Final trilogue negotiation of 2018: no agreement on Copyright Directive

 

13 December 2018

At the final trilogue negotiation of 2018, no agreement was reached in respect of the final text of the Copyright Directive. As part of MEP Julia Reda’s ongoing updates to the closed-door process, the latest four-column compromise documents are available in respect of articles here, and recitals here. Of most note, provisions for small-sized businesses to be excepted from article 13 obligations have since been removed from the draft text. More welcome modifications have been made to article 5 of the Directive in respect of the public domain, including provisions for extended collective licensing and a “fallback” exception for cultural heritage institutions.

A further “non-paper”, as drafted by the EU Commission, has been made available in respect of article 13 in an effort to facilitate discussion (available via TechDirt). The latest Council Presidency compromise proposals as of 10 December have also been made available (via Politico).

A new trilogue negotiation date has been set for 21 January, which will be presided by the new Romanian presidency (due to rotate from Austrian on 31 December). Preceding this, on 18 January a vote will be held by national governments in order to grant a fresh negotiation mandate to the new Presidency. Objections are anticipated from Germany, Italy, and potentially Poland.