(ISO: Geneva) -- The two ISO and IEC technical boards have given the go-ahead to publish ISO/IEC DIS 29500, “Information technology—Office Open XML formats,” as an ISO/IEC international standard after appeals by four national standards bodies against the approval of the document failed to garner sufficient support. None of the appeals from Brazil, India, South Africa, and Venezuela received the support of two-thirds of the members of the ISO technical management board and IEC standardization management board, as required by ISO/IEC rules governing the work of their joint technical committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, “Information technology.” According to the ISO/IEC rules, DIS 29500 can now proceed to publication as an ISO/IEC international standard. This is expected to take place within the next few weeks on completion of final processing of the document, and subject to no further appeals against the decision. The adoption process of Office Open XML (OOXML) as an ISO/IEC Standard has generated significant debate related to both technical and procedural issues, which have been addressed according to ISO and IEC procedures.

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