The report applies the Brinkburn Analysis™ to evaluate the validity of Ecma's privileged status within ISO, one not enjoyed by any other Consortia, and criticises ECMA for having “virtually no representation for many points of view” and “no outreach and no liasons with other consortia”. Most damning of all is the conclusion in respect of OOXML - “It is a breach, almost, of common sense. Ecma, through its members, has created, with the exploitation of a loophole, a precedent that may well enable the breakdown of the formal standards process”.

We conducted another inspection of the process and share the views. In his note to the European Parliament conference OFE's Graham Taylor reportedly called for a revocation of ECMA International's A relationship at ISO JTC1. Of course this is the most obvious solution. It needs to be investigated how that would be done.

A nasty nightmare: ISO 9000 certified quality management as the placebo solution for the International Standards Institution reform…

Brinkburn report (commercial)

• The Brinkburn Analysis Examines Ecma International

Ecma International has facilitated, via its A-liaison status with JTC1, the fast tracking of Microsoft's OOXML into an ISO-approved standard. What does Ecma do to deserve such a perk, and what does the future hold for standardization now that Ecma has so publicly undermined every procedure that formal standards rest on?"