Brussels, 06/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - The college of European commissioners held a policy debate on Wednesday 5 December on developing European policy in relation to copyright with the advent of the digital economy. The aim is to find a point of equilibrium between the legitimate recognition and remuneration of rights holders and creators; to open up greater access and wider choice of legal offers to end users; and to effectively combat illegal offers and piracy.
The Commission has decided to rekindle dialogue at the start of 2013 between the parties on six issues where rapid progress is needed. These are: cross-border portability of content, user-generated content, data- and text-mining, private copy levies, access to audiovisual works and cultural heritage. In December 2013, the Commission will take stock of work piloted by Commissioner Michel Barnier (internal market), Commissioner Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda) and Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou (culture), in particular on delivering effective market-led solutions to the issues identified, including legislative reform.
In 2014, on the basis of preparatory work, the Commission will decide to launch a legislative initiative in the five following areas to: mitigate the effects of territoriality in the internal market; fix the appropriate levels of harmonisation, limitations and exceptions to copyright in the digital age; reduce fragmentation of the EU copyright market; and improve the legitimacy of enforcement in the context of wider copyright reform. (MB/transl.jl)