Proposed International Standard gets across line

MEDIA RELEASE

3 April 2008
Standards New Zealand

Proposed International Standard gets across the line

The high profile proposed adoption of the draft international standard ISO/IEC DIS 29500, Information technology - Office Open XML file formats has been approved following the recent re-ballot of participating member countries.

Following extensive stakeholder engagement, and participation in a ballot resolution meeting on the draft international Standard ISO/IEC DIS 29500, Information technology - Office Open XML file formats, Standards New Zealand recently confirmed its earlier vote against the adoption of this specification as an ISO/IEC international Standard.

Debbie Chin, Chief Executive, Standards New Zealand says 'We now know that there have been sufficient 'yes' votes internationally to approve this document as an ISO/IEC Standard. Although this was not the outcome New Zealand was seeking, we believe this will significantly enhance the chances of harmonisation with the existing XML Standard, and this is certainly a good thing.'

Mrs Chin says, 'We are keen to understand the next steps of ISO/IEC in the development of this Standard. We expect there will be support for New Zealand interests to be represented on the technical committees that will be working on any future developments - and on the harmonisation with the existing XML Standard.'

ISO/IEC DIS 29500 is a proposed standard for word-processing documents, presentations and spreadsheets that is intended to be implemented by multiple applications on multiple platforms. According to the submitters of the document, one of its objectives is to ensure the long-term preservation of documents created over the last two decades using programmes that are becoming incompatible with continuing advances in the field of information technology.

ENDS

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