Proposal For A Joint Maintenance Plan For IS 29500 - Office Open XML File Formats

Ecma/TC45/2007/019
Proposal for a Joint Maintenance Plan

for IS 29500 – Office Open XML File Formats
Prepared by Rex Jaeschke, Ecma TC45 Liaison to ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 34
[email protected]
Date: 2007-07-10
Attached is a proposed agreement between ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 34 and Ecma International with respect to
a joint maintenance plan for IS 29500, “Office Open XML File Formats”. Ecma TC45 submits this proposal
as a starting point for discussion between SC 34 members and Ecma TC45, and requests that this topic
be placed on the agenda for the next SC 34 Plenary, scheduled for December 2007 in Japan.
Ecma TC45 looks forward to working with SC 34 and its members in this endeavor.
Please send any questions and comments regarding this proposal to Rex, and he will circulate them to
TC45 for discussion and response.
1 Joint Maintenance Plan for IS 29500 – Office Open XML File Formats
2 An Agreement between ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 and Ecma International
4 ECMA-376, “Office OpenXML File Formats” (referred to below as OpenXML), was Fast-Tracked to
5 ISO/IEC JTC 1 as DIS 29500. Clause 13.13 of the ISO/IEC JTC 1 Directives states, “If the proposed standard
6 is accepted and published, its maintenance will be handled by JTC 1 and/or a JTC 1 designated
7 maintenance group in accordance with the JTC 1 rules.” This plan describes an agreement between
8 ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 34 (referred to below as SC 34) and Ecma International (referred to below as Ecma) for
9 maintenance for OpenXML, with Ecma TC45 (referred to below as TC45), carrying out the key duties.
10 The plan follows many of the points used for JTC 1 SC-alone maintenance of International Standards.
11 SC 34 and Ecma agree that:
12 1. Once any version of an OpenXML Standard Fast-Tracked to JTC 1 has been adopted by JTC 1 and
13 published by ITTF, Ecma will adopt the same text as the corresponding Ecma Standard so there
14 is full alignment between the two. Ecma will make its version freely available for download,
15 consistent with existing Ecma policies.
16 2. As prescribed by JTC Directives clause 13.13, Ecma TC45, working in cooperation with SC 34 via
17 the liaison mechanism described below, will be the “JTC 1-designated maintenance group”
18 (referred to below as The Maintenance Group).
19 3. SC 34 and TC45 will each have a liaison officer with the other, with that officer being the head of
20 a delegation of subject matter expert members who are authorized by their parent committee
21 (SC 34 and TC45, respectively) to participate in the other committees’ activities as they pertain
22 to the maintenance of approved OpenXML ISO/IEC International Standards. The rules for
23 external liaison participation of TC45 liaison delegates to SC 34 are defined in clause 3.3.4 of the
24 ISO/IEC JTC 1 Directives. Regarding liaison in the other direction, SC 34 liaison delegates will:
25 a. Be able to attend and contribute to those portions of TC45 meetings addressing
26 maintenance of approved OpenXML ISO/IEC International Standards.
27 b. Have access to a joint TC45-SC 34 email facility that will be used for all technical
28 discussions dealing with maintenance of approved Open XML ISO/IEC International
29 Standards.
30 c. Have access to all TC45 documents relating to the maintenance of approved OpenXML
31 ISO/IEC International Standards, including interim working drafts.
32 4. Defect Reports received by each of the liaison officers from their parent organization (JTC 1 or
33 Ecma) will be forwarded to The Maintenance Group. The resolution of defect reports will be
34 done by The Maintenance Group. The decision to generate any Technical Corrigenda will be
35 made by The Maintenance Group. Technical Corrigenda will be produced by The Maintenance
36 Group and submitted to SC 34 for processing.
37 5. The decision to produce an amendment or revision for OpenXML will be made by The
38 Maintenance Group. Amendments and revisions will be produced by The Maintenance Group
1 and submitted to SC 34, where they will enter the existing ISO/IEC JTC 1 revision process at
2 Stage 4.
3 6. Any decision to stabilise the OpenXML standard will be made by The Maintenance Group.
4 7. All work done and submissions provided under this agreement will be performed using Ecma’s
5 IPR policies. Ecma will assert that any maintenance submission to JTC 1 will be consistent with
6 the ISO/IEC IPR Policies.
Some Background Information on
JTC 1 Process and Terminology Regarding Maintenance

(For information only; not part of the maintenance proposal.)
According to the JTC 1 Directives (see JTC001-N-8557, the JTC Directives 5th Edition Version 3),
maintenance of an ISO/IEC standard includes the following possibilities:
Editorial Defects: “An error which can be assumed to have no consequences in the application of the IS,
for example a minor printing error.”
Clauses 15.1.2 and 15.1.3 allow for re-issuing a revised version of the standard in double-quick time
provided the edits are “of relatively minor importance”; that is, they don’t result in any substantive
change. (This pretty much allows only editorial and non-normative changes.) This possibility has not
been included in the agreement above, as, in practice, these can be handled informally as errata on a
website. In any event, clause 15.4.2.2 suggests holding on to any handful of editorial defects, and
including them in a future Technical Corrigendum (see the next category below).
Technical Defects: “A technical error or ambiguity in an IS inadvertently introduced either in drafting or

in printing which could lead to incorrect or unsafe application of the IS.”
Typically, the maintaining group resolves these and waits until some number have accumulated before
publishing them in a Technical Corrigendum, which then officially modifies the base standard. The
operational rule in JTC1 1 is that after you have issued no more than two of these corrigenda, you fold
them into the base standard and push out an integrated revised standard.
To get adopted, a Technical Corrigendum must be subjected to a 3-month letter ballot of SC 34’s
National Bodies (NBs).
Substantive Technical Additions or Changes: These can be published as an amendment to the base
standard, or as a new standard. The agreement above applies to both approaches for substantive
addition or change.
Stabilised Standard: One that has ongoing validity and effectiveness but is mature and insofar as can be
determined will not require further maintenance of any sort.

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Ecma/TC45/2007/019

Proposal for a Joint Maintenance Plan

11 SC 34 and Ecma agree that:

JTC 1 Process and Terminology Regarding Maintenance

Technical Defects: “A technical error or ambiguity in an IS inadvertently introduced either in drafting or

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