From DIUS Innovation Unit

To: BSI

Sent Thu 16/08/2007 14:55

XXXX,

We spoke this morning about the sort of information that I would require on this matter.

In summary I want to be able to let our Minister know that everything done so far and going forward will lead to a decision that is in the British economic interest. Ministers have taken an interest in this issue and would like to know as soon as legitimately as possible the decision taken and the reasoning for that decision.

I will break this down into:

What has exactly been happening in the second phase of the fast track procedure?

What is being commented on?

Who has commented - you have mentioned MOD and DFES; any other departments or MPs; which businesses [particularly large ones or from the likes of FSB, CBI]?

Who sits on the UK decision panel?

How does the decision process work? How are views considered and weighed/classified? How does BSI come to a UK view?

Does BSI know how which way the land lies with other countries on this? Do you know who supports who doesn't support? Do you know if the European institutions support this standard e.g. European Commission, Parliament, Council of Ministers etc. What about OASIS?

What exactly happened with representative from Microsoft?

When do you expect to have a final UK decision?

When can you legitimately share this decision and the reasons with DIUS? Can this be shared before the decision is submitted to ISO?

If there is a negative decision from the UK only what will be the impact on UK businesses e.g. can UK businessess still use open xml it does become an ISO standard. This is a concern if it is accepted by other countries, and there is European wide mandate to use this standard. I assume that the ISO standard will be free as ooxml is freely available at the moment.

What happens if it is rejected by ISO?

Is this standard being considered separately in the European standards forum?

I know this is a lot of questions but they will help me advise the Minister. Could you respond by middle of next week pl. early Wednesday 22 August?

Thanks in advance

XXXX

Office of Science and Innovation

DIUS

Tel:

To: DIUS Innovation Unit

From: BSI

Sent: 03 September 2007 14:56

Subject: ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML

XXXX

Please find below the press release on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML, posted on the BSI website this morning. 

Media release

                                                                                                                                                                                                            3 September 2007

UK response to the draft international standard, ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML (ECMA 376)

The UK has submitted its comments on the adoption of the draft of ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML (also known as ECMA 376) to JTC1, the joint technical committee of ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, and IEC, the International Electrotechnical Commission.  The comments were collated after several months of technical review by industry experts.

JTC1/SC 34, a subcommittee of JTC1, will now prepare a document containing comments from all the National Standards Bodies which, if required, will be addressed at a ballot resolution meeting in February 2008 for the standardization process to continue.

ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML is a 6000 page technical specification, produced by Ecma, the European Computer Manufacturers Association.  It was submitted to JTC1 by Ecma to become an International Standard following which, each national member of JTC1 tasked its own technical committee to reach a decision on its behalf. 

In the UK, a technical panel comprising large and small companies, public sector organisations, user groups, academia and government, was specially created to review ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML.  It identified a number of technical issues in the document which need to be addressed before the UK can approve ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML as an International Standard. 

Mike Low, Director of BSI British Standards, said, “BSI has led a rigorous review process on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML in the UK, considering hundreds of comments on the draft standard.   The BSI technical committee will now work within JTC1/SC 34, during the next stage of the international standardization process, to resolve the comments that have been raised.” 

From BSI

Sent: 03 September 2007 14:56
To: DIUS Innovation Unit

Subject: ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML

xxxxxxxx,

Please find below the press release on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML, posted on the BSI website this morning. 

Media release

                                                                                                                                                                                                            3 September 2007

UK response to the draft international standard, ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML (ECMA 376)

The UK has submitted its comments on the adoption of the draft of ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML (also known as ECMA 376) to JTC1, the joint technical committee of ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, and IEC, the International Electrotechnical Commission.  The comments were collated after several months of technical review by industry experts.

JTC1/SC 34, a subcommittee of JTC1, will now prepare a document containing comments from all the National Standards Bodies which, if required, will be addressed at a ballot resolution meeting in February 2008 for the standardization process to continue.

ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML is a 6000 page technical specification, produced by Ecma, the European Computer Manufacturers Association.  It was submitted to JTC1 by Ecma to become an International Standard following which, each national member of JTC1 tasked its own technical committee to reach a decision on its behalf. 

In the UK, a technical panel comprising large and small companies, public sector organisations, user groups, academia and government, was specially created to review ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML.  It identified a number of technical issues in the document which need to be addressed before the UK can approve ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML as an International Standard. 

Mike Low, Director of BSI British Standards, said, “BSI has led a rigorous review process on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 OOXML in the UK, considering hundreds of comments on the draft standard.   The BSI technical committee will now work within JTC1/SC 34, during the next stage of the international standardization process, to resolve the comments that have been raised.” 

