Explanatory Memorandum to COM(1997)628 - Harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the Information Society

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dossier COM(1997)628 - Harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the Information Society.
source COM(1997)628 EN
date 10-12-1997
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Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the Information Society /* COM/97/0628 final - COD 97/0359 */

Official Journal C 108 , 07/04/1998 P. 0006


Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the Information Society (98/C 108/03) (Text with EEA relevance) COM(97) 628 final - 97/0359 (COD)

(submitted by the Commission on 21 January 1998)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 57(2), 66 and 100a thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission.

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty,

Whereas the Treaty provides for the establishment of an Internal Market, the removal of barriers to the free movement of goods, the freedom to provide services and the right of establishment and the institution of a system ensuring that competition in the Internal Market is not distorted; whereas harmonization of the laws of the Member States on copyright and related rights contributes to the achievement of these objectives;

Whereas the European Council, meeting at Corfu on 24 and 25 June 1994, has stressed the need to create a general and flexible legal framework at Community level in order to foster the development of the Information Society in Europe; whereas this requires, inter alia, the existence of an Internal Market for new products and services; whereas important Community legislation to ensure such a regulatory framework is already in place or is well underway; whereas copyright and related rights play an important role in this context as they protect and stimulate the development and marketing of new products and services and the creation and exploitation of their creative content;

Whereas a harmonized legal framework on copyright and related rights, through increased legal certainty, will foster substantial investment in creativity and innovation, including network infrastructure, and lead in turn to growth and increased competitiveness of European industry, both in the area of content provision and information technology and more generally across a wide range of industrial and cultural sectors; whereas this will safeguard employment and encourage new job creation;

Whereas technological development has multiplied and diversified the vectors for creation, production and exploitation; whereas, while no new concepts for the protection of intellectual property are needed, the current law on copyright and related rights will have to be adapted and supplemented to adequately respond to economic realities such as new forms of exploitation;

Whereas, without harmonization at Community level, legislative activities at national level which have already been initiated in a number of Member States in order to respond to the technological challenges might result in significant differences in protection and thereby in restrictions on the free movement of services and products incorporating, or based on, intellectual property, leading to a refragmentation of the Internal Market and legislative inconsistency; whereas the impact of such legislative differences and uncertainties will become more significant with the further development of the Information Society, which has already greatly increased transborder exploitation of intellectual property; whereas this development will and should further increase; whereas significant legal differences and uncertainties in protection may hinder economies of scale for new products and services containing copyright and related rights;

Whereas the Community legal framework for the legal protection of copyright and related rights must, therefore, also be adapted and supplemented as far as is necessary for the smooth functioning of the Internal Market; whereas, to that end, those national provisions on copyright and related rights which vary considerably from one Member State to another or which cause legal uncertainties hindering the smooth functioning of the Internal Market and the proper development of the Information Society in Europe should be adjusted, and inconsistent national responses to the technological developments should be avoided, whilst differences not adversely affecting the functioning of the Internal Market need not be removed or prevented;

Whereas the various social, societal and cultural implications of the Information Society require that account be taken of the specific features of the content of products and services;

Whereas any harmonization of copyright and related rights must take as a basis a high level of protection, since such rights are crucial to intellectual creation; whereas their protection helps to ensure the maintenance and development of creativity in the interests of authors, performing artists, producers, consumers, culture, industry and the public at large; whereas intellectual property has therefore been recognized as an integral part of property;

Whereas if authors or performing artists are to continue their creative and artistic work they have to receive an appropriate reward for the use of their work; whereas the investment required to produce products such as phonograms, films or multimedia products, and services such as 'on-demand` services, is considerable; whereas adequate legal protection of intellectual property rights is necessary in order to guarantee the availability of such a reward and provide the opportunity for satisfactory returns on this investment;

Whereas adequate protection of copyright works and subject matter of related rights is also of great importance from a cultural standpoint; whereas Article 128 of the Treaty requires the Community to take cultural aspects into account in its action;

Whereas the Diplomatic Conference held under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in December 1996 led to the adoption of two new Treaties, the 'WIPO Copyright Treaty` and the 'WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty`, dealing respectively with the protection of authors and the protection of performers and phonogram producers; whereas those Treaties update the international protection for copyright and related rights significantly, not least with regard to the so-called 'digital agenda`, and improve the means to fight piracy world-wide; whereas the Community and a majority of Member States have already signed the Treaties and the process of making arrangements for the ratification of the Treaties by the Community and the Member States is under way; whereas this Directive also serves to implement a number of the new international obligations;

