Directive 1996/9 - Legal protection of databases - Main contents
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official title
Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases| Legal instrument | Directive |
|---|---|
| Number legal act | Directive 1996/9 |
| Original proposal | COM(1992)24  |
| CELEX number i | 31996L0009 |
| Document | 11-03-1996 |
|---|---|
| Publication in Official Journal | 27-03-1996; Special edition in Hungarian: Chapter 13 Volume 015,Special edition in Maltese: Chapter 13 Volume 015,Special edition in Czech: Chapter 13 Volume 015,Special edition in Lithuanian: Chapter 13 Volume 015,OJ L 77, 27.3.1996,Special edition in Polish: Chapter 13 Volume 015,Special edition in Romanian: Chapter 13 Volume 017,Special edition in Slovenian: Chapter 13 Volume 015,Special edition in Latvian: Chapter 13 Volume 015,Special edition in Croatian: Chapter 13 Volume 024,Special edition in Slovak: Chapter 13 Volume 015,Special edition in Bulgarian: Chapter 13 Volume 017,Special edition in Estonian: Chapter 13 Volume 015 |
| Effect | 16-04-1996; Entry into force Date pub. + 20 See 192E191-P 1 |
| End of validity | 31-12-9999 |
| Transposition | 31-12-1997; See Art 16.1 |
27.3.1996 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Communities |
L 77/20 |
DIRECTIVE 96/9/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 11 March 1996
on the legal protection of databases
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 57 (2), 66 and 100a thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty (3),
(1) |
Whereas databases are at present not sufficiently protected in all Member States by existing legislation; whereas such protection, where it exists, has different attributes; |
(2) |
Whereas such differences in the legal protection of databases offered by the legislation of the Member States have direct negative effects on the functioning of the internal market as regards databases and in particular on the freedom of natural and legal persons to provide on-line database goods and services on the basis of harmonized legal arrangements throughout the Community; whereas such differences could well become more pronounced as Member States introduce new legislation in this field, which is now taking on an increasingly international dimension; |
(3) |
Whereas existing differences distorting the functioning of the internal market need to be removed and new ones prevented from arising, while differences not adversely affecting the functioning of the internal market or the development of an information market within the Community need not be removed or prevented from arising; |
(4) |
Whereas copyright protection for databases exists in varying forms in the Member States according to legislation or case-law, and whereas, if differences in legislation in the scope and conditions of protection remain between the Member States, such unharmonized intellectual property rights can have the effect of preventing the free movement of goods or services within the Community; |
(5) |
Whereas copyright remains an appropriate form of exclusive right for authors who have created databases; |
(6) |
Whereas, nevertheless, in the absence of a harmonized system of unfair-competition legislation or of case-law, other measures are required in addition to prevent the unauthorized extraction and/or re-utilization of the contents of a database; |
(7) |
Whereas the making of databases requires the investment of considerable human, technical and financial resources while such databases can be copied or accessed at a fraction of the cost needed to design them independently; |
(8) |
Whereas the unauthorized extraction and/or re-utilization of the contents of a database constitute acts which can have serious economic and technical consequences; |
(9) |
Whereas databases are a vital tool in the development of an information market within the Community; whereas this tool will also be of use in many other fields; |
(10) |
Whereas the exponential growth, in the Community and worldwide, in the amount of information generated and processed annually in all sectors of commerce and industry calls for investment in all the Member States in advanced information processing systems; |
(11) |
Whereas there is at present a very great imbalance in the level of investment in the database sector both as between the Member States and between the Community and the world's largest database-producing third countries; |
(12) |
Whereas such an investment in modern information storage and processing systems will not take place within the Community unless a stable and uniform legal protection regime is introduced for the... |
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