Brussels, 09/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 7 November, Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier spoke to the think tank CEPS and gave his vision of a future European framework on copyright. This could soon be the object of legislative proposals and will initially be put to the college of commissioners on 5 December.
In his speech, Barnier stressed the importance of overcoming all the cross-border obstacles and of making a maximum of content accessible to the people of Europe. He reminded his audience of all the Commission's action over recent months - a directive on orphan works which was adopted by the Council at the beginning of October, the proposal for a directive on copyright management by collecting societies which was presented in July and which particularly provides for multi-territorial licences to be granted for online musical works. However, Barnier is also of the opinion that it would be possible to go further and to improve Europeans' access to content and the portability of services. Amongst other things, he wants the European copyright framework - which dates back to 2001 - to provide a sufficient level of incentives to those who create and invest in content, and to ensure the right balance with other policy objectives such as education, research or innovation. Saying that he is ready to speak of, and possibly to review, copyright exemptions and exceptions, Barnier nevertheless said that he does not intend to reduce the level of protection offered, as some people are asking him to do. He wants to take the necessary time to analyse the impact of new legislation, and he will talk to all stakeholders concerned, he said. This is a very sensitive subject - even within the college of commissioners - as Barnier's view differs from that of Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Nellie Kroes, for example, who is a fervent supporter of reviewing the 2001 framework when Barnier has until now proved more reserved on this. (SP/transl.fl)