Who creates these silly standards anyway?

Typically X3J3. X3J3 is an ANSI subcommittee dedicated to Fortran. WG5 is the ISO counterpart. WG5 owns responsibility for Fortran on an international basis. WG5 has previously tasked X3J3 to do the work. This arrangement continues. WG5 is composed of Fortran users, vendors, and academics from several ISO supporting nations. Delegates represent *their*countries* not their companies; so several delegates from a single company is permitted.