Inactive P-Members
Around September 2007, several new members joined and became Participating (P) Members to vote for approval of Office Open XML. Afterwards, they refused to vote on other proposed standards, despite pleas to do so.
Because the subcommittee requires that at least 50% of P-members vote on a specification for it to become an ISO/IEC certified standard, SC 34 was unable to pass any new standards. Whether the subcommittee would be able to improve the situation, or whether they would simply be unable to further conduct any business, was unclear.
By mid December 2007, this problem seems to have started clearing up.
Read more about this topic: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34