Europeana receives data from thousands of institutions in various countries. They all share rights-related information about the data they share in different ways. If we want to ensure that users who visit Europeana reuse the material in research, education, or other, we have to make it simple for them to understand the reuse possibilities.
That is why we use rights statements (meaning Creative Commons Licences, Creative Commons Tools, and Rights Statements by the Rights Statements Consortium). Rights statements express the copyright status of a digital object and provide information about if and under which conditions it can be reused. They give information about rights in clear and simple language and are machine readable. As mandated in our Data Exchange Agreement, every digital object must be published with a rights statement identified by our partners.
Europeana uses 14 standardised rights statements. The standardised rights statements that you can choose from when providing content to Europeana are either Creative Commons licences and tools or Statements from the Rights Statements consortium, more specifically:
Europeana encourages the use of Creative Commons Licences and Tools as much as possible to facilitate the reuse of digital cultural heritage. When they are not suitable, for example because the providing institution cannot legally apply them, Rights Statements by the Rights Statements Consortium should be used.
We strongly recommend that you refer to the Creative Commons website to understand the full definitions and legal code. This will help you decide if a Creative Commons licence is the most suitable rights statement for your object.
Below you can see our list of the 14 available rights statements for Europeana. After you have looked at all of the options, you can read our guidance on Selecting a Rights Statement.