Editing ITU-T (section)

=== Alternative Approval Process ===
The Alternative Approval Process (AAP) is a fast-track approval procedure that was developed to allow standards to be brought to market in the timeframe that industry now demands. The AAP is defined in ITU-T Recommendation A.8.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-A.8 |title=A.8: Alternative approval process for new and revised ITU-T Recommendations |website=ITU |date=August 2010 |access-date=2021-11-19}}</ref>

This dramatic overhaul of standards-making by streamlining approval procedures was implemented in 2001 and is estimated to have cut the time involved in this critical aspect of the standardization process by 80 to 90 percent. This means that an average standard that took around four years to approve and publish until the mid nineties, and two years until 1997, can now be approved in an average of two months, or as little as five weeks.

Besides streamlining the underlying procedures involved in the approval process, an important contributory factor to the use of AAP is electronic document handling. Once the approval process has begun the rest of the process can be completed electronically, in the vast majority of cases, with no further physical meetings.

The introduction of AAP also formalizes public/private partnership in the approval process by providing equal opportunities for both sector members and member states in the approval of technical standards.

A panel of SG experts drafts a proposal that is then forwarded at an SG meeting to the appropriate body which decides if it is sufficiently ready to be designated a draft text and thus gives its consent for further review at the next level.

After this Consent has been given, TSB announces the start of the AAP procedure by posting the draft text to the ITU-T website and calling for comments. This gives the opportunity for all members to review the text. This phase, called ''last call'', is a four-week period in which comments can be submitted by member states and sector members.

If no comments other than editorial corrections are received, the Recommendation is considered approved since no issues were identified that might need any further work. However, if there are any comments, the SG chairman, in consultation with TSB, sets up a comment resolution process by the concerned experts. The revised text is then posted on the web for an ''additional review'' period of three weeks.

Similar to the last call phase, in ''additional review'' the Recommendation is considered as approved if no comments are received. If comments are received, it is apparent that there are some issues that still need more work, and the draft text and all comments are sent to the next Study Group meeting for further discussion and possible approval.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/0A/0F/T0A0F0000090001PDFE.pdf|title=Standards for better Communications – ITU-T Guide for Beginners |pages=28–29|date=March 2005|website=itu.int|access-date=6 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204549/http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/0A/0F/T0A0F0000090001PDFE.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

Those Recommendations considered as having policy or regulatory implications are approved through what is known as the Traditional Approval Process (TAP), which allows a longer period for reflection and commenting by member states. TAP Recommendations are also translated into the six working languages of ITU (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish).<ref>[http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/0A/0F/T0A0F0000090001PDFE.pdf itu.int] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129123232/http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/0A/0F/T0A0F0000090001PDFE.pdf |date=2007-11-29 }}, (s27), [http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/e-flash/022-jan06.html ITU-T e-FLASH – Issue No. 22] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103092145/http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/e-flash/022-jan06.html |date=2007-11-03 }}</ref>