The Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament passed an amended version of Julia Reda’s copyright evaluation report on 17^th June in Brussels. The committee’s non-legislative report, assessing the effects of the key piece of EU copyright law, was approved by 23 votes to 2.

Julia – a member of the Frankfurt chapter of the German Pirate Party, president of the Young Pirates of Europe, and member of the European Parliament – is rapporteur of the Parliament’s review of 2001’s Copyright Directive. Her draft report recommended the EU-wide harmonisation of copyright exceptions, a reduction in term length, broad exceptions for educational purposes and a strengthening of authors’ negotiating position in relation to publishers, among other measures.

Speaking after the vote, Julia said:

“In this report, Parliament recognises that copyright reform is necessary not just to improve the digital single market, but also to promote access to knowledge and information for everyone in Europe. We call on the Commission to consider a wide variety of measures to bring copyright law up to speed with changing realities and improve cross-border access to our cultural diversity.”

Julia later added:

“This report marks a turning point. After decades of introducing new restrictions to protect the material interests of right-holders, this is the strongest demand yet to restore balance in copyright rules and reduce the legal uncertainty that Europeans face when accessing copyrighted works today.”

The text approved by the Legal Affairs Committee still needs to be endorsed by Parliament as a whole. A plenary vote is scheduled for 9 July.

A proposal to modernise EU copyright law is to be presented by the European Commission by the end of 2015.

Featured image: Public Domain

About Andrew McCallum

Andrew McCallum lives and works in Southern Scotland. By day he runs a community-led social enterprise company in a small area of multiple deprivation on the southside of Edinburgh, providing a range of care and support services to disadvantaged people, and by night he scribbles poetry while consuming vast quantities of caffeine and nicotine. He is a member of Pirate Party UK and a bit of an anarchist.

 

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The Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament passed an amended version of Julia Reda’s copyright evaluation report on 17th June in Brussels. The committee’s non-legislative report, assessing the effects…