TAPAC Plenary - 2013 First Meeting

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Thursday, October 31st, 2013, 13:30 - 17:00
Industry Canada
240b - 365 Laurier Ave W, Jean Edmonds Tower (South)
Ottawa, Ontario

1. Opening Remarks and Introductions

  • The TAPAC Chair welcomed everyone at the meeting and commenced a role call.
Attendance List
Name Organization (P)resent
(T)ele(C)onference
Beck, Stuart NEMKO Canada (User) P
Bryans, Bill EFC (Manufacturer) TC
Peter Chau (ISACC Chair) Industry Canada P
Clancy, Lourdes Aliant(Carrier) TC
Dawood , Hazim (TAPAC Secretariat) Industry Canada P
Delaurier, Troy MTS (Carrier) TC
Gagnon, David Bell Canada (Carrier) TC
Hamwi, Kelly Industry Canada P
Ho, Patrick Alacatel-Lucent (Manufacturer) TC
Holmes, Bruce SaskTel (Carrier) TC
Muleba, Jean-Pierre Socatel Network (User) P
Ndirangu, James CRTC P
Nixon, Jason Industry Canada P
Potvin, Denise Bell Canada (Carrier) TC
Rondon, Magdoly Industry Canada P
Slingerland, Greg SCC (User) P
Smith, Tom TJS Technical Services (User) TC
Wagner, Ron SaskTel (Carrier) TC

Attendance legend: P = in-Person; TC = by Teleconference

  • See Annex A for contact information of voting members, official and interested parties.
  • 2. Review/Approval of Proposed Agenda

    • The proposed agenda (TAPAC-2013-10-002) was approved with the reordering of some agenda items as suggested by members, as follows - 5.0 >Topics of Discussion, 6.0> Reports and 7.0 Status of Action Items.

    3. Review/Approval of the Summary Record of Last Meeting (May 16, 2013)

    • The TAPAC Chair reviewed the options with respect to the TAPAC mandate and the (4) options proposed for future direction of CS-03.   No comments/questions were raised. The Summary Record for the May 16, 2013 meeting (TAPAC-2013-05-001) was approved as written. 

    4. Membership Review

    • TAPAC maintains a matrix aiming to have a balanced representation of membership. The matrix consists of a maximum of 15 voting members with one vote per member organization. The procedures relating to the membership can be found in Section I(c), Representation, of the TAPAC Terms of Reference available at http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/tapac-ccprt.nsf/eng/h_ni00062.html.

    Membership Matrix
    Type of Membership Maximum Actual
    Facilities-based Carrier (including CLECs) 5 4
    Manufacturers and Suppliers 5 2
    User Groups (including Conformity Assessment Bodies, reseller and accreditation organizations) 5 4
    Total 15 10

    NB. Members who miss two consecutive meetings will receive a letter warning them that one more missed meeting will result in having their name removed from the voting member list. Participation by teleconference will be deemed to satisfy the attendance requirement.

    5. Topics For Discussion

    Continuation of the Review of TAPAC Mandate and Scope (Peter Chau)

    The TAPAC Chair indicated that the mandate of TAPAC would remain status quo but that meetings would only be called on an as required basis.  The Chair also indicated that with respect to amendments to CS-03 that the preferred approach was to use Option 3 which refers to pointing to TIA standards for the equivalent requirements in CS-03 while maintaining the text for those unique to the Canadian market. TAPAC members indicated their lack of support for Option 3 based on the lack of technical resources and interest in making regulatory changes to mature technology. They also believe that Option 1 (status quo), with slight modifications to allow for future modifications as they arise, is the better solution.

    Questions were also raised on a) what was the overall benefit of such an exercise and b) how often changes would be required. The TAPAC Secretariat indicated that Parts II, VI and VII of CS-03 were amended in September 2012 while Part III was recently amended in Aug 2013. It is estimated that changes are typically required once a year.

    5.1 Contribution TAPAC-2013-10-003

    The TAPAC Secretariat, Hazim Dawood, presented highlights of how incorporation by reference is to equivalent sections of U.S. ANSI/TIA 968 and/or other related standards would look like.  The presentation also provided current Industry Canada examples of how pointing is being implemented today in regulation.  Some TAPAC members indicated their support for the process but remained fervent in their support to change CS-03 on a forward looking basis only when amendments are required.

    5.1 Contribution TAPAC-2013-10-004

    The TAPAC Secretariat, Hazim Dawood, presented the White Paper on the Terminal Equipment Compliance Specification (TECS) Terms of Reference to the committee on the development of an ad hoc committee regarding CS-03.

    Issues of cost, resources (technical) and overall benefits were raised from the various participants. TAPAC members did not see the overall benefit especially in light of mature technologies (e.g., T1 and ISDN). NEMKO indicated that in order to carry out such a project that the ad hoc group would require input from the Certification and Engineering Bureau, manufacturers, carriers and test labs in order to contribute effectively. NEMKO also indicated that it would be difficult to prioritize such a project but could justify the resources when adding new requirements.  Ultimately, NEMKO, SASKTEL and BELL indicated their support in moving forward but only to make amendments to CS-03 when required.