Whereas liability for activities in the network environment concerns not only copyright and related rights but also other areas it will be addressed horizontally in the context of a forthcoming directive clarifying and harmonizing various legal issues relating to Information Society services, including electronic commerce; whereas the latter initiative should come into force, as far as possible, within a time-scale similar to that of this Directive;

Whereas the provisions of this Directive should be without prejudice to existing Community provisions in the area of copyright and related rights, unless otherwise provided in this Directive;

Whereas this Directive should define the scope of the acts covered by the reproduction right with regard to the different beneficiaries; whereas this should be done in conformity with the acquis communautaire; whereas a broad definition of these acts is needed to ensure legal certainty within the Internal Market;

Whereas this Directive should harmonize the right applicable to the communication to the public of works, where this has not yet been done by existing Community legislation;

Whereas the legal uncertainty regarding the nature and the level of protection of acts of on-demand transmission of copyright works and subject matter protected by related rights over networks should be overcome by providing for harmonized protection at Community level; whereas it should provide all rightholders recognized by the Directive with an exclusive right to make available to the public copyright works or any other subject matter by way of interactive on-demand transmissions; whereas such interactive on-demand transmissions are characterized by the fact that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them; whereas this right does not cover private communication;

Whereas the mere provision of physical facilities for enabling or making a communication does not in itself amount to communication within the meaning of this Directive;

Whereas copyright protection under this Directive includes the exclusive right to control distribution of the work incorporated in a tangible article; whereas the first sale in the Community of the original of a work or copies thereof by the rightholder or with his consent exhausts the right to control resale of that object in the Community; whereas this right should not be exhausted in respect of the original or of copies thereof sold by the rightholder or with his consent outside the Community;

Whereas the question of exhaustion does not arise in the case of services and on-line services in particular; whereas this also applies with regard to a material copy of a work or other subject matter made by a user of such a service with the consent of the rightholder; whereas, unlike CD-ROM or CD-I, where the intellectual property is incorporated in a material medium, namely an item of goods, every on-line service is in fact an act which will have to be subject to authorization where the copyright or related right so provides;

Whereas the rights referred to in this Directive may be transferred, assigned or subjected to the granting of contractual licences, without prejudice to the relevant national legislation on copyright and related rights;

Whereas a fair balance of rights and interests between the different categories of rightholders, as well as between the different categories of rightholders and users of protected subject matter must be safeguarded; whereas the existing exceptions to the rights as set out by the Member States have to be reassessed in the light of the new electronic environment; whereas existing differences in the limitations and exceptions to certain restricted acts have direct negative effects on the functioning of the Internal Market of copyright and related rights; whereas such differences could well become more pronounced in view of the further development of transborder exploitation of works and cross-border activities; whereas in order to ensure the proper functioning of the Internal Market, such exceptions should be defined more harmoniously; whereas the degree of their harmonization should be based on their impact on the smooth functioning of the Internal Market;

Whereas this Directive provides for an exhaustive enumeration of exceptions to the reproduction right and the right of communication to the public; whereas some exceptions only apply to the reproduction right, where appropriate; whereas this list takes due account of the different legal traditions in Member States, while, at the same time, aiming to ensure a functioning Internal Market; whereas it is desirable that Member States should arrive at a coherent application of these exceptions, which will be assessed when reviewing implementing legislation in the future;

Whereas the exclusive right of reproduction should be subject to an exception to allow or certain acts of temporary reproduction which are made as part of a technological process and are incidental to, and made for the sole purpose of enabling the use of protected subject matter and which have no separate economic value on their own; whereas under these conditions this exception should include acts of caching or browsing;

Whereas Member States should be given the option of providing for certain exceptions for cases such as educational and scientific purposes, for the benefit of public institutions such as libraries and archives, for purposes of news reporting, for quotations, for use by people with disabilities, for public security uses and for uses in administrative and judicial proceedings;

Whereas existing national schemes on reprography, where they do exist, do not create major barriers to the Internal Market; whereas Member States should be allowed to provide for an exception in respect of reprography;

Whereas Member States should be allowed to provide for an exception to the reproduction right for certain types of reproduction of audio, visual and audio-visual material for private use; whereas this may include the introduction or continuation of remuneration schemes to compensate for the prejudice to rightholders; whereas, although differences between those remuneration schemes affect the functioning of the Internal Market, those differences, with respect to analogue private reproduction, should not have a significant impact on the development of the Information Society; whereas digital private copying is not yet widespread and its economic impact is still not fully known; whereas, therefore, it appears justifiable to refrain from further harmonization of such exceptions at this stage; whereas the Commission will closely follow market developments in digital private copying and will consult interested parties, with a view to taking appropriate action;

