The European Commission presented on Thursday 4 May its recommendation to combat commercial-scale online piracy of live events, such as sports, theatrical performances and concerts.
The Commission’s recommendation aims, through three pillars, to encourage Member States, competent national authorities, right holders and intermediary service providers to take action to avoid the estimated “€522 million losses caused by piracy of online events in 2022”, according to a senior European Commission official.
The text adopted by the Commission advocates first building on the provisions included in the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 13163/26) regarding the treatment of hosting service providers, who would be tasked with acting quickly to remove problematic content.
“We already have a solid framework to fight illegal content online, but it needs to be enforced”, commented Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton.
Furthermore, the text encourages Member States, based on the remedies provided for in the Enforcement Directive (2011/24/EU) and the experience gained in the EU, to grant event organisers the ability to apply for a dynamic content blocking injunction, which is currently not possible.
On the other hand, the text invites event organisers to make an effort, by making their commercial offers more available, affordable and attractive. The facilitated access that this would bring would push end-users towards legal solutions. Member States would also be involved in making consumers aware of existing legal offers.
A revision clause in November 2025
The Recommendation also seeks to strengthen cooperation between competent national authorities, right holders and intermediaries. This cooperation should ensure a ‘regular’ exchange between the competent structures on the measures applied, difficulties and best practice. In this context, the focus would logically be on the cross-border aspect.
“Piracy on a commercial scale threatens the viability of our creative and sporting industries. Especially with respect to live events, which generate most of their value during real-time transmission. It is therefore essential that online intermediaries cooperate with event organisers”, said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Digital Europe.
A monitoring system should also be put in place to evaluate the effects of the fight against piracy. This work would be jointly carried out by the European Commission and the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights (EUIPO), based in Alicante. Key indicators should be defined to carry out this task.
This follow-up will allow the Commission to take stock, by 17 November 2025, of the effects of the Recommendation and how the DSA interacts with other legislation involved in the fight against online event piracy. On the basis of the results obtained, the Commission will then decide whether further measures are necessary.
A number of MEPs would have liked the Commission to opt for a binding legislative proposal in this area, and have sent several letters to the European Commission along these lines (see EUROPE 13174/17).
“We think that we should start with a recommendation, because there are already several texts, such as the DSA, and instruments for intellectual property. We will work hard on monitoring and a revision clause is set for 17 November 2025”, a senior European Commission official justified. They added: “The recommendation is a starting point, not a finish line”.
See the recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/6pl (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)