    The TAPAC members indicated that the best way forward would be the preparation of a letter ballot to allow for a clear understanding of what is being proposed. The following OPTION was suggested as an alternative to Option 3:

    Proposed New "Option X":

    To keep the current content of CS-03 specification unchanged (i.e. no incorporation by reference to other regional standards). TAPAC will continue to assess and determine the need of new standards and new requirements and adopt them on an incremental and as-required basis, going forward.
    Given the possible types of new standards and requirements, guidelines will be developed by TAPAC members to provide the most appropriate mechanisms for adopting new standards and requirements for inclusion into the CS-03 specification.

    Further issues were raised on how to address new amendments going forward, how to address issues for older technology when new issues arise and how to establish how changes would be adopted in general be it pointing, exceptions to rule, or a combination. It was agreed that a guideline was needed to establish how the various scenarios should be implemented without having to spend time reviewing legacy technology.

    The TAPAC Secretariat intends on emailing “OPTION X” to all members by November 4th, 2013.  Once the proposed option is agreeable to all members, and pending IC legal opinion, it will be sent to letter ballot for final approval.  A TAPAC subcommittee will establish the appropriate guidelines to address possible amendment scenarios to CS-03.  As decided at the meeting, this subcommittee would be made up of Hazim Dawood (IC), Stuart Beck (Nemko), J-P Muleba (Socatel) and Ron Wagner (Sasktel).  It was also agreed that these guidelines once established would be shared with ALL TAPAC members.

    Action:
    The TAPAC Secretariat will forward the proposed OPTION X to TAPAC members for their feedback.  Once input is consolidated, the proposed option will be sent to letter ballot for final approval.

    Action:
    A TAPAC Subcommittee will establish guidelines to address possible amendment scenarios to CS-03 once OPTION X is approved by TAPAC members.

    6. Reports

    6.1 FCC/ACTA/ TIA TR-41 (reported by Magdoly Rondón)

    6.1.1 FCC
    • No update was provided.

    6.1.2 ACTA Report
    • A proposal containing changes for accessing ACTA Adopted Technical Criteria for telephone terminal equipment (TIA-968) documentation was presented at the last ACTA meeting on July 31, 2013. The new system should simplify the process for accessing the documentation.
    6.1.3TIA TR-41 Report

    TIA TR-41 held its last virtual meeting on August 23, 2013.

    TR-41 changed its name from “User Premises Telecommunications Requirements” to “Performance and Accessibility for Communications Products” aiming to revitalize the committee by better identifying the type of work the committee will concentrate on. The new name and the scope for TR-41 have been updated on the TR-41 web site (http://www.tiaonline.org/all-standards/committees/tr-41).

    The comment period for the FCC public notice regarding the TIA’s petition to adopt TIA-4965 standard on conversational gain, as the receive volume control, ended in August 2013. TR-41 needs to respond to one received comment related to whether the standard could be used for wireless handsets (the current test methods do not support testing of wireless handsets at this time).  The estimated time for the FCC to adopt this standard was not provided.

    The Engineering and Certification Bureau (CEB) of Industry Canada submitted a contribution to TIA-TR41.9 on out-of-band emissions testing in the 4 kHz-12 kHz for wideband analog phones band using the IEEE male speech pattern as stimulus signals. Based on CEB results, Industry Canada recommended TR-41.9 update the TSB-31 to list the IEEE male speech pattern as the preferred stimulus signal for assessing compliance of acoustically coupled devices.  TR-41.9 committee agreed that TIA-968-B needs to be revised and an addendum added to TSB-31-D to include real speech test methods.

    IC is following the development of the analog telephone resistance and impedance performance standard (ANSI/TIA-PN-470.210-E) for the possible impact on CS-03 Part I (Section 3.4.6 Out-of-band Transmitted Signal Power &8211;; Metallic), VoIP and PCM Transmission Performance for the possible impact on CS-03 Part V as currently Part V points to TIA-810-B.

    Next TIA-TR41 meeting is scheduled for November 4-8, 2013.

    6.2 ISO/SCC Activities (reported by Greg Slingerland, SCC)

    ISO published ISO/IEC 17065 “Conformity assessment - Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services” in Sep 2012 with an effective date of Sep 2015. It replaces the existing requirements provided in ISO Guide 65. SCC is transitioning all of its certification bodies currently accredited to ISO Guide 65 to ISO/IEC 17065 with the goal to have them all transitioned well before the due date.

    SCC is currently undergoing an internal restructuring to its processes and structure for all of the accreditation programs that it operates. The goal is to have that work complete early in 2014.