Whereas, when applying the exception on private copying, Member States should take due account of technological and economic developments, in particular with respect to digital private copying and remuneration schemes, when effective technological protection measures are available; whereas such exceptions should not inhibit the use of technological measures;

Whereas Member States may provide for an exception for the benefit of establishments accessible to the public, such as non-profit-making libraries and equivalent institutions; whereas, however, this should be limited to certain special cases covered by the reproduction right; whereas such an exception should not cover uses made in the context of on-line delivery of protected works or other subject matter; whereas this Directive should be without prejudice to Member States' option to derogate from the exclusive public lending right in accordance with Article 5 of Council Directive 92/100/EEC of 19 November 1992 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property (1), as amended by Directive 93/98/EEC (2);

Whereas, when applying those exceptions, they should be exercised in accordance with international obligations; whereas such exceptions may not be applied in a way which prejudices the legitimate interests of the rightholder or which conflicts with the normal exploitation of his work or other subject matter; whereas the provision of such exceptions by Member States should, in particular, duly reflect the increased economic impact that such exceptions may have in the context of the new electronic environment; whereas, therefore, the scope of certain exceptions may have to be even more limited when it comes to certain new uses of copyright works and other subject matter;

Whereas technological development will allow rightholders to make use of technological measures designed to prevent and inhibit the infringement of any copyright, rights related to copyright or sui generis rights provided by law; whereas the danger, however, exists that illegal activities might be carried out in order to enable or facilitate the circumvention of the technical protection provided by these measures; whereas, in order to avoid fragmented legal approaches that could potentially hinder the functioning of the Internal Market, there is a need to provide for harmonized legal protection against any activity enabling or facilitating the circumvention without authority of such measures; whereas such a legal protection should be provided to technological measures that effectively inhibit and/or prevent the infringement of any copyright, rights related to copyright or sui generis rights provided by law; whereas such legal protection should respect proportionality and should not prohibit those devices or activities which have a commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent the technical protection;

Whereas such a harmonized legal protection should not inhibit decompilation permitted by Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on the legal protection of computer programs (3), as amended by Directive 93/98/EEC;

Whereas important progress has been made in the international standardization of technical systems of identification of works and protected subject matter in digital format; whereas, in an increasingly networked environment, differences between technological measures could lead to an incompatibility of systems within the Community; whereas compatibility and interoperability of the different systems should be encouraged; whereas it would be highly desirable to encourage the development of global systems;

Whereas technological development will facilitate the distribution of works, notably on networks, and this will entail the need for rightholders to better identify the work or other subject matter, the author or any other rightholder, and to provide information about the terms and conditions of use of the work or other subject matter in order to render easier the management of rights attached to them; whereas, there is, however, the danger that illegal activities might be carried out in order to remove or alter the electronic copyright-management information attached to it, or otherwise to distribute, import for distribution, broadcast, communicate to the public or make available to the public copies from which such information has been removed without authority; whereas in order to avoid fragmented legal approaches that could potentially hinder the functioning of the Internal Market, there is a need to provide for harmonized legal protection against any of those activities;

Whereas any such rights-management information referred to above may, depending on their design, at the same time process personal data about the consumption patterns of protected subject matter by individuals and allow for tracing of on-line behaviour; whereas these technical means, in their technical functions, should incorporate privacy safeguards in accordance with European Parliament and Council Directive 95/46/EC of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data (4);

Whereas this Directive is without prejudice to the application of European Parliament and Council Directive . . ./. . ./EC of . . . concerning the legal protection of services based on, or consisting of, conditional access (5);

Whereas Member States should provide for effective sanctions and remedies for infringements of rights and obligations as set out in this Directive; whereas they shall take all the measures necessary to ensure that those sanctions and remedies are applied; whereas the sanctions thus provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive;

Whereas, in order to comply with the WIPO Performers and Phonograms Treaty, Directives 92/100/EEC and 93/98/EEC should be amended;

Whereas, after a period of two years following the date of implementation of this Directive, the Commission should report on its application; whereas this report should examine in particular whether the conditions set out in the Directive have resulted in ensuring a proper functioning of the Internal Market, and should propose action if necessary,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:


Contents

1.

CHAPTER I OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE



Article 1 Scope

1. This Directive concerns the legal protection of copyright and related rights in the framework of the Internal Market, with particular emphasis on the Information Society.

