Europe is committed to pan-European access to digital content

The Commission takes the first steps to expand access to online content and sets out its vision to modernize the European Union's copyright rules.

Delivering on its strategy for the digital single market, the Commission this week presented a proposal to allow Europeans to travel with their content online and an action plan to modernize EU copyright rules.

Currently, Europeans traveling within the EU are unlikely to have access to online services that offer movies, sports programmes, music, e-books or games for which they have paid in their home country.

The Regulation on the cross-border portability of online content services proposed today addresses these restrictions so that EU residents can travel with digital content they have purchased or subscribed to at home. Cross-border portability, a new EU right for consumers, is expected to become a reality in 2017, when roaming charges within the EU will also be eliminated (press release). Since this is a proposal for a Regulation, once the latter is adopted, it will be directly applicable in the 28 Member States of the EU.

Furthermore, the Commission today sets out its vision for a modern EU copyright framework. This “political advance” will be translated into legislative proposals and policy initiatives over the next six months and will take into account all contributions from various public consultations.

Overall, the Commission wants to ensure that Europeans can access a wide range of legal content while at the same time ensuring that authors and other rights holders are better protected and fairly remunerated. The key sectors of education, culture, research and innovation will also benefit from a more modern and European framework.

Andrus Ansip, Vice President responsible for the Digital Single Market, said: "Seven months ago, we promised to speed up the launch of the Digital Single Market. Today, we present our first proposals. We want to ensure the portability of content across borders. Everyone who buys content legally – movies, books, football matches, TV series – must be able to take it with them wherever they go in Europe. This is a real change, similar to the one we made to eliminate roaming charges. Today We also set out our vision for a modern EU copyright regime, as well as the progressive progress towards achieving it. Our goal is to expand citizens' access to online cultural content and support creators. We want to strengthen the position of European R&D, using technologies such as text and data mining.

Günther H. Oettinger, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, says: "The regulation proposed today is the first step in an ambitious reform. I count on the co-legislators to ensure that portability is a reality for European consumers by 2017, so that they can enjoy their favorite content also when traveling in the EU, and without fear of roaming charges, which will be eliminated by mid-2017. Our action plan serves as a guide for further reform in the spring of next year: we want to create a copyright framework that is stimulating, reasonable, rewards investment in creativity and makes it easier for Europeans to access and use content legally. The work we are currently carrying out on the role of online platforms and intermediaries will also help translate our plan into concrete proposals.”

The Commission has also proposed new rules this week to improve the protection of European consumers when shopping online and help companies sell to other countries (press release). Taken together, these are the first legislative proposals under the digital single market strategy presented in May.

Expanding access to content throughout the EU

The current rules on content portability constitute a first step to improve access to cultural works. For example: a French user of the MyTF1 online service for movies and series cannot rent a new movie during a business trip to the United Kingdom. A Dutch Netflix subscriber traveling to Germany can only watch the movies that Netflix offers to German consumers. In case you visit Poland, you will not be able to watch Netflix movies as the latter is not available in that country. This will change. When traveling in the EU, users will have access to their music, movies and games as if they were at home (see fact sheet on the new rules).

More regulations will be proposed in the spring of next year. Our objectives are to allow better circulation of content, offer greater choice to European citizens, strengthen cultural diversity and grant more opportunities to the creative sector. The Commission intends to improve the cross-border distribution of online television and radio programs (through the review of the Satellite and Cable Directive) and to facilitate the licensing of cross-border access to content. The Commission will also help to give new impetus to works that have stopped being marketed.

The Commission will continue to use its Creative Europe program to help European cinema reach a wider audience. The action plan foresees the development of innovative tools, such as a 'European programme' of online search portals and 'licensing centres' to encourage the distribution of films that are only available in a limited number of Member States.

Exceptions to copyright rules

The Commission intends to address key exceptions to EU copyright. These exceptions contemplate the use of works protected by copyright, in certain circumstances, without prior authorization from the rights holders. The Commission will review EU rules to make it easier for researchers to use "text and data mining technologies" to analyze large data sets. Education is another priority. For example, teachers teaching online courses should adhere to better, clearer standards that work across Europe. The Commission also wants to contribute to facilitating access to more works for people with disabilities (this is the objective of the Marrakesh Treaty). Finally, the Commission will assess the need to alleviate legal uncertainty for Internet users who upload their photographs of public buildings and works of art permanently located in public places (current exception for panorama).

Creation of a fairer market

The Commission will assess whether the online use of copyrighted works, resulting from the investment of creators and creative sectors, is duly authorized and remunerated through licences. In other words, we will evaluate whether the benefits of online use of the works are shared fairly. In this context, the Commission will analyze the role of news aggregation services. The Commission's approach will be proportionate: there is no intention to 'tax' hyperlinks; that is, to make citizens pay for copyright when they only share a hyperlink to content protected by copyright. The Commission will also analyze whether solutions are needed at EU level to increase legal certainty, transparency and balance in the system regulating the remuneration of authors and performers in the EU, taking into account national and EU competences. The results of the ongoing public consultation on online platforms and intermediaries will help this general reflection.

Fight against piracy

Greater availability of content will help fight piracy, given that 22% of Europeans believe that illegal downloads are acceptable if there is no legal alternative in their country. The Commission will go further by ensuring proper enforcement of copyright across the EU as part of its comprehensive approach to improve the enforcement of all types of intellectual property rights. In 2016, we will work within a European framework to "follow the money" and cut off financial flows to companies that make money from piracy. This will involve all relevant partners (rights holders, payment and advertising service providers, consumer organisations, etc.) with the aim of reaching agreements by spring 2016. The Commission aims to improve EU rules on respect for intellectual property rights and, as a first step, has today launched a public consultation on the assessment and modernization of the existing legal framework. The Commission will also examine how to make the removal of illegal content by online intermediaries more efficient.

Long-term view of copyright

In the future, the effective and uniform application of copyright law across the EU by national legislators and courts will be as important as the rules themselves. While not all the conditions are currently met to consider full harmonization of copyright rules across the EU in the form of a single copyright code and a single copyright title, this should remain an aspiration for the future.

Digital technologies have radically changed the way we access, produce and distribute creative content. 49% of EU internet users listen to music, watch videos and play games online. Many of them, especially the younger ones, hope to do so while traveling around the EU.

Such trends are expected to increase as Europeans will pay less to access the Internet on their mobile devices in other EU Member States from 2017, with the elimination of roaming charges in the EU (press release). European schools and universities are very willing to collaborate with online teaching, researchers want to use advanced content extraction techniques and institutions dealing with cultural heritage are interested in digitizing their holdings. Copyright-intensive sectors (such as the media, book publishers, sound recording companies and television broadcasting) account for more than 7 million jobs in the EU.

It is essential that they can work in an environment willing to face new challenges. However, most copyright rules date back to 2001, so there are some aspects that are not “fit for purpose” when it comes to creating a digital single market in the EU. This is why the Commission included the modernization of EU copyright in its strategy for the digital single market, presented in May.