IEEE Policies

15.8   Testimony Before Government Bodies

1. When issues of interest to the IEEE are considered by government bodies, the concerned IEEE organizational units whose charters encompass the issues are encouraged to develop formal testimony.  When an IEEE Position Paper is available on the issue, this document should form the basis for such testimony. When such a position has not been previously developed, the person(s) preparing the testimony should derive material for the testimony from concerned organizational units within the IEEE as much as possible.  Any existing Organizational Unit Position Statements shall be considered in the preparation of the testimony.  Such testimony should be sponsored by the Committee, Task Force, or Society responsible for the matters covered, if such exists.  The proposed testimony should clearly identify the organizational unit whose position the testimony represents.
   
   
2. For testimony before United States government bodies, the copy must be reviewed and approved by the Chair of the IEEE-USA (or his/her IEEE-USA member designate) and one Delegate/Director member of IEEE-USA, selected on the basis of the relevance of his/her background or current responsibility to the issues being considered. If the testimony involves matters specifically within the purview of MGAB, TAB, PSPB, or Standards, the testimony shall also be subject to review and approval by the Chair of the appropriate Board or, at his/her direction, other members of the Board, whose scopes cover the technical areas involved. In the event the IEEE-USA Chair shall fail to approve a testimony, the said testimony with the Chair's written comments shall be referred to an Ad Hoc Committee, composed of an equal number of volunteers appointed from IEEE-USA OpCom and the management body of the organizational unit preparing that testimony, for a telephone conference, discussion and resolution of the matter in a speedy manner. The IEEE Washington office will keep a record of all testimony, written and oral, that is submitted to United States government bodies.
   
   
3. None of the procedures required in paragraphs A and B above shall be interpreted to be required for the normal private working interactions between TAB bodies and related government groups on purely technical matters or similar interactions between bodies of the Standards Board and related government groups on the development of Standards.
   
   
4. For testimony before government bodies, other than the U.S. Government, the highest ranking volunteer (or his/her designate) for the geographic organizational unit encompassing that government's jurisdiction, along with one other volunteer officer from that geographic organizational unit, should review and approve the testimony.  If the testimony involves a field of technology, then an additional IEEE volunteer, who shall be a designated representative of that field of technology, shall review the testimony for its technical content. Such technical representative shall be designated by the Vice President - Technical Activities.