s are informed about the progress made by the Forum and can provide feedback. The IEC has a Council which administers it. It appoints a Com- In June 1989 the OSI/NM Forum formed an alliance with SPAG mittee of Action, consisting of the President of the IEC and twelve and COS to set up an Executive Council, which reviews the work members nominated by the national committees, who regulate all of each organisation, establishing joint policies regarding network the technical work of the IEC. management. The alliance has produced test tools for conformance The IEC develops standards through Technical Committees, Sub- testing. committees and Working Groups. The council meets annually to ratify standards produced by these Committees and Groups, which are then adopted by the member countries. In the USA the NIST has 22.3.6.2 The International Telecommunications User Group the responsibility for adopting these standards, and this is done in the UK by the British Standards Institute (BSI). The International Telecommunications User Group (INTUG) was As the demarcation between the various areas of technology formed in 1974 to represent the telecommunication user organisa- becomes blurred, it is increasingly important for the various stand- tions from several countries, including the USA, UK, Australia and ards making bodies to work together. To meet this aim the IEC has Japan. It is active in promoting the interests of its members, and European standards 22/15 lobbying associations such as the ITU, CEPT, PTTs, and CCITT. European Council meetings are held twice a year. These form Any person or group can join except PTTs and manufacturers, who summit meetings at which the heads of government from the EC need to be represented as individual members. member countries attend, accompanied by their foreign affairs min- isters. 22.4 European standards 22.4.1.1 DG XIII 22.4.1 The European Community Directorate General XIII (DG XIII) is responsible for Telecom- munications, Information Industry and Innovation. Its aims are to: Table 