    6.3 CRTC Activities (reported by James Ndirangu, CRTC

    The Commission will be issuing in November 2013 its Decision on the public consultation (Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2013-80) on high-speed access service modem certification requirements, among other things.
    The Commission launched on October 15th, 2013 a Public proceeding on wholesale services in relation to existing essential services used by competitors, including consideration of the current pricing model for these services, and the appropriateness of mandating new wholesale services, including fibre-to-the-premises facilities, to facilitate the development of a competitive Canadian telecommunications market.

    6.4 Telephone Companies Industry Advisories

    • No new industry advisories were reported.

    6.5 International Activities

    6.5.1 Canada-Mexico MRA under NAFTA:

    The 18-month confidence building period established in the Canada-Mexico telecom MRA ends in December 2013. There are still some issues that both countries need to agree on:

    1. requirements to be incorporated in the designation request (i.e. list of test methods and ISO 17025 assessment checklist); and,
    2. procedures for acceptance of test reports.
    6.5.2 Canada-Israel MRA:

    The Canada-Israel MRA entered into force on 18 January 2013. All major issues (i.e. Israel's mandatory standards and test methods) for the implementation of Phase I of the Agreement were resolved in September 2013.

    Industry Canada will be announcing the implementation of Phase I of the MRA shortly.

    6.5.3 APEC TEL:

    Industry Canada has not been able to attend APEC TEL for the past 2 meetings due to budgetary constraints. The TAPAC Chair sought input from TAPAC members on the importance of these meetings on their business. Nemko indicated that its customers are definitely interested as they are seeking access to newer markets, in particular the South Korean (Phase II) and Japanese markets.

    China is the host for APEC meetings in 2014.

    7. Status of Action Items from the (May 16, 2013 Meeting)

    Status of Action Items Meeting
    No. Action Update Status
    1 IC will issue a CS-03 Part V Errata Sheet correcting the typos and references to Standard ANSI/TIA-470.110-C. Put on hold will proceed based on guidelines moving forward NOC
    2 Industry Canada to amend CS-03 Part III as per TAPAC-2012-05-003 contribution, as modified by the Committee CS-03 Part III Issue 9 Amendment 1 was released on August 24th, 2013 Closed
    3 APAC Members to provide comments on TAP and CS-03 options by June 14, 2013. Comments received from TAPAC members were addressed in earlier discussion Closed

    8. Other Business

    No new business was discussed

    9.0. Next Meeting

    • Tentative date & location: Thursday May 8th, 2014 at Industry Canada

    Annex A: Attendance List and Contact Details

    (a)Voting Members

    Voting Members
    Name Company Telephone Email 24-05-12 16-05-13 31-10-13

    Attendance legend:
    P = in Person
    TC = by Teleconference
    A = Absent

    Beaudet,André SCC (User)/ 613-238-3222 abeaudet@scc.ca TC TC TC
    Beck, Stuart NEMKO Canada (User) 613-737-9680 stuart.beck@nemko.com P P P
    Bryans, Bill EFC (Manufacturer) 647-260-3089 bbryans@electrofed.com TC TC TC
    Clancy,Lourdes Aliant (Carrier)   tlourdes.clancy@aliant.ca     TC
    Delaurier,Troy MTS (Carrier) 204-958-2898 troy.delaurier@mtsallstream.com TC TC TC
    Gagnon, David Bell Canada (Carrier) 514-786-3216 david.gagnon@bell.ca TC TC TC
    Ho, Patrick Alcatel-Lucent (Manufacturer)   patrick.ho@alcatel-lucent.com     TC
    Holmes, Bruce SaskTel (Carrier) 306-359-0850 bruce.holmes@sasktel.sk.ca TC TC TC
    Muleba, Jean-Pierre Socatel Network Inc. 416-899-2294 jpmuleba@socatel.ca A P
    Pitt, John Aliant (Carrier)/ 613-238-3222 john.pitt@aliant.ca TC TC A
    Slingerland, Greg SCC (User) 613-238-3222 gslingerland@scc.ca     P
    Smith,Tom TJS Technical Services (User) 403-612-6664 tsmith@tjstechnical.com TC TC TC
    Taffinder, Philip Alcatel-Lucent (Manufacturer)/ 613-784 6448 philip.taffinder@alcatel-lucent.com TC TC A

    (b)Officials and Interested Parties – Contact details

    Officials and Interested Parties
    Name Organization Telephone Email
    Chau, Peter(Chair) Industry Canada 613-990-4712 peter.chau@canada.ca
    Dawood, Hazim (TAPAC Secretariat) Industry Canada 613-990-6746 dawood.hazim@canada.ca
    Hamwi, Kelly Industry Canada 613-990-4689 kelly.hamwi@canada.ca
    Ndirangu, James CRTC 819-997-3670 james.ndirangu@crtc.gc.ca
    Rondòn,Magdoly Industry Canada 613-990-4377 magdoly.rondon@canada.ca