EU INTEROPERABILITY FRAMEWORK SCORES OWN GOAL

STATEMENT BY JONATHAN ZUCK, PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR COMPETITIVE TECHNOLOGY

At a conference today, the European Commission presented a revised European Interoperability Framework, which defines the general rules and principles for collaboration on interoperability between Member States and EU institutions. Jonathan Zuck, President of the Association for Competitive Technology, said:  “The EU scores an own goal with this document. It aims to facilitate digital cooperation among European administrations, but in effect it excludes many well-established technologies from being used for e-Government services due to a narrow definition of open standards. This will hurt first and foremost innovative tech start-ups that rely on patent protection to establish themselves in the marketplace.”

Zuck added:  “Contrary to what is often said, commercial software is not the playground of big business, but primarily of inventive SMEs thriving in niche markets. Only the protection of their intellectual property permits those innovators to create growth and jobs. Commercial software must be allowed to compete on a level-playing field with other software types. Public procurement decisions should be based on technology neutrality. Governments ought to buy software on its merits and not through categorical preferences. To demand anything else is to impose one business model over another.”

The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) is an international education and advocacy group for the technology industry. Focusing on the interests of small and mid-size entrepreneurial technology companies, ACT advocates for a “Healthy Tech Environment” that promotes innovation, competition and investment. ACT has been active on issues such as intellectual property, international trade, e-commerce, privacy, internet policy and antitrust. ACT represents more than 3000 software developers, systems integrators, IT consulting and training firms, and e-businesses from around the world.