§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to the letter of 19 February from the Under-Secretary of State for Science and Technology, what action he is taking in European Telecommunications Standards Institute for the publication of the de facto standards in relation to intellectual property in the telecommunications industry; and if he will make a statement. [27933]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorThe European Telecommunications Standards Institute is the main body in Europe producing telecommunications standards. It has a membership of some 30 Governments and 370 private and public telecommunications companies.
DTI officials have held various elected positions in the institute and in this capacity have been pursuing the idea that ETSI should be ready to publish not only its own standards but those that are drafted elsewhere, including de facto standards. This concept was agreed last year and incorporated in ETSI' s new rules of procedure on 19 April this year.
Such publication should ensure that essential intellectual property is available on fair and non-discriminatory terms. The publication of a particular de facto standard depends though on the willingness of the originator to submit it for publication in this way and it is too early to say whether this will, in fact, be widely accepted.