Dear Editors, contributors and Rapporteurs,

As noted at the Shenzhen meeting, the subject liaison statement from TSAG has now been issued as TD 342/Gen. Please follow this LS:

Introduction

The ITU-T has a long history of producing high quality Recommendations covering all aspects of telecommunications. To retain and reinforce the ITU-T's prominence in providing high quality interface specifications and related documentation, it is essential that this reputation for high quality be maintained. The Author's Guide for drafting ITU-T Recommendations has been revised and is now posted on the ITU-T web site at:

http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/0A/0F/T0A0F0000040001MSWE.doc

The previous version of this guide has been available for many years and has proven to be a useful and reliable reference to assist editors in preparing high quality draft Recommendations with a consistent structure, including a set of common elements that all Recommendations require and which should be provided in a common style, together with guidance on structuring the text in a coherent and consistent manner as work on the technical content progresses. In addition, corresponding revisions have been made to the ITU-T Recommendation skeleton template at:

http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/0A/0F/T0A0F00000C0001MSWE.doc

Action requested

Study group management teams are requested to take note of the importance of maintaining the high level of quality of Recommendations and other deliverables that are prepared in their study groups and that are the basis for judging the effectiveness and value of the ITU-T. In particular, it is requested that editors of draft Recommendations and other deliverables be reminded that the guidelines posted as indicated above are an important basis for ensuring quality and consistency in the outputs of the ITU T, and that they are intended to be closely followed. Rapporteurs and editors are advised to, as far as possible begin development of each new Recommendation from the Recommendation skeleton template to help ensure consistency and quality. Revised Recommendations should generally take the opportunity to bring an existing Recommendation into conformance with the latest version of the Author's Guide.