Requirements for Standard Practices in Future Large High Energy Physics Experiments

During the past 18 months, over 300 physicists and engineers have participated in a Working Group, set up by the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA), to study a project for a Large Electron Positron colliding-beam machine (LEP), in Europe in the 1980s. 20 specialized subgroups have investigated technical questions in various areas, and the likely impact of LEP on subnuclear physics and the physics community. The data-handling subgroups have concluded that techniques currently available, with continued development, will be adequate to meet the technical requirements of LEP experiments. However, there is an urgent need for standard practices at all levels of data handling, to ensure that experiments can be carried out by collaborations involving large numbers of physicists from many institutes.