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<html newsdate="2016-04-28">

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    <title>EU jeopardises its own goals in standardisation with FRAND licensing</title>
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<h1>EU jeopardises its own goals in standardisation with FRAND licensing</h1>

<p newsteaser="yes">On 19 April, the European Commission published a communication on <a 
href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/communication-ict-standardisation-priorities-digital-single-market">"ICT 
Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market"</a> (hereinafter 'the 
Communication'). The <a 
href="/activities/policy/eu/digital-single-market-comments.en.html">Digital 
Single Market (DSM) strategy</a> intends to digitise industries with several 
legislative and political initiatives, and the Communication is a part of it 
covering standardisation. In general, the Free Software Foundation Europe 
(FSFE) welcomes the Communication's plausible approach for integrating Free 
Software and <a href="/activities/os/">Open Standards</a> into standardisation 
but expresses its concerns about the lack of understanding of necessary 
prerequisites to pursue that direction.</p>

<h2>Acknowledging the importance of Free Software</h2>

<p>The Communication starts with acknowledging the importance of Open Standards 
for interoperability, innovation and access to media, cultural and educational 
content, and promotes "community building, attracting new sectors, promoting 
open standards and platforms where needed, strengthening the link between 
research and standardisation". The latter is closely linked to the "cloud", 
where the Communication states that the "proprietary solutions, purely national 
approaches and standards that limit interoperability can severely hamper the 
potential of the Digital Single Market", and highlights that "common open 
standards will help users access new innovative services".</p>

<p>As a result, the Commission concludes that by the end of 2016 it intends to 
make more use of Free Software elements by better integrating Free Software 
communities into standard setting processes in the standards developing 
organisations.</p>

<p>In the Internet of Things (IoT) domain, the Communication acknowledges the 
EU need for "an open platform approach that supports multiple application 
domains ... to create competitive IoT ecosystems". In this regard, the 
Commission states that "this requires open standards that support the entire 
value chain, integrating multiple technologies ... based on streamlined 
international cooperation that build on an IPR ["intellectual property rights"] 
framework enabling easy and fair access to standard essential patents 
(SEPs)".</p>

<p>FSFE welcomes this direction taken in the Communication, as well as the 
Commissioner <a 
href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/oettinger/announcements/keynote-speech-closing-plenary-session-net-futures-2016-brussels_en">Günther 
Oettinger's position, highlighted in his keynote at the Net Futures 2016</a>, 
that "easy reuse of standard and open components accelerates digitisation of 
any business or any industry sector." Furthermore, according to the 
Commissioner Oettinger, Free Software standards "enable transparency and build 
trust."</p>

<h2>EC putting good efforts at risk</h2>

<p>However, the attempts of the Commission to promote Open Standards and a more 
balanced approach towards "intellectual property rights" policies in 
standardisation may be seriously hampered by the Commission's stance towards 
FRAND licensing. In particular, the Commission sets the goal to "clarify core 
elements of an equitable, effective and enforceable licensing methodology 
around FRAND principles" which is seen as striking the right balance in 
standardisation and ensuring the "fair and non-discriminatory" access to 
standards. Furthermore, it is a well-known fact that FRAND licensing terms that 
in theory stand for "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory" terms, in 
practice are <a 
href="/activities/os/why-frand-is-bad-for-free-software.en.html">incompatible 
with most of Free Software</a>.</p>

<p>In conclusion, whilst the Communication sets a positive direction towards 
the promotion of Open Standards and the inclusion of Free Software communities 
into the standardisation, this direction may be seriously limited if the 
Commission fails to acknowledge the incompatibility of FRAND licensing terms 
with Free Software licenses. This in return can in practice make a proper Free 
Software implementation of the standard impossible. As a result, the attempts 
of the Commission to achieve truly "digital single market" based on 
interoperability, openness and innovation will not be achieved as the 
significant part of innovative potential found in Free Software will be in 
practice excluded from standardisation.</p>

<p>In line with <a 
href="/activities/policy/eu/digital-single-market-comments.en.html">our 
recommendations on the DSM initiative</a> that got well received by the 
Commission, FSFE believes that in order to achieve the adequate integration of 
Free Software communities, and the overall plausible approach towards 
appropriate use of Open Standards the Commission needs to avoid the harmful 
consequences of FRAND licensing to Free Software, and instead pursue the 
promotion of standards that are open, minimalistic and implementable with Free 
Software. These standards will give the substance to the Commission's promises 
to encourage Free Software communities to participate in standardisation.</p>

</body>
<tags>
  <tag>front-page</tag>
  <tag content="Open Standards">OpenStandards</tag>
  <tag content="Policy">Policy</tag>
  <tag content="European Commission">EuropeanCommission</tag>
  <tag content="Digital Single Market">Digital Single Market</tag>
</tags>
</html>