Brussels, 29/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has sent reasoned opinions (second stage of the infringement procedure) to six member states which have still not implemented the European rules on the use of orphan works. These works are books, newspapers, magazine articles and films protected by copyright, but whose creators or other rights holders are not known or cannot be found or contacted to authorise the use of their works. The Commission has called on Belgium, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and Slovenia to notify it of the measures they plan to take to bring their national laws into line with the European legislation. If they fail to do so, the Commission could decide to bring these member states before the Court of Justice of the EU and propose financial penalties.
At the same time, the Commission closed its procedures against Austria, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia, as these member states have given notification of their full transposition of the directive. (Isabelle Lamberty)