tl;dr
C’est parti ! A new Parliament was voted in and the dust is now settling.
Committee appointments are currently being negotiated
This and previous reports on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor
======
======
Post-EU Elections Dust Settling
We have new house elected. Overall the Liberals (ALDE), the Greens and
various far-right groups made significant gains, while the traditional
centre-left and centre-right lost, although less than some expected. [1]
The dust is settling, several parties and individually elected members are
negotiating to join various groups. Will the four Pirates sit with the
Greens? [2] Will Farage and Salvini join forces? [3] We will know in the
coming days. Apart from political alignment the most important question
discussed during such negotiations is committee appointments. The
committees to follow closely for us are Legal Affairs (JURI), Internal
Market (IMCO), Civil Liberties (LIBE), Culture (CULT), Industry & Research
(ITRE) and INTA (Trade).
---
Part of the negotiations that have been kicked off already on election
night include who the new Commission President will be. Things are far from
certain, as the person will need a majority for which they will need the
support of at least three, more likely four, political groups. Part of what
the Commission President can do is set priorities, although she or he
cannot freely appoint Commissioners (they are suggested by Member States).
---
Important for us is that the Commission services are already working on the
so-called “mission letters”. These are the letters by which the new
President appoints the Commissioners and lays out their priorities. We know
for a fact that an E-Commerce Directive reform is seriously being worked on
and will most likely be part of the new “Digital Commissioner’s”
portofolio. We also expect to have a new Commissioner heading DG Connect.
While Mariya Gabriel (BG EPP) has been re-elected and will almost certainly
be re-nominated by the Bulgarian government, she has indicated she would
like to switch DGs.
======
======
Big Digital Dossiers to Come
As mentioned above, the E-Commerce Directive will be a cornerstone of the
digital reform agenda over the next five years. Image the “Upload Filter”
debates but times 100. This directive also covers all sorts of IPR
infringements - copyright, trademark, patents, design - online. This
horizontal layout will be a challenge. We wouldn’t want the debates about
counterfeit Lacoste shirts to proliferate into the discussions about
sharing of copyrighted content, but it will happen. We expect the IMCO and
the JURI committees to fight over the lead on this file, which JURI gaining
the upper hand.
---
Other than that ePrivacy and Terrorist Content Online Regulation
negotiations will continue. New rapporteurs are possible.
======
======
Poland Challenges Article 17 at CJEU
The Polish government filed a challenge at the Court of Justice of the EU
against Article 17 (ex. Article 13) of the Copyright in the Digital Single
Market Directive. [4] At this stage, pre-transposition into national law,
only Member States can do so. Frankly, we don’t know what the challenge
contains, apart from vague language by Polish government officials, who
specified that it focuses on Articles 17(4b) and 17(4c). A freedom of
information request by Polish digital rights think and do thank Centrum
Cyfrowe has been denied. [5]
======
======
Transposition of Copyright Directive
7 June 2021. Mark this date in your calendars! This is the date by which
all EU Member States must have transposed the Copyright Directive into
national law or risk being sued by the European Commission. France is
already clearing the new press publisher right out of the way [6] and will
focus on the rest soon. According the final text of Article 17 the
Commission is expected to produce guidelines for Member States on how to
ensure that illegal content doesn’t get published on online platforms
without removing legal content. We expect something like a stakeholder
dialogue or a working group before the end of the year, but nothing
official yet. Most Member States seems to be willing to wait for the
guidelines before they implement the reform nationally.
---
We will be working on the transposition over the next 24 months in all EU
Member States. We can help with expertise, positioning, event organisation,
coalition building. If you would like to be part of the effort and we are
not in touch yet, shoot us a message off-list!
