Dear Madam or Sir,

In light of your response to an earlier Freedom of Information
request from me (forwarded to you by the Department for Business,
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform), would you please provide a copy
of all correspondence between your Department (including your
predecessor, the Department of Trade and Industry) and the British
Standards Institution, regarding the standardization process of
Office Open XML at the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO), in particular, the draft international
standard ‘DIS 29500’.

Thank you very much.

(If possible, would you please use this email address for this
present request, rather than any previous address you might have on
file, as I am using a different email address to track each of my
requests. Again, many thanks.)

Sincerely,

Dr Kaihsu Tai

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible (where a response is required). For information, the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number
2008/000071766

Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
http://www.dius.gov.uk/index.htm

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Dr Kaihsu Tai

Ref No: 08/0592
I am writing to advise you that the time limit for responding to your
request for information which the Department needs to be extended.
The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly, and in any case
no later than 20 working days after receiving your request. However,
when a "qualified" exemption applies to the information and an
accompanying public interest test is engaged, the Act allows the time
for response to be longer, in which case a full response must be
provided within such time as is reasonable in all circumstances. In the
case of your request, we have not yet reached a decision on where the
balance of the public interest lies.
The specific exemption which applies in relation to your request is
Section .35, Formulation of Government policy.
I hope to let you have a response by 17 October 2008.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
Your sincerely
Karen Willcocks

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Dear Ms Willcocks,

Your reference: 08/0592

I thank you for your message earlier today, advising me that you
are claiming an exemption under section 35 of the Freedom of
Information Act (Formulation of government policy, etc.), and that
you plan to respond by 17 October 2008. I appreciate your careful
consideration.

Sincerely,

Kaihsu Tai

Dear Mr Kaihsu Tai,

I am sorry but the time limit for responding to your request for
information needs to be extended further. The consideration of the
exemption which applies in relation to your request, Section 35,
Formulation of Government policy, has taken longer than anticipated.
Please accept my apologies for the delay, however I can assure you this
matter is under consideration and I will be in a position to respond to
you in full shortly.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

Yours sincerely,

Rose Newton (sent on behalf of Karen Willcocks)

Rose Newton| Senior Policy Advisor| EU&International Standards &
Standardisation issues| Innovation Delivery Directorate| Department for
Innovation, Universities and Skills| Kingsgate House| 66-74 Victoria
Street| London| SW1E 6SW|(0203 300 8627| [email address]

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Dear Mrs Newton,

Your reference: 08/0592

Thank you for your message earlier today about extending the
exemption period. Your apologies are accepted. I appreciate your
careful consideration and look forward to receiving the information
I requested.

Sincerely,

Kaihsu Tai

I am out of the office on Friday 17th Oct. I will be away from the office (on business) on Mon & Tues (20th, 21st) but will be accessing my emails online from time to time. If your email requires urgent attention, please contact Ajay Gohil on 0203 300 8630. Thx.

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Dear Mr Kaihsu Tai,

I am pleased to confirm that there has been correspondence between the
Department for Innovation Universities and Skills (DIUS) (including its
predecessor the DTI) and the British Standards Institution regarding the
standardisation process of Office OpenXML at the International
Organisation for Standardisation, in particular the draft international
standard DIS 29500. There has not been any correspondence regarding
those matters between DIUS (including its predecessor the DTI) and the
Microsoft Corporation.
<<FOI Dr Tai response letter.doc>> <<FOI OOXML document one.doc>>
<<FOI OOXML document two.doc>>

Please find attached our formal response, and two documents disclosing
the correspondence held.

Regards
Karen

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Dear Ms Willcocks,

Your reference: 08/0592

Thank you very much for your response to my request and the
information released, which I received today.

Sincerely,

Kaihsu Tai