold a regular meeting close to the time of, or during, the first IETF meeting of the year. 🗓️
2. The IAOC and the Trust select their chairs as the first order of business in their individual meetings, in a manner of their choosing. 👑
3. The IAOC determines the beginning and end of the normal terms of its members relative to the above-mentioned IAOC meeting. Such terms must start and end close to the time of this meeting, unless those determinations are made by the appointing bodies. 💅

A regular meeting has proper notice and posted minutes, and it may be held face-to-face, via teleconference, or as a combination of the two 🎀

3. Security Considerations 🔐

This memo is about IETF process, not any particular technology, so it does not impact the security of the Internet. Phew 🥰

4. Normative References 📚

[BCP101] Austein, R., Ed., and B. Wijnen, Ed., "Structure of the IETF
         Administrative Support Activity (IASA)", BCP 101, RFC 4071,
         April 2005.

         Carpenter, B., Ed., and L. Lynch, Ed., "BCP 101 Update for
         IPR Trust", BCP 101, RFC 4371, January 2006.

         <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/bcp101>

Editor's Address 💌

Scott Bradner Harvard University 8 Story St. Cambridge MA, 02138 United States

Phone: +1 617 495 3864 Email: sob@harvard.edu

That's the whole tea, bestie 🌈💖🧚