The Software Alliance

About BSA

The Software Alliance is the leading advocate for the global software industry and the only global association exclusively focused on software issues. Our members are among the world’s most innovative and respected companies, creating software solutions that spark economies and improve modern life. With headquarters in Washington, DC; offices in Belgium, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, and the UK.; and operations in 60 countries, BSA conducts programs that drive safe and efficient legal software use and advocates for public policies that allow our member companies to do business without undue restrictions.

Global Policy: Opening Markets and Advancing Innovation

In close consultation with member companies, BSA | The Software Alliance works with policymakers, stakeholders, and legislators around the world to ensure our member companies can do business that fits the terms and conditions in the marketplace and their own business strategies. Our policy agenda focuses on the issues that have the greatest impact on members’ ability to commercialize and offer their software products and services globally.

These policy priorities include:

Ensuring the development of services, subscription, and data-based businesses by promoting policies that allow the free flow of data across borders and that avoid requirements to store data locally in order to provide data services in a specific country; Advocating for a balanced approach to privacy and security issues:

Privacy policies and laws that respect and encourage informed consumer choices, while ensuring customers receive value and diverse options by providing products and services tailored to their specific needs, and Security policies that promote trust, rapid innovation, and adaptation in the face of a constantly evolving threat landscape.

Advancing intellectual property policies that protect and promote members' innovations and products, and ensuring that patent, copyright, trade secrets, and other IP rights are comprehensive and enforceable;

Opening global markets to digital trade by working with policymakers to ensure that trade agreements enable cross-border data flows, ensure IP rights protection, and mitigate market access barriers for the software industry, and;

Encouraging a level playing field for doing business with governments as customers, by promoting procurement policies that are fair and non-discriminatory, with decision making based on factors such as value, efficiency, and performance — and not the nationality of the supplier or the offering’s method of development.