W3C UK and Ireland Regional Office

Why join?

• Because you want to be the first to access information on a specific technology.
• Because you want to gain a better understanding of the technical details through a first-hand contact with the experts.
• Because you want to influence the technical evolution of the web through your vote, through your proposals to the W3C, through your participation in the working group.
• Because you care that your product, your presence on the web is truly international, would reach persons with various disabilities, would respect privacy issues

and you want to know how to achieve that, and you want to share your experiences.

Membership in W3C is open to all types of organizations. This includes commercial, educational and governmental entities.

There are two classes of membership: Full and Affiliate. There are no differences in Member benefits between the two classes of membership. Full membership is offered to all prospective members, while Affiliate members are either non-profit or governmental agencies, or for-profit organizations whose revenue is lower than a certain amount.

W3C does not have a class of membership tailored to, or priced for individuals (- our processes are designed for organizational participation, and we do not have the support structure to handle large numbers of individual members). However, an individual who wishes to join as an Affiliate Member may do so.

W3C Membership fees vary between countries, and are to be paid in different currencies for the Americas ($US), Europe (Euro) and Japan (Yen). To promote diverse Membership, W3C offers lower Membership fees for organizations in some countries, based on a World Bank classification of country income. A fee calculator is available which addresses all countries.

Current fees for the UK and Ireland are EUR 6,054 for Affiliate members and EUR 60,540 for full members.

Each Member (full or affiliate) designates an employee (possibly from one of its subsidiaries) to be its W3C Advisory Committee representative and all W3C business is processed through that employee. However, each Member may delegate its employees to participate in the W3C Activities (Interest Groups, Working Groups etc.) in which case the associated business of that activity is routed through the delegated individuals.

For more details and the application process itself, see the central information page on joining W3C.

Read also the Prospectus of the W3C, and also the press releases!