If they are trying to create an interoperable standard the work plan seems to be missing the two most important parts.
1) Test suite of sample encoded files with expected decoder behaviour documented. This shouldn't be a random selection of different people's encodes but a carefully selected set of those pushing the boundaries of the spec. This should be used to test decoders rather than having a reference decoder that has to be copied bugs and all.
2) The counterpart to the above is a file validator that checks as much as possible that any given encoded file meets the specification.
Reference decoders only really make sense for codecs where you will expect a particular bitstream output for any input.
If they don't do both of those things it doesn't seem much more useful than just making some encoding recommendations for compatibility.
1) Test suite of sample encoded files with expected decoder behaviour documented. This shouldn't be a random selection of different people's encodes but a carefully selected set of those pushing the boundaries of the spec. This should be used to test decoders rather than having a reference decoder that has to be copied bugs and all.
2) The counterpart to the above is a file validator that checks as much as possible that any given encoded file meets the specification.
Reference decoders only really make sense for codecs where you will expect a particular bitstream output for any input.
If they don't do both of those things it doesn't seem much more useful than just making some encoding recommendations for compatibility.