Public Consultation on EU Copyright Rules
On the 5th of December 2013 the European Commission launched its much anticipated public consultation on the review of the EU copyright rules. This consultation was the second visible sign of the Commission’s attempt to modernize the EU rules (the first was the Licenses for Europe stakeholder dialogue).
"The public consultation on EU copyright rules … [works towards] ensuring that the EU copyright regulatory framework stays fit for purpose in the digital environment to support creation and innovation, tap the full potential of the Single Market, foster growth and investment in our economy and promote cultural diversity." - European Commission, 2013
For many memory institutions it has been obvious for a long time that the current EU copyright framework is not fit for purpose to enable them to fulfil their missions in the digital environment. The problems related to copyright have been frequently discussed by Europeana and our partners. While there has been some progress (most notably the 2012 EU directive on certain permitted uses of Orphan Works), it is clear that there are still huge barriers facing memory institutions wanting to operate in the digital environment.
The Europeana Copyright Reform Working Group
To achieve consensus driven collective response to the public consultation, Europeana formed the ‘Copyright reform working group’, consisting of members from the organisations that are represented on the Board of the Europeana Foundation in 2014. We asked each member of the group to share their positions and opinions on the questions posed by the consultation. Chaired by Kennisland's Paul Keller, a collective response was documented, debated and agreed with members of the group, including noting dissent where this was necessary.
Validation of response by Europeana Network
To complete the process for securing a mandate from the Europeana Network, this working group response was circulated to all Europeana Network members. Each member was asked to support this response, but also to inform us where their views differed or if they do not wish their organisation to be represented in this response. In addition, we asked out Network members to support the public consultation by submitting a response on behalf of their organisation.
Timeline of events
05.12.13 - EU Public Consultation on Copyright Rules launched
19.12.13 - Blog: New Copyright rules for Europe. What do memory institutions want?
06.01.14 - Formation of Europeana 'Copyright Reform Working Group'
15.01.15 - Meeting #1: Copyright Reform Working Group: debate of primary issues & questions
21.01.14 - First release of draft Europeana response for Working Group Discussion
23.01.14 - Meeting #2: Copyright Reform Working Group: agreement of responses to questions
28.01.14 - Draft Europeana response released to network for consultation, Blog: Copyright public consultation: Europeana responds, have you?
31.01.14 - Amended draft v2 to include answers to Q53-55 & 57 distributed to the network. Deadline to respond to Commission extended until 5th March, deadline to respond to Europeana 14th February.
14.02.14 - Deadline for network members to submit response to Europeana paper
21.02.14 - Final Response document completed
26.02.14 - Summary document published
05.03.14 - Deadline for submitting response to EU Public Consultation
11.04.14 - EU publishes 11,117 responses to the Public Consultation
23.07.14 - EU publishes summary of responses to each question, broken down by type of respondant.