MEP Belder questions Commission and Council on OOXML

Summary:

A Member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands, Bastiaan Belder, will orally questions the Commission and the Council at the next Strasbourg session (24 to 27 September) on the Microsoft partners invasion in the Technical Committees in some Member States.

MEP Belder questions Commission and Council on OOXML

zoobab 20 Sep 2007 10:29

Bastiaan Belder, dutch MEP from the Independence/Democracy Group, will ask some questions to the Commission and to the Council on the Microsoft partners invasion in the Technical Committees on some Member States, such as Sweden or Italy, reported in an article published on the Commission IDABC news website.

Parliamentary questions
11 September 2007
H-0665/07

ORAL QUESTION for Question Time at the part-session in September II 2007 pursuant to Rule 109 of the Rules of Procedure by Bastiaan Belder to the Commission

Subject: Irregularities in connection with decision-making on international standardisation within the ISO

Is the Commission aware of recent irregularities in connection with decision-making on international standardisation within the ISO, including blackmail and buying of votes and other forms of improper influence on national voting committees?

In the Commission's view, should ISO procedures be adapted significantly in order to be better suited to dealing with controversial standards like OOXML?

If so, what changes will the Commission be proposing in consultation with the Member States and other participating countries, as well as national committees?

Does the Commission envisage the imposition of sanctions on companies that abuse their market position in order to involve European businesses against their will in practices of this kind or put other suppliers and open source applications at a competitive disadvantage?

See, for example: http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7183/469

Original language of question: NL

Last edited on 20 Sep 2007 10:30 by zoobab Show more

Re: MEP Belder questions Commission and Council on OOXML

podmokle 20 Sep 2007 19:23

Bastiaan Belder is a well-respected international relations specialist from the Independent Democrats group. It is nice to see him adopt the issue. In the Netherlands they had the problem that an American company vetoed the comments.

Very important. I think it is a good idea to approach your Parliament members to pose questions like these about the irregularities in the national standards committee or address questions that could not be asked in the fast-track process e.g. on a potential patent ambush.

E.g. conformity of Open XML with the WTO Technical Barrier to trade agreement.
http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/17-tbt_e.htm
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news07_e/tbt_5july07_e.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/

E.g. when the Commission will start to comply to ISO 26300 and so on.

Politics and standards are two sides of the same medal. Often government representatives participated and have first hand experience.

See also these MEP comments on the recent MS ruling. With its aggressive Parliament lobbying through multiple proxies most MEPs are not very favourable to that company.

Last edited on 21 Sep 2007 21:19 by pieterh Show more