Brussels, 01/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Council discussions on the regulation on the cross-border portability of online content services appear to have well and truly started. During the Competitiveness Council on Monday 29 February, all delegations gave their support to the European Commission in its wish to see the text adopted as soon as possible.
The European Commission was anxious to present its draft to the ministers and it called for this point to be included on the agenda of the Competitiveness Council. The draft regulation presented on 9 December 2015 should help Europeans who have paid to receive online services in their place of residency to continue accessing these services when they temporarily travel to another country in the European Union. It covers the broadcasting of films, sports events, music, digital books and games. It has been the subject of discussions in the “intellectual property” working group since 21 January. During his speech, the Commissioner for the Economy and Digital Society, Günther Oettinger, urged ministers to adopt the draft regulation as quickly as possible. Ideally, the Dutch Presidency would like to obtain a general approach on the text during the joint Competitiveness-Telecommunications Council on 26 and 27 May. The Commissioner explained that “to do this, we need to keep up the momentum”.
During some of the brief talks, Italy and the United Kingdom gave their backing to the European Commission approach. France highlighted the importance of clarifying the notions of “temporary duration” and “habitual residency”. The Deputy Permanent Representative for France to the EU, Alexis Dutertre, stated “It is true that we have to move quickly but we have to be attentive to the details… We must avoid the circumvention of the rules on territoriality, upon which the development is financed”. Commissioner Oettinger replied by concluding that “Territoriality is an important aspect. Without it, European films in the cinema sector would be dead compared to Hollywood. Sporting rights, basketball, handball and football also depend on territoriality… We are fully taking into account the different channels of financing, especially in the sports sector and we do not want anything to destroy this”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)