Study submits recommendations on Article 13 of the Copyright Directive

 

20 October 2017

Publication of “The Recommendation on Measures to Safeguard Fundamental Rights and the Open Internet in the Framework of the EU Copyright Reform” (by Martin Senftleben, Christina Angelopoulos, Giancarlo Frosio, Valentina Moscon, Miquel Peguera and Ole Andreas Rognstad) – the study is available here (and similar concerns echoed here). The study restates the established issues with the online filtering provisions of Article 13 of the proposed Copyright Directive. This includes two main tenets: first, that Article 13 is incompatible with human rights legislation (particularly Article 8, 11, and 16); and secondly that the EU acquis, as established in the E-Commerce Directive, is fundamental in providing that service providers should not be liable for their users’ actions. The study concludes that Article 13 is a flawed legal instrument, and instead efforts should be focussed on improving the notice and takedown procedure.