​SAI Global hits back at Standards Australia's claims of unwillingness to share

Standards compliance firm SAI Global has hit back at claims made by Standards Australia that the company is not providing information around what Standards Australia content it is using.

This comes after Australia's peak non-government standards organisation Standards Australia announced it was commencing arbitration proceedings against its distribution partner for persistently refusing for more than 12 months to detail what Standards Australia information it has obtained.

A SAI Global spokesperson told ZDNet that Standard Australia's claims that it is refusing to supply information to the organisation is "baseless", highlighting that it publishes the standards exactly as supplied by Standards Australia -- without editing or alteration.

In addition, the spokesperson said SAI Global provides all the information requested by Standards Australia, with the exception of information it has described as commercially sensitive, confidential, and proprietary information, to which it said Standards Australia is not entitled to under the contract, known as the PLA between Standards Australia and SAI Global.

"We are not sure what information SA expects to be 'shared' with it, but SAI Global has valuable and proprietary IP that it has funded and developed for the international digital publication services that it provides to customers in UK, Europe, and US," the spokesperson said.

"Digital publication enhances our clients' capacity to efficiently access and use international and other standards information and Standards Australia has no legitimate basis to demand access to such proprietary information."

The additional response comes after SAI Global initially indicated it has exclusive rights to publish, distribute, market, and sell Australian standards for up to 20 years and are "not confined to any particular format or subject to Standards Australia's approval".

SAI Global said it will continue to stand by its belief that it is in the interest of its shareholders and users of Australian standards to publish the standards via the most modern media, and therefore will defend the claim.

"SAI believes that the PLA, as it stands, allows it to use the same IT infrastructure to provide Australian industry, businesses, government entities, professions, and individuals the same level of convenient and efficient access to Australian Standards, without altering or modifying the content, and is keen to see this matter resolved," the spokesperson said.

"SAI calls on Standards Australia to stop standing in the way of making the standards that they create more accessible and effective."