A draft resolution for the Europarliament dated 8 September is circulating, essentially adopting the view that the EXPRESS report ought to be heeded; and seeking concrete steps to implement it and perhaps go beyond it.  We were pleased and honored to be included in some of the relevant deliberations, as OASIS has long worked cooperatively with CEN, ETSI, the European ICT Standards Board and other ESO-related activities.

While we’ve not had a chance to study the new draft in detail, several aspects of the resolution are quite pleasing.  These include acknowledgments of the needs for greater geographic reach to developing states within the European community, and for stronger outreach to small enterprises (SMEs).

The draft’s paragraphs regarding innovation and consortia also hold out some promise for a better working cooperation among ESOs and market-based forums.  As one of the larger and older standards consortia in our field, we’re honored to have many standards embraced and implemented by European member state governments, and being put to use constantly in public administration, as solutions in various Foundation Programme projects.

The draft suggests that we should take the EXPRESS panel’s invitation to acknowledge established consortia standards, and international ones, as first-class citizens within the European standardization system.  This reaffirmation would help policy catch up with actual practice, and is most welcome.  Some years ago, a few read the pre-existing European directives quite narrowly, as if consortia were something of an unfortunate temporary incursion on the open standards activities of ESOs.  Our own experience has been that constructive cooperation is entirely possible.  If this current draft helps give rise to broader collaboration among consortia, European and global de jure bodies generally, it’s likely to be quite helpful.