======
======
[1]https://election-results.eu/
[2]
https://european-pirateparty.eu/european-pirates-participated-in-the-greens…
[3]
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/29/brexit-party-said-talks-to…
[4]
https://www.techspot.com/news/80238-poland-files-challenge-new-eu-copyright…
[5]https://twitter.com/nmileszyk/status/1132877068633554945
[6]http://www.senat.fr/dossier-legislatif/ppl17-705.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-copyright-poland/poland-files-complai…
*Poland files complaint with EU’s top court over copyright rule change*
*May 24, 2019*
WARSAW (Reuters) — Poland has submitted a complaint to the European Union’s
top court against copyright rules adopted by the bloc in April to protect
Europe’s creative industries, which Warsaw says may result in preventive
censorship.
Google will have to pay publishers for news snippets and Facebook filter
out protected content under copyright rules aimed at ensuring fair
compensation for the EU’s $1 trillion creative industries.
Poland has said the overhaul was a step backwards, arguing that the filter
requirement could lay the foundation for censorship.
“This system may result in adopting regulations that are analogous to
preventive censorship, which is forbidden not only in the Polish
constitution but also in the EU treaties,” Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad
Szymanski told public broadcaster TVP Info.
*Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; Editing by David Goodman*
--
Owen Blacker, London GB
@owenblacker <http://twitter.com/owenblacker>
Get your mitts off my bits: www.openrightsgroup.org
Google ID: owenblacker.projects(a)gmail.com
Hi Pyb,
this is whole initiative is completely bonkers, but with the current
government here nothing comes as a surprise anymore.
Currently, WMAT would not be affected by the law (in case it passes) as
we are under the 500,000 EUR annual return limit. However, this might
change in the future - the year we hosted the Hackathon and with the
additional funds we handled we came very near that limit.... Regardless
of the status of the local chapter, Wikimedia projects would definitely
be subject to this policy, how they would enforce it however is not
entirely clear. Some of our netpoliticial partner organisations in
Austria, fight the current draft, we try to support them as best as we
can with the limited resources we have.
Claudia
Am 02.05.2019 um 14:00 schrieb publicpolicy-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org:
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> 1. Re: EU Policy Monitoring Report - April (Pierre-Yves Beaudouin)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 02 May 2019 00:09:43 +0200
> From: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin <pierre.beaudouin(a)wikimedia.fr>
> To: Publicpolicy Group for Wikimedia
> <publicpolicy(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Publicpolicy] EU Policy Monitoring Report - April
> Message-ID: <98df01055ef2a21f769324d1984d004b(a)wikimedia.fr>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Does someone have more information about what is going on in Austria
> with anonymity?
>
>
> https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190428/13263642106/austrian-government-…
>
>
> Pyb
>
> Le 2019-04-30 12:53, Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov a écrit :
>
> tl;dr
>> The regulation on preventing online dissemination of
> terrorist content, as well as a general restructuring of the
> intermediary protection rules, will be two hot topics for the next
> European Commission and Parliament after the elections. Copyright is a
> wrap and it is now up to the Member States to transpose it.
>> This
> and previous reports on Meta:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor
>> ======
>>
>> ======
>> TERREG
>>
>> On April 17th, after 8 months since the European
> Commission first presented its version of the "Regulation on Preventing
> the Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online" (TERREG), the Civil
> Liberties (LIBE) committee report was adopted by the European
> Parliament. [1] Let's recap: the EC planned an overhaul of free speech
> under blurry definitions and unproportionate measures. Two Parliamentary
> Committees - Internal Market (IMCO) and Culture (CULT) - presented much
> better versions of the regulation. The lead LIBE, at first, presented a
> version retracting the positive thinking. Then, thanks to the work of
> some of the shadow rapporteurs and civil society input, the the final
> report offered some mitigation.
>> ---
>>
>> The parliamentary vote
> [2] means that the rapporteur is going to the trilogues with a text that
> does not include referrals, has no proactive measures (at least not
> mandated by law) and provides for some judicial oversight on removal
> orders. Content mentioned in an order, however, will need to be removed
> within 1 hour of receiving it. An attempt to change it failed by 3 votes
> in the plenary.
