FSA Comments on the Competition and Consumer Commission Singapore

Brussels, 27 August 2021 – The Fair Standards Alliance (FSA) submits the following comments to the Competition and Consumer Commission Singapore (CCCS) in relation to Section 8 of the Proposed Business Collaboration Guidance Note. The FSA believes that the section dealing with technical standards could benefit from greater clarity on the licensing of standard essential patents (SEPs) and more certainty about the fact that access to a standard is ensured by licensing any company irrespective of their position in the value chain.

The FSA is a trade association that promotes the licensing of SEPs on a fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) basis. Our membership is broad and diverse, ranging from multinationals to SMEs, and coming from different levels of the value chain across a diversity of industry sectors. Our members significantly contribute to innovation around the world. Annually, the aggregate turnover of FSA members is more than USD 2.4 trillion, and in aggregate our members spend on an annual basis more than USD 150 billion on R&D and innovation. Alliance members have more than 500,000 patents, including SEPs, that are either granted or pending.

Standards are important enablers for any competitive and dynamic market where innovation and interoperability go hand in hand. In order for standards to be successful and widely taken up by the market, the Alliance believes that it is important to ensure that SEP licensing occurs in a fair, balanced, and rational manner.