54 NGOs issue open letter to EU Council: “texts risk creating severe impediments”

 

19 November 2018

54 NGOs (including EDRi, Wikimedia, and Creative Commons) have issued an open letter to the EU Council ahead of COREPER debriefings on the trilogue negotiations. The letter calls on the Council to decline a renewed mandate to the Austrian Presidency, amidst concerns that articles 11 and 13 represent a threat to the functioning of the internet, as well as freedom of expression. They claim that the implementation of article 11 is both unnecessary, as well as a risk to media plurality and the ability of users to share information. Similarly, they note that article 13’s requirement for “error prone, intrusive and legally questionable” upload filters represent a threat to fundamental rights, leading to the blocking of legitimate content. They conclude:

“Enforcement of copyright must not become a pre-emptive, arbitrary and privately-enforced censorship of legal content.”