Subject: SC22 N2558 - SC2 Liaison Report - FOR PLENARY

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 17:02:22 -0400 (EDT)

___________________ beginning of title page _________________________
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces
Secretariat:  U.S.A.  (ANSI)

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
N2558

August 1997

TITLE:
JTC 1/SC2 Liaison Report to JTC 1/SC22

SOURCE:
Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

WORK ITEM:
N/A

STATUS:
This Report will be considered under Agenda Item 7.4.1 at the August 1997
SC22 Plenary

CROSS REFERENCE:
N/A

DOCUMENT TYPE:
SC2 Liaison Report

ACTION:
To SC22 Member Bodies for information.

Address reply to:
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat
William C. Rinehuls
8457 Rushing Creek Court
Springfield, VA 22153  USA
Tel:  +1 (703) 912-9680
Fax:  +1 (703) 912-2973
email:  [email-masked]

______________________ end of title page; beginning of report ________
J. W. van WINGEN
1997-08-13
VERSION 1.0        

  REPORT OF THE LIAISON REPRESENTATIVE OF SC22 TO SC2

  To SC22 Plenary meeting, Ottawa, Canada, 18-23 August 1997

 ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2, Coded character sets, had its 1997 Plenary meeting
 07-08 July in Iraklion on Crete, Greece, preceded by meetings of its
 two WGs. There were 23 NBs represented (some only at the WG meetings)
 and a varying number of delegates (35-40). A Liaison Report from SC22
 was read (SC2 N 2904).

 SC2 underwent important changes since its previous plenary. ECMA,
 acting for Switzerland, has given up the Secretariat, end of 1996, the
 position of Chairman and Secretary then being vacant. Applications were
 invited by JTC1, the period ending (extended by urgent request) on 15
 September 1996. Japan remained the only candidate, and JTC1 decided
 accordingly. The new SC2 Chairman will be Professor Shibano, and the
 new Secretary Ms. Kimura. The new WG3 convener is Mr. Melagrakis from
 Greece.

 Also ECMA wanted to transfer the Registration Authority for ISO 2375
 and 7350 it helds to another body. SC2 agreed to recommend JTC1 to
 transfer these to Japan.

 SC2 is busily revising its standards. Of the 10 parts of ISO 8859,
 8-bit single byte coded graphic character sets, 8 have reached DIS
 stage. Three new parts (two new Latin alphabets and Latin/Thai) are
 under CD ballot. Further extension of 8859 with new parts is envisaged,
 contrary to expectation (three new Latin alphabets at least, including
 one for Vietnamese), and Latin/Sinhala.

 ISO 7350 will be revised to include registration of subrepertoires of
 ISO/IEC 10646-1, Universal multiple-octet Coded character Set (UCS), as
 well. This will provide more fine-tuning of subsets to practical needs.
 But SC2 decided to suspend progressing it, awaiting a report on 10646
 Collection Identifiers.

 ISO/IEC 10646-1 reached its 13th amendment last year. Concern was
 expressed by implementers about 10646-1 being a stable standard or not
 (SC2 N 1388). Nevertheless, at least 6 further amendments are under way
 now. Apparently the signal was not understood.

 The newly approved work item for a TR on Character/Glyph Model has
 resulted in an approved PDTR 15285. The DTR will go out as soon as
 possible.

 At the 1996 meetings attention was requested at the WG3 meeting for the
 effects of WG2 (multiple octet) decisions to the WG3 (single octet)
 standards. Should an amendment to 10646 also be followed by changes in
 all other character coding standards, much work would be involved,
 which has to be justified. This should also be kept in mind at SC22.
 Unfortunately, there are no signs now that SC2 has understood the issue
 sufficiently. A number of characters to be added to 10646-1 would make
 it inconsistent with the repertoire of 6937, on which many systems and
 implementations have been based.

 SC2 will meet next in March 1998 in Seattle, USA. A stable future for
 SC2 has still to be assured. This may be the outcome of the JTC1
 Workshop on Cultural adaptability, part of the JTC1 Reengineering
 activity.

______________________ end of SC22 N2558 ___________________________