2. Unless otherwise provided, this Directive shall apply without prejudice to existing Community provisions relating to:

(a) the legal protection of computer programs;

(b) rental right, lending right and certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property;

(c) copyright and related rights applicable to broadcasting of programmes by satellite and cable retransmission;

(d) the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights;

(e) the legal protection of databases.


2.

CHAPTER II RIGHTS AND EXCEPTIONS



Article 2 Reproduction right

Member States shall provide for the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit direct or indirect, temporary or permanent reproduction by any means and in any form, in whole or in part:

(a) for authors, of the original and copies of their works;

(b) for performers, of fixations of their performances;

(c) for phonogram producers, of their phonograms;

(d) for the producers of the first fixations of films, in respect of the original and copies of their films, and

(e) for broadcasting organizations, of fixations of their broadcasts, whether those broadcasts are transmitted by wire or over the air, including by cable or satellite.


3.

Article 3 Right of communication to the public, including the right of making available works or other subject matter


1. Member States shall provide authors with the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit any communication to the public of originals and copies of their works, by wire or wireless means, including the making available to the public of their works in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.

2. Member States shall provide for the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the making available to the public, by wire or wireless means, in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them:

(a) for performers, of fixations of their performances;

(b) for phonogram producers, of their phonograms;

(c) for the producers of the first fixations of films, of the original and copies of their films, and

(d) for broadcasting organizations, of fixations of their broadcasts, whether these broadcasts are transmitted by wire or over the air, including by cable or satellite.

3. The rights referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not be exhausted by any act of communication to the public of a work and other subject matter as set out in paragraph 2, including their being made available to the public.


4.

Article 4 Distribution right


1. Member States shall provide authors, in respect of the original of their works or of copies thereof, with the exclusive right to any form of distribution to the public by sale or otherwise.

2. The distribution right shall not be exhausted within the Community in respect of the original of their works or of copies thereof, except where the first sale or other transfer of ownership in the Community of that object is made by the rightholder or with his consent.


5.

Article 5 Exceptions to the restricted acts set out in Articles 2 and 3


1. Temporary acts of reproduction referred to in Article 2 which are an integral part of a technological process for the sole purpose of enabling use to be made of a work or other subject matter, and having no independent economic significance, shall be exempted from the right set out in Article 2.

2. Member States may provide for limitations to the exclusive right of reproduction provided for in Article 2 in the following cases:

(a) in respect of reproductions on paper or any similar medium, effected by the use of any kind of photographic technique or by some other process having similar effects;

(b) in respect of reproductions on audio, visual or audio-visual recording media made by a natural person for private use and for non-commercial ends;

(c) in respect of specific acts of reproduction made by establishments accessible to the public, which are not for direct or indirect economic or commercial advantage;

3. Member States may provide for limitations to the rights referred to in Articles 2 and 3 in the following cases:

(a) use for the sole purpose of illustration for teaching or scientific research, as long as the source is indicated and to the extent justified by the non-commercial purpose to be achieved;

(b) for uses for the benefit of visually-impaired or hearing-impaired persons, which are directly related to the disability and of a non-commercial nature and to the extent required by the specific disability;

(c) use of excerpts in connection with the reporting of current events, as long as the source is indicated, and to the extent justified by the informatory purpose;

(d) quotations for purposes such as criticism or review, provided that they relate to a work or other subject matter which has already been lawfully made available to the public, that the source is indicated, and that their use is in accordance with fair practice, and to the extent required by the specific purpose;

(e) use for the purposes of public security or for the purposes of the proper performance of an administrative or judicial procedure.

4. The exceptions and limitations provided for in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall only be applied to certain specific cases and shall not be interpreted in such a way as to allow their application to be used in a manner which unreasonably prejudices the rightholders' legitimate interests or conflicts with the normal exploitation of their works or other subject matter.


6.

CHAPTER III PROTECTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES AND RIGHTS-MANAGEMENT INFORMATION



Article 6 Obligations as to technological measures

1. Member States shall provide adequate legal protection against any activities, including the manufacture or distribution of devices or the performance of services, which have only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than circumvention, and which the person concerned carries out in the knowledge, or with reasonable grounds to know, that they will enable or facilitate without authority the circumvention of any effective technological measures designed to protect any copyright or any rights related to copyright as provided by law or the sui generis right provided for in Chapter III of European Parliament and Council Directive 96/9/EC (6).

