Article 6 | Stakeholder Identification and Review Framework

(1)   This Article establishes the operational framework for identifying, classifying, and engaging stakeholders across all standardization activities under OpenBharat.net.

(2)   Stakeholder categories shall be identified based on their relevance to the technical, commercial, legal, or ethical imperatives associated with the standard type as outlined in Schedule 1 of this Charter.

(3)   The following categories are recognised for stakeholder classification:

(a)   Primary Stakeholders include recognized as eligible to become Alliance Members of the Indian Society of Artificial Intelligence and Law / OpenBharat.net, along with accredited Academic Members assigned to the respective OWG.

(b)   Secondary Stakeholders may include but not limit to external domain entities, including but not limited to end-users, business end-users, academic institutions, research organizations, industry associations, civil society organizations, independent developers, and technical experts.

(c)   Categories may be adapted pursuant to paragraph (2) on the grounds of standard type as categorized in Schedule 1, industry requirements, technical complexity, and the defined scope of implementation.

(4)   Advisory Input & Recommendations:

• The ISAIL Academic Council and the Global Advisory Council may recommend sector-specific stakeholders, suggest agenda items, and propose targeted outreach strategies for specific OWG tracks.

• The OBGC shall review and evaluate such advisory recommendations at its discretion.

(5)   Direct Governance Review: The OBGC shall periodically review and adapt the stakeholder framework on its own motion, or upon formally agreeing with recommendations submitted by the Global Advisory Council, ensuring alignment with dynamic industry shifts, sovereign compute priorities, and standard categories defined under Schedule 1.

(6)   Voluntary Contribution & Open-Source Licensing: 

1. Stakeholder participation within an OWG operates on an open, collaborative, and non-compensatory basis.

2. All specifications, codebase deliverables, benchmark suites, documentation, and technical deliverables generated by an OWG shall vest in and be the sole intellectual property of the Indian Society of Artificial Intelligence and Law (ISAIL), administered for the benefit of the OpenBharat.net initiative. 

1. In the event of any corporate restructuring, incorporation of an autonomous operational entity, statutory reorganization, assignment, or spin-off of OpenBharat.net into an independent foundation, Section 8 company, or succeeding juristic entity, ISAIL shall retain the authority to assign, license, or devolve such intellectual property rights to that successor entity or legal assign, ensuring unbroken continuity of title and institutional governance. Moral rights remain vested in the individual authors as recognized under Article 6a of the ISAIL Charter.

3. Determination of Open-Source License: Each OWG shall deliberate and formally select an appropriate open-source or open-standard license best suited to the operational context of its deliverable, drawn from recognized industry paradigms:

4. Permissive Software/Code Licenses (e.g., Apache 2.0, MIT) for interoperability stacks, developer tooling, and API wrappers;

5. Strong or Weak Copyleft Licenses (e.g., GNU GPLv3, AGPLv3, MPL 2.0) for foundational models, sovereign core architectures, and diffusion pipelines requiring derived reciprocity;

6. Open Documentation and Knowledge Commons Licenses (e.g., Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 or CC-BY-SA 4.0) for standard documentation, policy frameworks, and guidelines;

7. Responsible/Open Model Licenses (e.g., OpenRAIL derivatives) for foundational weights and downstream safety guardrails.

4. Narrow Modification Prerogative of the OBGC: The OBGC retains the strictly delineated authority to modify or override an OWG's proposed licensing selection only where necessary for:

5. Structural defense and preservation of OpenBharat.net's sovereign intellectual commons against patent assertion, proprietary enclosure, or hostile commercial capture;

6. Resolution of licensing incompatibilities with upstream dependency ecosystems or partner open-source consortia; or

7. Direct compliance with statutory, security, or mandatory Indian sovereign procurement and public standard mandates.

(7)   Identification and Sourcing Channels: Stakeholder identification shall proceed through structured outreach mechanisms, including:

• Industry consultations and bilateral roundtables;

• Open public expressions of interest and developer calls;

• Targeted outreach to underrepresented domestic research labs and MSMEs; and

• Direct nomination by Convenors or accredited members of the ISAIL Academic Council and Global Advisory Council.

(8)   Initiation of Engagement: Stakeholders may be integrated into an OWG at any milestone across the standardisation lifecycle outlined in Article 5 through:

• Formal submission and processing of an Expression of Interest (EOI);

• Recommendation and sponsorship by an active OWG Convenor; or

• Direct invitation by the OBGC or the Secretariat.

 (9)   Onboarding Evaluation and Admission Criteria: Admission of secondary stakeholders and domain observers to an active OWG shall be evaluated based on:

• Technical relevance and verifiable domain competence in relation to the track’s designated Schedule 1 category;

• Demonstrated commitment to open-source collaboration and non-obstruction of the standardisation timeline; and

• Alignment with balanced representation goals to prevent anti-competitive capture by specific corporate or commercial interests.

(10)  Capacity Management and Working Track Scalability: Where an OWG receives candidate applications exceeding its operational capacity, the Secretariat, upon direction from the OBGC, may:

• Prioritize critical, underrepresented stakeholder categories (e.g., regional compute operators or open-source contributors);

• Establish an ad-hoc observer pool or waiting registry; or

• Implement phased or sprint-specific integration for specialized review cycles without delaying the core drafting schedule.

(11)  Registry Maintenance and Institutional Documentation: The Secretariat shall systematically record and archive:

• Comprehensive contributor registries and affiliation disclosures;

• Working Group participation histories and consensus voting records; and

• Contributor License Agreements (CLAs) and conflict-of-interest declarations filed pursuant to Article 4 of the ISAIL Charter.