This document aims to answer some of the frequently asked questions relating to ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML. At present BSI British Standards has no further information to reply to individual enquiries.
Background
OOXML (also known as Ecma 376 and DIS 29500) is a technical specification largely originated by Microsoft and standardized by the European standards group, Ecma International (European association for standardizing information and communication systems), in 2006. It is intended to describe the file formats of files saved by the computer applications in the Microsoft Office suite (principally Word, Excel and PowerPoint).
1. The BSI British Standards process for reviewing this draft standard ran as follows.
BSI is responsible for co-ordinating the UK’s technical input into the international standardization process and has delegated part of this responsibility to its technical committee IST/41, Document description and processing language.
- The BSI technical committee, IST/41, established a technical panel, known as IST/41/-/1, Office Open XML File Formats, to carry out the UK technical review of the draft standard ISO/IEC DIS 29500.
- Panel members included small companies, large companies (including Microsoft and IBM), public sector organizations, other standards bodies, user groups, academia and government.
- As is usual, a Draft for Public Comment (DPC) stage took place. This is an opportunity for anyone beyond the UK Committee to comment on the draft standard. As a result of the wide interest in this area, BSI took steps to make this process as accessible as possible by establishing and publicizing a site using wiki technology. All committee comments were made open to public view on this website with updates posted as necessary. Public comments submitted to BSI were also taken into the regular committee review process. The DPC was open for a period of two months and attracted approximately 635 comments.
- Comments were collated and reviewed by IST/41 and IST/41/-/1 and the UK vote and accompanying technical comments were submitted to ISO in September 2007.
- IST/41 and the technical panel carried out a review of Ecma’s proposed responses to the comments received from the UK and from other countries.
- A UK delegation from IST/41 attended the ballot resolution meeting held by ISO in Geneva in February 2008 together with delegations from 34 National Bodies as well as representatives from Ecma and ITTF.
- A further review by IST/41 of the changes proposed at the ballot resolution meeting followed.
- IST/41 made its formal recommendation to BSI as outlined under the governing procedures.
- The submission of the UK position to ISO was made according to the ISO timetable.
IST/41 has over the past twelve months given long and detailed consideration to the text of the draft, involving many hundreds of hours of work by its experts, in a process of scrutiny that has been commended for its thoroughness and openness from many other bodies around the world.
2. What was the UK committee structure for consideration of ISO/IEC DIS 29500?
IST/41?
IST/41 is the BSI committee responsible for reviewing the UK position on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 and for the final decision made on this subject. It comprises representatives of a very wide range of interest groups, including software producers and users.
IST/41/-/1 (the technical panel established by IST/41)
IST/41/-/1 is a technical panel established by IST/41 to carry out the initial review of the draft standard. Membership of IST/41/-/1 was opened to all interested parties on 24 April 2007 when the Draft Standard was posted for public comment on www.bsigroup.com Everyone who asked to participate was given a place on the panel.
In accordance with a long established policy that is reflected in BSI’s procedural documents, we do not divulge the identities of individual committee members. This is so that they cannot be subject to lobbying or other undue pressure.
All legitimate interests are allowed a seat on a BSI technical committee, and BSI takes great trouble to ensure that balanced representation is established and maintained.
3. What was the BSI vote on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 following the BRM meeting in February 2008?
BSI British Standards exercised its right to vote based on the recommendation of its technical experts who are members of IST/41.
IST/41 reached a consensus decision and BSI voted in accordance with the committee’s recommendation.
4. Did IST/41 consider the procedural issues relating to the development of ISO/IEC DIS 29500?
IST/41 looked at both technical and procedural issues relating to ISO/IEC DIS 29500 and made its recommendation to BSI accordingly.
5. Was BSI’s vote subject to lobbying?
BSI’s vote on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 was not permitted to be influenced by lobbying although, like other organizations, BSI was subject to a high degree of expressions of interest and correspondence.
6. What is the international voting procedure?
ISO/IEC DIS 29500 falls under the responsibility of the joint technical committee (JTC 1, Information Technology) of the international standardization bodies ISO and IEC. Acceptance of the draft as a formal International Standard requires the approval of two thirds of the votes cast by participating national bodies (“P members”) in JTC1, with not more than one quarter of those members voting negatively.
7. What happens next?
Following the closure of the ballot on 29 March 2008, ISO and IEC confirmed on 2 April 2008 that ISO/IEC DIS 29500 met the criteria to be approved as an international standard.
Any ISO/IEC national standards body can make an appeal to ISO if it considers that actions have been taken which are:
• not in the best interests of international trade and commerce;
• not in accordance with the Statutes and Rules of Procedure or the ISO/IEC Directives.
For further information on current appeals to ISO regarding ISO/IEC DIS 29500 please visit the ISO website.
8. When will the final text of ISO/IEC DIS 29500 be available?
Ecma is now responsible for incorporating the changes agreed at the Ballot Resolution Meeting into the final text for publication. The publication date is dependent on the outcome of any appeals made to ISO by the national standards bodies.
Once the version of the standard is available, it will be released by ISO to the national standards bodies as ISO 29500. The BSI committee will be involved in the final step as to whether the final text is formally adopted and made available as a British Standard (i.e. whether it becomes BS ISO 29500).
Please view ISO's frequently asked questions on OOXML for more information.
