Open XML
Open XML as a Standard
ISO/IEC IS 29500 was originally developed as the Office Open XML Specification by Microsoft Corporation, which submitted it to Ecma International, an information technology industry association, for transposing into an ECMA standard.
This ECMA process saw the participation of other IT industry players and stakeholders such as Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, The British Library, Essilor, Intel, Microsoft, NextPage, Novell, Statoil, Toshiba, and the U.S. Library of Congress.
Ecma International subsequently published the document as ECMA standard 376. Ecma International then submitted the standard in December 2006 to ISO/IEC JTC 1, with whom it has category A liaison status, for adoption as an International Standard under the JTC 1 "fast track" procedure.
This allows a standard developed within the IT industry to be presented to JTC 1 as a draft international standard (DIS) that can be adopted after a process of review and balloting. This process, which was concluded in 2008, was open to the IEC and ISO national member bodies from 104 countries.
Currently, ISO/IEC IS 29500 is being maintained by participating countries and liaison organizations at JTC-1's SC34 working group.
