The Symbian Foundation Councils exist to support the development community and grow the competitiveness of the Symbian platform by:

• Identifying high-level market, user and technical requirements
• Soliciting contributions that address those requirements
• Coordinating community contributions into regular platform releases
• Providing transparency for all community members regarding future platform developments

Each council is comprised of representative members of the community plus a (non-voting) chair drawn from the foundation staff of the Symbian Foundation. Together the councils constitute the decision-making bodies governing the contents and specifications of Symbian software releases. The councils also act as caretakers and improvers of the community's collaborative process.

An overview of the proposals pipeline is available here.

The Symbian Foundation Council Charters document describes the collective and individual functioning of the councils. It covers common issues such as membership and chairing plus the key objectives and decision-making responsibilities of each Council. Each council has its own distinct set of responsibilities, which together are designed to complement each other and provide coordinated support for contributors and community members.