From: DIUS Innovation Unit

To: BSI

Sent Fri 21/09/2007 10:48

XXXXXX

We've been playing phone tag and my absence from the office has not helped.  The information that BSI's has already passed to us is useful, but this is an incredibly technical area and we have got to be clear about what we tell the Minister.  I just have a couple of questions which may be easier to talk-through than email.

We (Dius) would like to understand the rational for the decision and what was the UK submission to ISO?  XXXX's emails says that the committee could agree whether to vote approval with comments or disapproval with with comments , but that the matter was referred to IST/41 to ICT/-/1 for resolution?  This could well be particle physics, so some clarification would be great.  My reading is that we disapproved with comments?  So microsoft/ ECMA if they address these comments could get approval from the UK.

Rationale for the way the other countries voted?  Just to understand whether the UK reasons were similar to others or not.

What are the next steps in terms of ooxml now?

Happy to discuss and thanks for your help on this so far.

XXXXX

From: BSI

To: DIUS Innovation Unit

Sent Thu 20/09/2007 18:50

Subject: OOXML

XXXXX

Just to say that I have received your message from xxxxx regarding a conference call next week to discuss status of the above. My understanding is that we have given DIUS regular updates and have nothing further to add, however, if there is anything specific you wish to discuss perhaps you could let me know and I will see what I can assemble prior to speaking with you when we have agreed a date/time.

Regards

XXXX

From: BSI

To: DIUS Innovation Unit

Sent Wed 14/03/2007 12:40

XXXX

As requested on Monday, here is some information on the Open XML issue and on the xxxxxxxx

Open XML

There is currently a review of the ECMA 376 standard (Microsoft's Open XML) to determine whether or not it should become an ISO/IEC standard. This entails a two stage process managed by the international committee ISO/IEC JTC 1. The submission can fail at either stage of this process, and success at the first stage does not guarantee success at the second. If it is successful at both stages, and there are no comments to be resolved to delay the process, the earliest date at which this proposed standard could be published is late summer of 2007.

The first stage was a procedural review lasting 28 days which ended on 5 February 2007 to decide whether the submission is admissible to the ISO fast-track process. The document was circulated to JTC 1 members - standards bodies worldwide - including BSI who reviewed the document and were able to submit comments opposing this proposal before the deadline to JTC 1.

BSI, like many other JTC 1 members, received letters opposing the adoption of ECMA 376. The main reasons given, as you will see from the Open Forum Europe (OFE) letter attached, are the importance of open document formats and the perceived conflict with the existing ISO 26300 standard. The UK shadow committee considered these issues and agreed the UK comments which, together with those by 19 other countries was reviewed by JTC 1. The ISO/IEC committee then invited ECMA to respond, a copy of which is also attached, and after further consideration agreed to progress the proposal to the second stage.

The second stage of the review process is a technical review which lasts five months and determines whether or not the submission is technically fit to become an international standard. At this stage the national standards bodies represented on the committee, plus members of the public via the Draft for Public Comment process can submit comments to JTC1 for resolution and then a decision will be made at a Ballot Resolution Meeting on whether it will become an ISO/IEC standard.

Once again BSI has been contacted by OFE asking that “the matter is raised at the highest level within BSI immediately and an objection raised to the board of ISO”. They are concerned that the objections raised were not answered by ECMA's response but that the decision has still been made to go ahead. BSI is currently considering appealing against the decision to proceed to the second stage as we do not believe the initial concerns have been properly addressed.  

If you want any further detail or information please do contact Jean Stride, the BSI Programme Manager working with the relevant UK technical committee, who is also copied into this email.

FYI, there has already been considerable industry interest in this issue and coverage in IT media and blogs.

Regards

XXXXX

From: BSI

To: DIUS Innovation Unit

Sent Thu 15/03/2007 10:28

XXXX

You're very welcome. I'm sure it would be helpful for BSI to know how the Minister responds to Microsoft so if you could keep me and/or xxxxxx advised that would be great.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Regards

XXXX

From BSI

To: DIUS Innovation Unit

Sent Fri 04/05/2007 13:26

Subject OOXML

Hello

This is one of the topics for discussion today, so very relevant !

Comments (objections) were lodged by the following countries;

Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary

India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,

Romania, Singapore, Sweden and UK.

Comments ranged from Overlap in scope With ISO/IEC 26300, IPR, breech of JTC 1 directives,

missing annexes, inconsistency with existing International standards, and

undocumented legacy features.

We have established a panel to look at the DIS ballot - details below

(sorry to meet deadlines I have pasted this from another document).

I hope this gives you a better feel for what happening.

