The number of countries opposing the adoption of Microsoft’s interchangeable Web documents format Office Open XML (OOXML) as an international standard has risen to three. India and Brazil joined South Africa and filed last-minute appeals with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

Among the complaints forwarded by the three states, process irregularities are mentioned, as well as the fact that not enough time was allocated for addressing the issues raised throughout the review process. 

At the beginning of April, Microsoft’s Office Open XML format was approved by 24 countries out of the 32-country International Organization for Standardization core group.

In the final voting round, most of the members, including Britain, Japan, Germany and Switzerland, were in favor of Microsoft’s standard. The ten countries opposing the standard were: Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iran, New Zealand, South Africa and Venezuela. Microsoft’s opponents argued that the Office Open XML standard locks out competitors, thus giving customers no choice but to continue to buy the same MS products.

Organization rules say that at least 66 percent of core group members must accept a standard in order for it to be approved, and no more than 25 percent of all nations involved in the vote can oppose it.