ACES Consortium membership terms

Version 1.0. Effective 5 November 2026.

1. Acceptance through membership

Acceptance of this legal framework is a condition of membership in the ACES Consortium. By joining the consortium after receiving these terms, a member accepts this document and the following documents, incorporated by reference:

• Community Specification License 1.0, unmodified.
• ACES contributor agreement.
• Scope version 1.0.
• Governance, contribution rules, licensing boundaries, and identity and certification policy, version 1.0.

The member enters the contributor agreement through membership, including before making a technical contribution. A separate signature on that agreement is not required where membership acceptance has already been recorded. Existing members' acceptance of this framework is recorded in Notices.md on the coordinator's confirmation as of the effective date.

For new members, an authorized representative must affirm acceptance as part of enrollment. An electronic application, affirmative email or authenticated repository submission is sufficient for the project's acceptance record. The coordinator records the member's identity, representative, accepted document versions and date. Merely displaying an organization's name, receiving an inquiry or attending a meeting does not enroll it as a member.

2. Organizational authority

An organization participates through a representative authorized to accept these terms on its behalf. The representative makes the authority representations required by CSL Section 8.1. The member must ensure that people submitting contributions on its behalf are authorized to do so and must keep its representative details current.

Membership does not license intellectual property belonging to an unrelated party that the member is not entitled to license. The CSL definitions of Contributor, Affiliate and Licensee apply without alteration. Membership does not transfer ownership of an existing contribution to the consortium or to another member.

3. Contributions and patent commitments

Members submit material intended for inclusion in the specification under the contributor agreement and CONTRIBUTING.md. The specification's copyright grants and patent obligations, their scope, exclusion rights, withdrawal effects and termination rules are those in CSL. These membership terms do not impose a blanket license over a member's unrelated technology or remove CSL exclusion rights.

The license permits commercial implementation and derivative specifications. Members must not misrepresent ownership of another contributor's material or represent a private derivative as an official ACES release. No member receives exclusive implementation rights, a guaranteed technical outcome or control over the specification by virtue of membership or funding.

Source-code contributions use the expressly designated code license, as described in LICENSING.md. Public technical submissions must not contain confidential information or material subject to conflicting obligations.

4. Contributor and implementer roles are distinct

Membership is an acceptance route for the contributor agreement. It is not a replacement for the separate implementer acceptance methods in CSL Section 2.1.3. A member implementing ACES must use one of those methods to receive the Section 2.1 patent grants on the terms stated there, including the reciprocal patent obligations.

Membership does not certify a product, authorize a certification badge or establish compliance with safety regulations. Those matters are governed by their applicable processes.

5. Changes and departure

Material changes to membership, licensing or scope terms follow Governance.md, with notice identifying the text and effective date. New licensing commitments require affirmative acceptance by the affected member; silence is not treated as consent to expanded commitments. Scope changes are prospective as required by CSL. Previously granted licenses and accrued obligations are not revoked by a later policy change.

A member may resign by notifying the coordination contact. A Contributor withdrawing from the CSL Working Group must also issue the withdrawal pull request or commit to Notices.md required by CSL Section 2.3. Existing commitments survive as provided in the license. Suspension or termination of membership does not itself cancel grants already made; the license governs its own termination conditions.

The coordinator may suspend participation for a material breach after notice and a reasonable opportunity to respond, with immediate protective measures where necessary for serious misconduct or security. Reasons must be recorded and the appeal process in Governance.md made available. Membership administration cannot be used to suppress a valid patent notice or lawful technical disagreement.

6. Enrollment statement

Use the following statement with links to the exact documents presented at enrollment:

I am authorized to accept these terms for the named member. I accept the ACES Consortium Membership Terms version 1.0 and the documents incorporated into them, including the Community Specification License 1.0, the ACES contributor agreement and Scope version 1.0. I understand the applicable copyright, patent and authority commitments.

Contact: info@aces-consortium.org.