I will update you with conversations today on your return.

Best Wishes

XXXXX

******************

BSI Technical Panel IST/41/-/1

BSI Technical Committee IST/41 - Document description and processing languages - is responsible for the development and maintenance of XML-based technical standards for publication by ISO and jointly by BSI. I am Chairman of that Technical Committee.

We have been asked by the the BSI Information Systems Co-ordination Committee (ICT/-/1) to prepare a draft UK response to the five-month Fast Track ballot on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 Office Open XML File Formats (ECMA-376). The results must be presented to ICT/-/1 in time for that committee to decide the UK response ahead of the ballot deadline of 2nd September 2007. We have established Technical Panel IST/41/-/1 for the sole purpose of scrutinising the text of DIS 29500 and drafting technical and editorial comments.

You have indicated your willingness to serve on this Technical Panel, for which we are most grateful. Your name and basic contact details have been forwarded to BSI, and by now you should have been formally enrolled and received instructions on how to access the Panel's reserved space on the BSI "eCommittees" website. I attach a list of the current Panel members - more may join over the next week or so.

The work of the Technical Panel will be coordinated by XXXXXX as Convenor. XXXXXX is an XML consultant with many years experience of the integration of word processing technologies into XML workflows in complex publishing applications. XXXX is a member of IST/41 and represents the UK on the ISO Working Group (ISO/IEC JTC1 SC34 WG1) that will be responsible for resolving all ballot comments on DIS 29500.

Given the size of the task, it will be necessary to organise the Technical Panel into subgroups that can scrutinise different sections of the text. The main Parts are:

- Part 1 - Fundamentals
- Part 2 - Open Packaging Conventions
- Part 3 - Primer
- Part 4 - Markup Language Reference
- Part 5 - Markup Compatibility and Extensibility

There is also an Overview document. However, Part 4 is by far the largest part, containing over 80 percent of the text, and will need to be further sub-divided for scrutiny purposes according to the various markup languages that are specified:
- WordprocessingML
- SpreadsheetML
- PresentationML
- supporting markup languages and properties, including DrawingML and VML.

If you have a preference for which section you would feel most able and interested to work on, please let us know. If you express no preference, we will assume that you don't mind which, and XXXXX will suggest which section(s) we would like you to work on.
IMPORTANT: There will be a kick-off meeting of this Panel at the British Library at St Pancras, London, at 2 pm on Thursday 10th May. The meeting will be given a presentation by XXXXXX, one of the co-editors of the text that you will be scrutinising, in which he will explain the organisation of DIS 29500. I will explain the standards development process to which you are contributing. You are warmly encouraged to attend this meeting if you can manage this.

Precise details of the venue for the meeting will be sent to you shortly. If you are unable to attend, please let me know, and we will endeavour to provide you with access to all or a summary of the presentation material.

There is a provisional arrangement for a concluding joint meeting of IST/41/-/1 and IST/41 on Thursday 12th July, time and venue to be confirmed.Intervening meetings of the Technical Panel or its subgroups will as far as possible be phone-based. Please let us know if that presents you with any difficulties.

Your goal in assisting with this work will be to consider, if possible, all the text of those Parts that are assigned to you, and to compile lists of all technical and editorial errors that you find. Technical errors may include errors in syntax productions, inconsistencies, contradictions, omissions, duplications, invalid or incomplete code, examples, references, etc - indeed, any technical errors that would hinder implementation of the standard. Editorial errors include spelling and style errors that might lead to misinterpretation.

You may also make comments of a general nature on the Parts that you work on, but only so far as they relate to the fitness of the text for inclusion in the standard. DIS 29500 is primarily to be considered on its technical merit and fitness for publication as an International Standard. ISO has already decided that the text may progress to publication as an International Standard, provided the text is technically fit for publication, so the commercial and other policy-related issues that fuelled the earlier debate on whether or not it should be published at all may not formally be revisited.

Please note that the process of scrutiny of the text must be finished before the concluding joint meeting on 12th July, to allow time for resolution of any issues that prevent IST?41/ from recommending a clear UK position to ICT/-/1, who will in their turn need to consider our recommendations before agreeing the official UK response to the Fast Track ballot ahead of the 2nd September deadline.

XXXXX

From: DIUS Innovation Team

Sent: 04 May 2007 11:56
To: BSI
Subject: Microsoft Open XML

XXXX,

Thanks for your message. It looks like our diaries will clash all day!

When you email your update please can you copy to XXXX and XXXX (addresses above). I understand that 19 countries have raised objections to both the draft content and fast track process, please can you advise which countries and a summary of their objections.

Many thanks and enjoy the weekend ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­