[ossig] Department of Standards Malaysia press release on OOXML BRM meeting in Geneva

[Ditesh Kumar]

>From the ODF-SIG mailing list:

Originally found at http://www.standardsmalaysia.gov.my/press%20release%
204%20March%202008.pdf, Malaysia's Department of Standards (Standards
Malaysia) issued the following statement about last week's  Ballot
Resolution Meeting (BRM) in Geneva. 

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                                                            4 MARCH 2008
                             PRESS RELEASE

Malaysian delegation at the ISO meeting in Geneva (25 – 29 Feb ’08)
finds the technical issues in the draft standard OOXML unresolved
satisfactorily 

Cyberjaya, 4 March 2008 - Malaysia's Department of Standards (STANDARDS
MALAYSIA) recently found the Draft ISO standard, ISO/IEC DIS 29500:
Office Open XML (OOXML) specification for electronic document formats,
had the majority of its technical issues still not addressed
satisfactorily. 

Puann_fadilah_baharin

STANDARDS MALAYSIA sent a delegation to attend the "Ballot Resolution
Meeting" (BRM) in Geneva, Switzerland where they deliberated on OOXML
submitted by Ecma International, a standards setting organization. 

Malaysia voted to 'Disapprove' by default on Ecma's dispositions due to
the quality of their technical responses during the week. Malaysia
approved on certain resolutions, which were found appropriate and
discussed during the BRM, but this was by far in the minority. There
have been structural changes and important contributions to the Draft by
other National Bodies which alter the Draft significantly. Malaysia will
review these changes before making a decision on its final vote by end
March 2008. 

Puan Fadilah Baharin, Director General of STANDARDS MALAYSIA who was in
Geneva to oversee the Malaysian delegates said, "The Malaysian
delegation actively participated in the BRM, including making good
technical suggestions on how to improve the proposed standard. We were
impressed with the commitment and professionalism shown by all the
technical experts represented by the various National Bodies." 

The original specification had more than 6,000 pages, an unprecedented
volume in ISO for the Fast Track process. 

At a previous stage of the process, after a 5-month ballot period ending
on 2 September 2007, the drafted ISO standard failed to get the required
vote from participating countries, failing 2 of the 3 criteria for
approval. This process also resulted in more than 1,000 unique comments
from the countries. 

On 14 January 2008, Ecma International provided proposed dispositions to
these comments which were discussed at the BRM. 

The meeting was scheduled for 5 days from 25 to 29 February in
accordance to ISO/IEC "Fast Track" rules. The time of deliberation is
fixed and will not be adjusted according to the volume of comments. This
is the limitation imposed due to the Fast Track process. 

"Malaysia had submitted 23 comments and more than 70% of them were not
addressed satisfactorily by Ecma's proposed dispositions. We intended to
resolve these technical issues at the BRM, but we could only raise 2
concerns due to the time constraints imposed," Fadilah said. 

After 3 days, it was apparent that there would be no time to review all
the items within the remaining 2 days on all substantial concerns
against the Ecma standard. The 32 National Bodies, including Malaysia,
were then requested to submit a vote on all the items which were not
discussed at the BRM and told to vote on Ecma's remaining dispositions
to 'Approve,' 'Disapprove' or 'Abstain.' 

"Malaysia decided to vote 'Disapprove' to these undiscussed issues,"
Fadilah elaborated, "The limitation of the BRM process clearly showed
that such a task of approving this draft standard does not fit in the
Fast Track process employed by Ecma International. Malaysia and other
country delegations worked very hard which extended into evenings after
the BRM sessions. All the technical experts from diverse backgrounds,
including from Microsoft, the original proposer of the Draft, put their
heads together to fix the specification. Malaysia approved the counter
proposals by many National Bodies which were discussed during the BRM.
Unfortunately there were just far too many to fix within the given
time." 

Last year, many countries raised concerns against the appropriateness of
the voluminous OOXML draft standard submitted by the Ecma International
to ISO for a Fast Track process. To date, our observation to these
concerns have yet to be addressed better after the BRM. Malaysia’s
concern is currently being shared greatly by many other National Bodies
from Asia including India, China and Korea; as well as from the US and
Canada. 

The process now entails discussion within the 87 'P' and 'O' countries
who first voted on 2 September 2007, for them to evaluate the
instructions from the BRM and return to ISO a final vote whether to
approve OOXML as an ISO standard, by 30 March 2008. 

STANDARDS MALAYSIA will convene a SIRIM Technical Committee meeting soon
to decide Malaysia's final vote on the quality of OOXML as an ISO/IEC
standard. 

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