March 4, 2019

Following political agreement in the “trilogue” negotiations being reached, and endorsement of the text by the Council of the EU’s Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper), as well as approval from the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, the proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market has now been published in full.

The text currently provides for:

• new mandatory exceptions including for text and data mining;
• an enabling provision for extended collective licensing;
• a mechanism for out-of-commerce works;
• a (voluntary) mechanism for VOD platforms intended to encourage cross-border licensing;
• a related right for press publishers which has been significantly watered down during the legislative process and will now last for only two years, rather than 20 years as originally proposed;
• a provision ensuring that publishers receive a share of private copy and reprography levies;
• a provision on platform obligations meant to bridge the so-called “value-gap” by confirming that certain online content sharing service providers infringe the communication to the public right and are not eligible for the hosting provider exemption (Article 14 of the E-Commerce), while creating a new safe harbour for such platforms and a lighter regime for start-ups; and
• a series of new contractual entitlements for authors and performers (a remuneration principle, a transparency obligation on producers, a contract readjustment mechanism, and a revocation right) that are designed to ensure that these creators are better remunerated.

The next step is formal approval by the European Parliament and the Council. The Directive will then appear in the Official Journal after which it will come into force. Member States will then have 24 months to implement the new legislation. To access the full text, click here.