By Nikki Tait in Brussels and Maija Palmer in London, Published: March 5 2008 02:00

The European Commission is investigating the process under which a key Microsoft document format could be adopted as an industry standard – a move that would carry significant commercial benefits for the software company.

Officials at the European Commission’s competition directorate have written to members of the International Organisation for Standardisation, asking how they prepared for votes in September and later this month on acceptance of Microsoft’s OOXML document format as a worldwide standard. Without ISO acceptance, Microsoft could stand to lose business, particularly with government clients, some of which are becoming increasingly keen to use only ISO-certified software.

The ISO process has been widely criticised, however, with some members of national standards’ bodies accusing Microsoft and its rivals of attempting to influence the vote.

Tim Bray, a member of the Canadian national standards body, called the procedure “complete, utter, unadulterated bullshit” in a recent blog posting.

A vote in Sweden was declared invalid after one member was discovered to have voted twice.

In addition, in several countries, a large number of Microsoft partners joined the national standards organisations just ahead of a vote on the issue in September.

Microsoft lost an initial first round of voting on the standard in September, and faces a final vote this month.

In its letter, sent out before the Geneva meeting, the Commission noted press reports had alleged irregularities in several countries over the OOXML standardisation proposal, and accusations of attempts to influence voting.

It asked standards organisations for views on these charges and any supporting details. It was unclear yesterday how many standards organisations worldwide had been contacted by the Commission. However, several national organisations in Europe confirmed they had received the Commission letter. Some national bodies have admitted they are reviewing their own membership rules.

“We have to consider whether you might have to participate in the standards committee for a little more than an hour before a vote,” said Lars Flink, chief executive of the Swedish Standards Institute.

The European Commission said only that it was conducting antitrust inquiries over several aspects of Microsoft’s behaviour.

Microsoft said it openly encouraged its partners to participate in the ISO process, but was not funding any third parties doing so. The company said it would cooperate with the European Commission’s inquiry.

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