Third party

Third party is often used to refer to a person or entity who is not involved in an interaction or relationship. It may refer to:

Politics

• Third party (politics), party other than one of the two dominant ones in a two-party political system
  • Third party (United States), in American politics
  • Third party (Canada), in Canadian politics
• Third parties in a two party system, a system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections at every level of government

Computers

• Third-party developer, hardware or software developer not directly tied to the primary product that a consumer is using (c.f. Second party)
• Third-party software component, software which can be used in conjunction with some software or hardware but is not associated with either the manufacturer or the user

Business and marketing

• Third-party access policies require owners of natural monopoly infrastructure facilities to grant access to those facilities to parties other than their own customers
• Third-party administrator, an organization that processes insurance claims or certain aspects of employee benefit plans for a separate entity
• Third-party verification (TPV), process of getting an independent party to confirm that the customer is actually requesting a change or ordering a new service or product, such as the practice used to prevent Telephone slamming
• Third-party technique, marketing strategy commonly employed by public relations firms, that involves placing a premeditated message in the "mouth of the media"
• Third-party beneficiary, person who may have the right to sue on a contract, despite not having originally been a party to the contract
• Third party insurance, liability insurance which covers third-party claims
• Third party Independent test organization

Other uses

• Third-party reproduction refers to a process where another person provides sperm or eggs or where another woman provides her uterus so that a woman can have a child
• 3rd Party, American 1990s pop music group
• Third-party ownership in association football, the ownership of a player's economic rights by third-party sources
• Third Party (album), an album by Blue Sky Black Death, released September 7, 2010

See also

• Third person (disambiguation)
• Party (disambiguation)