2. The expression 'technological measures`, as used in this Article, means any device, product or component incorporated into a process, device or product designed to prevent or inhibit the infringement of any copyright or any rights related to copyright as provided by law or the sui generis right provided for in Chapter III of Directive 96/9/EC. Technological measures shall only be deemed 'effective` where the work or other subject matter is rendered accessible to the user only through application of an access code or process, including by decryption, descrambling or other transformation of the work or other subject matter, with the authority of the rightholders;


7.

Article 7 Obligations concerning rights-management information


1. Member States shall provide for adequate legal protection against any person performing without authority any of the following acts:

(a) the removal or alteration of any electronic rights-management information;

(b) the distribution, importation for distribution, broadcasting, communication or making available to the public, of copies of works or other subject matter protected under this Directive or under Chapter III of Directive 96/9/EC from which electronic rights-management information has been removed or altered without authority,

if such person knows, or has reasonable grounds to know, that by so doing he is inducing, enabling or facilitating an infringement of any copyright or any rights related to copyright as provided by law, or of the sui generis right provided for in Chapter III of Directive 96/9/EC.

2. The expression 'rights-management information`, as used in this Article, means any information provided by rightholders which identifies the work or other subject matter referred to in this Directive or covered by the sui generis right provided for in Chapter III of Directive 96/9/EC, the author or any other rightholder, or information about the terms and conditions of use of the work or other subject matter, and any numbers or codes that represent such information.

The first subparagraph shall apply when any of these items of information are associated with a copy of, or appear in connection with the communication to the public of, a work or other subject matter referred to in this Directive or covered by the sui generis right provided for in Chapter III of Directive 96/9/EC.


8.

CHAPTER IV COMMON PROVISIONS



Article 8 Sanctions and remedies

1. Member States shall provide appropriate sanctions and remedies in respect of infringements of the rights and obligations set out in this Directive and shall take all the measures necessary to ensure that those sanctions and remedies are applied. The sanctions thus provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

2. Each Member State shall take the measures necessary to ensure that rightholders whose interests are affected by an infringing activity carried out on its territory can bring an action for damages and/or apply for an injunction and, where appropriate, for the seizure of infringing material.


9.

Article 9 Application over time


1. The provisions of this Directive shall apply in respect of all works and other subject matter referred to in this Directive which are, by the date referred to in Article 11(1), protected by the Member States' legislation in the field of copyright and related rights, or which meet the criteria for protection under the provisions of this Directive or the provisions referred to in Article 1(2).

2. This Directive shall apply without prejudice to any acts of exploitation performed before the date referred to in Article 11(1).

3. This Directive shall not affect any contracts concluded or rights acquired before the date of its entry into force.

4. Notwithstanding paragraph 3, contracts concerning the exploitation of works and other subject matter which are in force on the date referred to in Article 11(1) shall be subject to this Directive as from five years after its entry into force if they have not expired before that date.


10.

Article 10 Technical adaptations


1. Directive 92/100/EEC is hereby amended as follows:

(a) Article 7 is deleted.

(b) Article 10(3) is replaced by the following:

'3. The limitations may only be applied to certain specific cases and may not be interpreted in such a way as to allow their application to be used in a manner which unreasonsably prejudices the rightholders' legitimate interests or conflicts with normal exploitation of their subject matter.`

2. Article 3(2) of Directive 93/98/EEC is replaced by the following:

'2. The rights of producers of phonograms shall expire 50 years after the fixation is made. However, if the phonogram is lawfully published during this period, the rights shall expire 50 years from the date of the first such publication.`


Article 11 Final provisions

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 30 June 2000. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof and shall also communicate to the Commission the text of the provisions of domestic law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.

When Member States adopt these provisions, these shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference at the time of their official publication. The procedure for such reference shall be adopted by Member States.

2. Not later than at the end of the second year after the date referred to in paragraph 1 and every three years thereafter, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament, the Council and the Economic and Social Committee a report on the application of this Directive, in which, inter alia, on the basis of specific information supplied by the Member States, it shall examine in particular the application of Articles 5, 6 and 8. Where necessary to ensure the functioning of the Internal Market pursuant to Article 7a of the Treaty, it shall submit proposals for amendments of this Directive.


11.

Article 12 Entry into force


This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.


12.

Article 13 Addressees


This Directive is addressed to the Member States.


OJ L 346, 27.11.1992, p. 61.

OJ L 290, 24.11.1993, p. 9.

OJ L 122, 17.5.1991, p. 42.

OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31.

OJ L . . ..

OJ L 77, 27.3.1996, p. 20.