Many organizations in addition to W3C develop standards for the Internet or the Web. In order coordinate the development of the Web, W3C engages in liaisons with numerous organizations after careful consideration of the costs and benefits.

Mission of W3C International Liaisons

W3C is decided to improving W3C's liaisons with international organizations in the areas of politics and standardization and to reinforce W3C's commitment to developing one Web for everyone. The W3C staff provides the leadership to coordinate and to empower W3C Offices. The staff acts as a catalyst and enabler for both the W3C management team and the Offices, with whom it shares best practices and resources.

International Relations focuses on spreading W3C's messages and technologies beyond the Consortium's usual geographical and Web community frontiers. We pursue the vision and plan outlined in the white paper Worldwide Participation in the World Wide Web Consortium with the goal of making it easier for new stakeholders to discover and participate in W3C's work and values.

Contacting W3C to Establish a Liaison

The best way to reach W3C about liaisons and partnerships is to send email to team-liaisons@w3.org which will reach Daniel Dardailler, Rigo Wenning, Thomas Roessler and the other W3C staff members active in the area.

For relationships between W3C and government driven organizations like ISO, ITU, EU normalization (ETSI, CEN), UN efforts like IGF/WSISs, national bodies (ANSI, AFNOR, etc.), and for political liaison activities with other Internet organizations like IETF, ICANN, ISOC, etc., please cc Daniel Dardailler in any case.

If you prefer private communication, please contact Daniel Dardailler.

About the Liaison Table

Each entry in the following table of partnerships (active or not) includes:

• the name of the organization, linked to its homepage. In addition, formal agreements are listed here.
• the W3C activities or technologies affected by the liaison
• one or several contact names within W3C
• zero or more liaison contact names, included with permission of the liaison contacts. If this information becomes outdated please alert the W3C contact.

For more information about a particular liaison, please refer to the contact page for the listed individual(s).

Considerations When Establishing a Liaison

Liaisons take a variety of forms, ranging from participation by an individual in a group, to membership agreements, to formal agreements through Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or other contracts. While W3C supports liaisons with other groups, the organization and development of these liaisons (formal or informal) requires time and resources. W3C's decision to pursue a liaison with a Partner is ultimately based on the perceived costs and benefits to W3C. Important considerations include:

• Will both organizations make available to each other all information pertinent to the joint effort?
• Will both organizations ensure public distribution of intermediate and final versions of technical reports?
• Will both organizations publish specifications and results using open standards (e.g., XHTML, SVG, PNG, Unicode)? W3C archives its work and so requires that formats used be established standards that are well-documented and usable without the purchase of proprietary software. Such formats are more likely to be interpretable by posterity.
• Will both organizations respect the confidentiality of sensitive information? Willingness by both parties to protect such information fosters trust and may allow Working Groups to get work done more quickly. However, those involved should not lose sight of the ultimate goal of open and public specifications.
• Will both organizations disclose any patent, copyright, and other IPR claims related to the joint effort? What happens when the Partner does not share the same IPR policies as W3C? When it's more strict or more loose? Is disclosure the minimum? How will the organization address patents as part of filling out the charter?
• Will both organizations coordinate all public statements and press releases related to the joint effort?
• Will both organizations encourage peer review at appropriate/documented milestones so as to ensure compatibility? Agree to negotiate changes deemed necessary by reviewers? Agree to solicit and respond to comments made during periods of public review?
• Will both organizations reach decisions by consensus and document objections when consensus is not possible?
• Will Members of both organizations commit to representing the parent organizations in work related to the joint effort?
• What copyright and distribution policies will govern deliverables? Will the publications be available according to the W3C Document License? Will software be available according to the W3C Software Notice and License?

W3C may choose not to pursue a liaison with an organization that has selective or arbitrary membership policies that serve only to benefit pre-existing or dominant members.

Per the W3C Process Document, all liaisons must be coordinated by the Team due to requirements for public communication; patent, copyright, and other IPR policies; confidentiality agreements; and mutual membership agreements.