Significant Updates to Regulations Governing SEMI Standards Program Approved

By Hirofumi Kanno, SEMI Japan

November 28, 2012 Edition of the Regulations Now Available

In late November, the International Standards Committee (ISC), the governing body for the SEMI International Standards Program, approved significant changes to the Regulations Governing SEMI Standards Program. These changes include:

1.     Global TC Structure

This major revision of the Regulations has aligned the technical and administrative relationships of regional technical committees to fit the international scope of the SEMI Standards Program and its expansion to related technologies. All regional and local technical committees have become “Chapters” of a global technical committee and have equal standing and responsibilities with regard to their functions in it, regardless of their administrative tie to an Regional Standards Committee (RSC) (See Figure 1). The procedures for formation and disbandment of TC Chapters and global technical committees have also been refined to fit within this structure.

Figure 1 Relationship between Technical/Administrative Tie and Region (e.g., EHS)

2.     Rearrangement of Intellectual Property Section

Section 15 of the Regulations, which covers procedures for handling intellectual property (IP) matters, has been rearranged to follow a chronological order, from approval of activity to discovery after publication. A procedure has been added to deal with the situation where a Letter of Assurance (LOA) is not received from the IP owner in a timely fashion. Clarification and additional guidance on Letters of Intent (LOI) has also been added.

3.     Redefinition of Supplementary Materials

Appendices, which are an official part of the standard to which they are appended, no longer belong to Supplementary Material. The remaining categories of Supplementary Material (i.e., Related Information, Auxiliary Information, and Various Materials) have been redefined and their uses have been clarified.

4.     Other Changes

• Clarification of Voting Interests
• Additional definitions to the Regulations from the Procedure Guide or new definition in the Regulations
• Consistent use of terms such as SEMI Standards Program, Standards Document
• Editorial Clarifications

Additionally, the Procedure Guide (PG), which documents common practices for SEMI Standards Program members, was also revised in December 2012 in accordance with the revision of the Regulations.

Both the Regulations and the Procedure Guide are available on the SEMI Standards website. Direct URLs to access those documents are:

Regulation – November 28, 2012 (PDF file)

Procedure Guide – December 3, 2012 (PDF file)

For more information on recent changes to the Regulations and Procedure Guide, please contact your local SEMI Standards staff.

SEMI, Standards Watch, December 2012