With the June 7th, 2021 deadline looming for EU Member States to implement the 2019 EU Copyright Directive, many wonder about the timing of individual country transpositions or if there will be delays. The transposition is a process whereby each member state passes legislation to give force to the directive in that country. Although Covid-19 slowed progress, all major EU countries are making headway in their transposition process and are expected to meet the June deadline. The one significant exception is the UK, no longer part of the EU because of Brexit. The government has said it will not be implementing the directive.
To ensure the benefit of the new safe harbor provisions, online content-sharing services that make copyright works, such as music, publicly available in user-generated content will need to understand how and when the law is transposed by each member state. For example, The Netherlands has completed the transposition of the law and has specified that it will go into effect as of June 7, 2021.
We are watching this process carefully since some countries have considered adopting additional or different implementation measures in their transpositions. This could cause service providers to have a requirement to adjust their plans for each country they stream content to.
To learn more about how Article 17 will impact your business, we have included more resources at the end of this summary.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands became the first EU member state to implement the directive on December 28th. Their implementation is mostly a literal transposition of the directive’s provisions, but it also includes a provision that allows the Ministry of Justice to provide further rules on the application of the Article 17 implementation.
Germany
On February 3rd, Germany’s government approved their latest proposal, which was revised in response to feedback from rightsholders and platforms. This draft states that without a corresponding license, platforms must block uploaded copyrighted content; however, short excerpts are presumed permitted by law and may not be blocked by automatic means. The law is scheduled to be debated in the legislature in March.
Austria
The Austrian Ministry of Justice completed the first proposal in December, which borrows elements from previous German proposals, including a direct remuneration right for creators, users’ ability to pre-flag uploads as legitimate, and a threshold that protects minor uses from automated blocking.
France
France passed an authorization law on November 18th, allowing them to implement provisions of the directive by administrative decree. This law specified that the decree implementing Article 17 must be issued 6 months from its passing, which would be April 18th. France’s draft law proposes a literal adaptation of Article 17.
Finland
Finland’s proposal relies on the mandatory use of ACR (Automated Content Recognition) technology by platforms. Rightsholders would be required to review infringing uploads before issuing a blocking request, and users would be able to challenge blocks through an independent alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
Denmark
Denmark announced that it would implement Articles 15 and 17 during the parliamentary year and the rest of the directive after the summer. Like the Netherlands, the Denmark transposition is a literal adaptation of the EU Copyright Directive.
The UK Copyright and Creative Economy Centre, based at the University of Glasgow, maintains possibly the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource on national implementation at https://www.create.ac.uk/cdsm-implementation-resource-page/.
Check back for more updates on Article 17 in the coming months. The following resources will help you understand how Article 17 may impact your business.
- What is Article 17?
- Take our A17 assessment to see how Article 17 affects your business.
- Understand how small social networks are impacted by the copyright directive.
This blog is issued for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed or used as general legal advice. Please contact the author(s) or your Audible Magic Corporation contact if you have questions regarding the currency of this information.
All information is accurate as of March 8, 2021
Sources
https://www.twobirds.com/en/in-focus/copyright-directive