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:

Business and marketing

• Third-party access, policies that 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 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 technique, marketing strategy commonly employed by public relations firms, that involves placing a premeditated message in the "mouth of the media"
• 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 Independent test organization

Computers

• Third-party developer, a hardware or software developer independent of the primary product or platform that the consumer is using
• 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

Law and society

• Third-party observations under the European Patent Convention, observations submitted by a person who is not formally party to the grant or opposition proceedings, where the observations relate to the patentability of an invention subject of a European patent application or, after grant, subject of a European patent
• Third-party reproduction, a process wherein a donor provides sperm, eggs, or the use of a woman's uterus so that a woman can have a child

Music

• 3rd Party, American 1990s pop music group
• Third Party (album), an album by Blue Sky Black Death, released September 7, 2010

Politics

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

Sports

• Third-party ownership in association football, the ownership of a player's economic rights by sources other than the player

Other uses

• Third Party Inspection, Based on ISO 17020 Standard, there are 3 kinds of inspection organizations. The Category A organizations are third party inspection agencies that must not be involved in any activities other than inspection and testing. Based on this requirement the third party inspection agency must not be involved in design, procurement, fabrication, construction and installation. All companies and parties such as buyers, sellers, engineering companies, plant owners must have access to these agencies and use their services. The confidentiality, independence, impartiality and integrity are important conditions for being a Third Party Inspection Company.

See also

• Third person (disambiguation)
• Party (disambiguation)