The European Commission is launching the consultation procedure with stakeholders affected by copyright reform. On Wednesday 28 August and until 18 September, it launched a call for expressions of interest to set up a dialogue group on Article 17 on filtering measures. Ultimately, these discussions will feed into the Commission's guidance on the application of this article.
The Copyright Directive (2019/790), adopted on 26 March and published in the EU's Official Journal 3 months ago, strengthens the obligations of content sharing platforms such as YouTube or Facebook (see EUROPE 12222/6). It contains a particularly controversial article, which is intended to reduce the gap between the profits that platforms make from protected content and what creators actually collect. The final text forces platforms to put in place filtering measures when they have not succeeded in obtaining the authorisation of the rightful owner for the distribution of a work, in order to put an end to the value gap. The text also provides for the Commission to consult stakeholders on the implementation of this article in order to examine best practices for cooperation between platforms and right holders.
In its press release, the Commission addresses its call for expressions of interest to representatives of relevant stakeholders, organisations with a legitimate interest in participating in the discussions or those with practical experience. It indicated that the advisory group will consist of approximately 80 representatives, not including ad hoc guests. A first meeting, which is expected to “collect and map existing practices” in the use of protected content and gather user experience, is scheduled for October 15. Further meetings will follow until the end of 2019 or early 2020.
Directive 2019/790, which has been challenged by Poland before the Court of Justice of the EU (Case C-401/19), must be transposed into national law by 7 June 2021. For the call for expressions of interest, see page: http://bit.ly/34540Wf ] (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)