A week ago, the German standards organization Deutsche Institut für Normung (DIN) had finally confirmed its decision to uphold in the ISO voting procedure the resolution it had adopted in September 2007 agreeing to the recognition of Office Open XML as an International Standard.

“We are very pleased with this development,” said Gunnar Thaden, CIO of TÜV NORD. He explained that the adoption of the international standard Ecma Office Open XML as an ISO Standard would substantially enhance not only the free exchange of documents, but also the security of investment in IT applications. “This is good news especially for those users who in the past have relied predominantly on Microsoft’s “.doc” format,” Thadden went on. “I am glad that TÜV NORD, in close collaboration with DIN, has been able to contribute to this outcome. We will continue in future to make every effort, through DIN, to strengthen Germany’s voice in international standardization.”

International standards are very important in TÜV NORD’s work. Open file formats are a prerequisite for the unhindered exchange of documents across national boundaries and between vendor-specific solutions. They facilitate archiving and offer substantial potential for optimisation through the intermeshing of front office and back office solutions. This development will enable TÜV NORD to provide its services even more economically, both in Germany and abroad.

The international standardization process provides for opinion-forming on proposals for new standards to take place at national level in bodies known as “national mirror committees”. In the context of this procedure, TÜV NORD is involved in the Advisory Committee to DIN’s Standards Committee on Information Technology, and in the relevant mirror committees corresponding to important international technical committees such as NIA34, which is responsible for document formats.

At a meeting six months ago, the responsible committee within DIN’s Standards Committee on Information Technology and Applications (NIA) had already agreed, after months of intensive preparatory work and thorough and constructive discussion of the position papers submitted to it, to accept the draft ISO/IEC 29500 with comments. This meeting was attended by representatives of software providers, application developers, research institutes, ministries and government agencies.

In TÜV NORD’s view, the contributions made by the working committee led to a substantial enhancement in the quality of the standard. DIN’s experience in moderating such processes was of great importance, particularly in view of the fact that the area concerned is one in which conflicting interests are rife. The committee of technical experts reached consensus on most issues; the remaining matters were decided by majority vote, in accordance with a procedure governed by clear rules.

About TÜV NORD Group
“Making our world safer”: TÜV NORD Group (http://www.tuev-nord.de/), with its staff of over 8,000, more than 6,300 of whom have technical or scientific backgrounds, is one of the biggest technical service providers in Germany. In addition, it is active in more than 70 other countries of Europe, Asia and America. The Group owes its leading position in the market to its technical competence and to the broad range of consultancy, service and testing activities performed by its Mobility, Industry Services, International, Natural Resources, and Human Resources and Training business units