W3C Standards Track

I located the W3C Process Document; the most relevant portion can be
found at

http://www.w3.org/2004/02/Process-20040205/tr.html#last-call 

  Briefly, a Last Call working draft is under review for at least 3
weeks; the Working Group may opt for a longer review period due to
complexity or dependency.  After passing Last Call, the draft may
progress to Candidate Recommendation; the W3C will issue a Call for
Implementations with a minimum timeframe set by the Director.  The
document may then advance to Proposed Recommendation, with at least a 4
week review (the exact duration is set by the Director when he announces
the Proposed Recommendation) before it can become a W3C Recommendation.

  A document will return to the Working Group any time it undergoes
substantive changes (except for removal of features designated "at risk"
before the Call for Implementations) after Last Call, in which case it
must restart the process when it again becomes stable enough for a Last
Call.



Mark Peel
Web Services Infrastructure
Novell, Inc.