Anyone interested in creating a policy working group MUST obtain the advice and consent of the PAB and MUST proceed through the formal steps detailed in this section.

Some of the work of managing the formation of working groups is via the Working Group Sub-Committee (WGSC) of the PAB.

Criteria for formation
When determining whether it is appropriate to create a working group, the PAB will consider several issues:

• Are the issues that the working group plans to address clear and relevant to the stakeholder community?
• Are the goals specific and reasonably achievable, and achievable within a reasonable time frame?
• Is there sufficient interest within the stakeholder community in the working group's topic with enough people willing to expend the effort to produce the desired result?
• Is there enough expertise within the stakeholder community in  the working group's topic, and are those people interested in contributing in the working group?
• Do the working group's goals overlap with known work in another body, and if so is adequate liaison in place?

Considering the above criteria, the PAB, using their best judgement, will decide whether to pursue the formation of the group through the chartering process.

Charter
The formation of a working group requires a charter which is primarily negotiated between a prospective working group Chair and the PAB via the WGSC. Final approval is made by the PAB, though interim approval may be given by the WGSC.  Prospective charters for working groups whose chairs seek their approval MUST be presented to the PAB as a PAB paper. A charter is a contract between a working group and the PAB to perform a set of tasks.  A charter:

1. Lists relevant administrative information for the working group;
2. Specifies the direction or objectives of the working group and describes the approach that will be taken to achieve the goals;
3. Enumerates a set of milestones together with time frames for their completion.

When the prospective Chair(s) and the PAB are satisfied with the charter form and content, it becomes the basis for forming a working group.

Charters may be renegotiated periodically to reflect the current status, organization or goals of the working group.

Specifically, each charter consists of the following sections:

Working group name
A working group name should be reasonably descriptive or identifiable.

Chair(s)
The working group may have one or more Chairs to perform the administrative functions of the group. The email address(es) of the Chair(s) shall be included.  Generally, a working group is limited to two chairs.

Mailing list
A policy working group MUST have a general Internet mailing list, with an on-line archive of messages. This will be provided by the PAB secretariat.  Most of the work of a policy working group will be conducted on the mailing list.  The mailing list and archives are to be public.

Description of working group
The focus and intent of the group shall be set forth briefly. By reading this section alone, an individual should be able to decide whether this group is relevant to their own work. This section should give a brief summary of the problem area, basis, goal(s) and approach(es) planned for the working group. 

Goals and milestones
The working group charter MUST establish a timetable for specific work items.  While this may be renegotiated over time, the list of milestones and dates facilitates the  tracking of working group progress and status, and it is indispensable to potential participants identifying the critical moments for input.  Milestones shall consist of deliverables that can be qualified as showing specific achievement. It is helpful to specify milestones for every 3-6 months, so that progress can be gauged easily.  This milestone list is expected to be updated periodically.

Charter review & approval
Proposed working groups often comprise competent participants who are not familiar with the history of Nominet or PAB processes. This can, unfortunately, lead to good working group consensus about a bad policy.  To facilitate working group efforts, the PAB may recommend to the Board the assignment of additional support from Nominet.  At the discretion of the PAB, approval of a new WG may be withheld in the absence of sufficient resources.

Proposals to create a working group SHOULD be submitted to the WGSC in advance of their submission to the PAB, and submission of the proposal to the PAB SHOULD be deferred until the WGSC has produced an opinion.

Proposals to create a working group, together with a charter, MUST be submitted to the PAB as a PAB paper in accordance with the normal PAB procedures. As PAB papers are published prior to a PAB meeting, this provides a public review period of at least a week. At the following PAB meeting the PAB MAY approve the charter as-is, it MAY request that changes be made in the charter (and approve it with those changes), or MAY decline to approve chartering of the working group. In making its decision, the PAB MUST have regard to the opinion of the WGSC.

The WGSC MAY give interim approval to the creation (but not the rechartering) of a Working Group in situations where it feels that

1. The activities of a Working Group would be seriously delayed by waiting for full PAB approval (and in any case by more than 3 weeks);
2. The PAB is unlikely to come to a different opinion on approval from the WGSC and;
3. The working group chair submits the same documents to the WGSC as he/she would have been required to submit to the PAB.

Any WGSC member MAY veto the interim approval of a Working Group. In the absence of any such veto, the WGSC MAY NOT give interim approval any sooner than 10 working days after the submission of the proposal.  Interim approval shall only be effective until the next full meeting of the PAB, where it shall lapse. If the WGSC gives interim approval, the same papers as submitted to the WGSC shall be deemed to have been submitted to the next PAB meeting. Working Groups with interim approval (as opposed to full approval) MUST NOT submit documents for approval by the PAB.

Once the PAB has reviewed the working group charter, the proposed charter is posted to the nom-announce mailing list as a public notice that the formation of the working group is being considered. After a review period lasting at least a week the PAB MAY approve the charter as-is, it MAY request that changes be made in the charter, or MAY decline to approve chartering of the working group.

If the PAB approves the formation of the working group it remands the approved charter to the PAB Secretariat who records and enters the information into the Nominet tracking database.  The working group is announced to the nom-announce list by the PAB Secretariat.  The announcement MUST state whether the approval was full, or interim approval.

Birds of a Feather (BOF)
Often it is not clear whether an issue merits the formation of a working group.  To facilitate exploration of the issues the PAB may commission a Birds of a Feather (BOF) session.  A BOF is a session at a meeting which permits "market research" and technical "brainstorming". 

A BOF description and agenda and nominated chair are required before a BOF can be scheduled.  The Chair of the BOF is responsible for providing a report on the outcome of the BOF. 

In general, a BOF on a particular topic is held only once (ONE slot at one meeting). A call for interest MUST be placed on the Nominet web site to advertise the BOF.  Under unusual circumstances the PAB may, at their discretion, allow a BOF to meet for a second time.

Usually the outcome of a BOF will be one of the following:

• There was enough interest and focus in the subject to warrant the formation of a WG;
• While there was a reasonable level of interest expressed in the BOF some other criteria for working group formation was not met.
• The discussion came to a fruitful conclusion, with results to be written down and published, however there is no need to establish a WG;
• There was not enough interest in the subject to warrant the formation of a WG.