European Commission’s consultation paper on Article 17
European Commission has finally published the consultation document on stakeholders’ dialogue regarding the implementation of Article 17 of the Directive (EU) 2019/790 on Copyright and Related Rights on Digital Single Market. The document sums up the stakeholders’ main concerns and sets forth the initial views of the European Commission with the aim to finalise the Commission guidance on Article 17 implementation.
The new Article 17 DSM Directive is one of the most controversial ones, because it introduces a new liability regime for the online content-sharing service providers (online platforms) for the content uploaded by their users. With this, Article 17 invites content overblocking by way of using non-sophisticated filters, which can lead to unjustified infringements of users’ freedom of expression.
In order to discover the best possible way to implement Article 17, the European Commission held six stakeholders dialogues between October 2019 and February 2020, where rightsholders, online platforms, users, consumers, and fundamental rights organisations presented their views.
Now, the Commission has gathered all the stakeholders’ opinions, published them alongside with its own insight, and invited the participants to submit their written views on the document by 10 September 2020. The received feedback will then serve as basis for the Commission’s guide on the best possible implementation of Article 17 DSM Directive.
You can read more about the consultation document here.
It is also interesting to keep an eye on the CJEU Joined YouTube and Cyando Cases (C-682/18 in C-683/18), with AG Øe recently issuing his Opinion on the matter, which could provide answers to the very questions raised by the new Article 17 of the DSM Directive.
On Monday, 14 September 2020 the Public consultation on digital access to European cultural heritage was closed. The purpose of the public consultation was that the European Commission receives feedback on its Recommendation of 27 October 2011 on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation from the interested stakeholders. Among others, Communia submitted its response as well, outlining the need for adaptation to the ever changing digital world.
Last week the deadline for responses to the European Commission’s Targeted consultation addressed to the participants to the stakeholder dialogue on Article 17 of the CDSM Directive came to a close. Yesterday 14 September 2020, civil society organisations sent to Commissioner Breton a joint letter summarising their responses to the Commission’s consultation document and emphasising the importance of user rights protection.
On Wednesday, 9 September 2020, the General Court published its long-awaited judgement in the “Teran” case (Case T-626/17), which started already back in 2017, and dismissed Slovenia’s action for annulment of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1353 of 19 May 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 as regards the wine grape varieties and their synonyms that may appear on wine labels, pursuant to which the designation ‘Teran’ may be used on the labels of Croatian wines, produced in Istra region.
After three successfully organised virtual “salons”, Communia will, in cooperation with #NoWorries project, organise the fourth one “Which digital policies work for cultural heritage in 2020s?” on Thursday, 17 September 2020. You are welcome to attend!