A governmental body holding an open or closed meeting by videoconference shall adhere to the following standards:

1. (1) A videoconference using full motion real-time analog video transmissions shall meet existing NTSC standards.

2. (2) A videoconference using compressed video shall use equipment meeting the minimum technical standards listed below, for the type of network used. Use of equipment meeting these standards does not preclude the use of proprietary vendor protocols as long as the governmental body has received certification from the vendor stating that the vendor's equipment and proprietary software protocol release version meets or exceeds each of the specified standards.

   1. (A) ITU-T Recommendation H.221-1999, Frame Structure for a 64 to 1920 kbit/s Channel in Audiovisual Teleservices.
   2. (B) ITU-T Recommendation H.230-1999, Frame synchronous Control and Indication Signals for Audiovisual Teleservices.
   3. (C) ITU-T Recommendation H.231-1997, Multipoint Control Units for Audiovisual Systems Using Digital Channels up to 2 Mbit/s.
   4. (D) ITU-T Recommendation H.242-1999, System for Establishing Communications Between Audiovisual Terminals Using Digital Channels up to 2 Mbit/s.
   5. (E) ITU-T Recommendation H.243-2000, Procedures for Establishing Communication Between Three or More Audiovisual Terminals Using Digital Channels up to 2 Mbit/s.
   6. (F) ITU-T Recommendation H.245-2001, Control protocol for multimedia communication.
   7. (G) ITU-T Recommendation H.261-1993, Video Codec for Audiovisual Services at px64 kbit/s.
   8. (H) ITU-T Recommendation H.320-1996, Narrow-band Visual Telephone Systems and Terminal Equipment.
   9. (I) ITU-T Recommendation H.323-2000, Packet-based multimedia communications systems.
   10. (J) ITU-T Recommendation H.450-1998, Generic functional protocol for the support of supplementary services in H.323.

3. (3) A videoconference shall adhere to the following standards with respect to the perceptibility of audio and video signals:

   1. (A) Each portion of a meeting held by videoconference that is required to be open to the public by the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, chapter 551, shall be visible and audible to the public at each location specified in Texas Government Code §551.127(e).
   2. (B) Each location specified in Texas Government Code, §551.127(e), shall have two-way communication between with each other meeting location during the entire meeting being held by videoconference.
   3. (C) Each participant in the videoconference call, while speaking, shall be clearly visible and audible to each other participant in the videoconference call. In addition, during the open portions of a meeting required to be open by Texas Government Code, chapter 551, each participant, while speaking, shall be clearly visible and audible to members of the public who are in attendance at a location of the meeting.
   4. (D) The audience and members of the governmental body shall have full view of at least one monitor at each meeting location.
   5. (E) Audio signals perceptible from the remote videoconferencing sites shall be of similar quality and volume as the local audio at the originating site.
   6. (F) The quality of the audio and video signals perceptible by members of the public at each meeting location shall meet or exceed the quality of the audio and video signals perceptible by members of the government body participating in the meeting.
   7. (G) The quality of the audio and video signals perceptible by members of the public at each meeting location shall be of sufficient quality so that members of the public present at each meeting location can observe the demeanor and hear the voice of each participant in the open portion of the meeting.
   8. (H) All video transmissions shall be at least 30 frames per second (FPS) and use full common intermediate format (CIF) quality transmission.
   9. (I) Videoconference calls held between or among sites utilizing different vendor equipment shall adhere to the ITU-T standards listed in this subsection.
   10. (J) Videoconferences involving more than two sites shall be controlled such that the received video at all sites will switch to the speaking participant's site within two seconds of the participant's commencement of speaking.
   11. (K) All videoconferences shall be in color and monitors for the viewing public and for members of the governmental body shall present color video.
4. (4) State agencies conducting open or closed meetings by videoconference call shall review and consider any applicable recommendations promulgated by the department. Such recommendations may be obtained directly from the department or may be accessed via the Web at the following location: http://www.dir.state.tx.us/standards.

Source Note:The provisions of this §209.2 adopted to be effective June 18, 2002, 27 TexReg 5163.