>> ---
>>
>> Next stage, the Trilogues, are expected
> to happen in the Fall. It can also be expected that the European
> Commission will want to bring back the referrals and proactive measures
> into the final text. So our work with that file is far from done.
>>
> ======
>> ======
>>
>> Copyright
>>
>> Two weeks ago the Council gave
> the final "green light" for the Copyright in the Digital Single Market
> Directive. [3] In the end Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, the Netherlands,
> Sweden and Finland voted against, while Belgium, Estonia and Slovenia
> abstained (which has the same effect as voting against). Still, the
> necessary double majority was reached.
>> ---
>>
>> The final text
> [4] will soon be published in the Official Journal of the EU and from
> that date on Member States will have 24 months to transpose it into
> national law. The European Commission has stated that they would like to
> work on non-binding best practice implementation guidelines for Article
> 17 (formerly Article 13, the one with upload filters). We expect most
> Member States to participate and make use of them. Procedure and
> timeline are still to be announced. In the meanwhile, it looks like
> France is keen on transposing the Directive without additional delays.
> The Estonian government has asked stakeholders about their views on
> implementation. Did you hear about your government doing something in
> this regard already? Please let us know!
>> ======
>>
>> ======
>>
>>
> E-Commerce Directive Reform
>> We may consider it as certain that the
> next European Commission will propose a reform of the E-Commerce
> Directive, most likely turning it into a Regulation. This means that
> intermediary liability will be directly discussed and redrawn during the
> next legislative term. So upload filters, deletions, stay-downs are
> going to be a central topic. We need to have a positive vision for what
> a regime change may look like in order to be a serious stakeholder in
> the debates. If you would like to join a working group this, please let
> us know!
>> ======
>>
>> ======
>>
>> BIG FAT BRUSSELS MEETING
>>
>>
> The Big Fat Brussels Meeting will be on 1-2 June, the weekend after the
> EP elections. We will be setting up our transposition work and will be
> making plans of how to reach out the newly elected MEPs. If you want to
> attend, but can't afford the travel, please let us know! [5]
>>
> ======
>> ======
>>
>>
> [1]https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?reference=2018/0331(COD)&l=en
>
>>
> [2]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2019-0421_EN.pdf
> [3]https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2019/04/15/eu-adjusts-copyright-rules-to-the-digital-age/
>
>>
> [4https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/PE-51-2019-INIT/en/pdf
>
>>
> [5]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Commerce_Directive_2000
> [6]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Big_Fat_Brussels_Meeting_VI
>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Publicpolicy
> mailing list
>> Publicpolicy(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
>
>
tl;dr
The regulation on preventing online dissemination of terrorist content, as
well as a general restructuring of the intermediary protection rules, will
be two hot topics for the next European Commission and Parliament after the
elections. Copyright is a wrap and it is now up to the Member States to
transpose it.
This and previous reports on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor
======
======
TERREG
On April 17th, after 8 months since the European Commission first presented
its version of the “Regulation on Preventing the Dissemination of Terrorist
Content Online” (TERREG), the Civil Liberties (LIBE) committee report was
adopted by the European Parliament. [1] Let’s recap: the EC planned an
overhaul of free speech under blurry definitions and unproportionate
measures. Two Parliamentary Committees - Internal Market (IMCO) and Culture
(CULT) - presented much better versions of the regulation. The lead LIBE,
at first, presented a version retracting the positive thinking. Then,
thanks to the work of some of the shadow rapporteurs and civil society
input, the the final report offered some mitigation.
---
The parliamentary vote [2] means that the rapporteur is going to the
trilogues with a text that does not include referrals, has no proactive
measures (at least not mandated by law) and provides for some judicial
oversight on removal orders. Content mentioned in an order, however, will
need to be removed within 1 hour of receiving it. An attempt to change it
failed by 3 votes in the plenary.
---
Next stage, the Trilogues, are expected to happen in the Fall. It can also
be expected that the European Commission will want to bring back the
referrals and proactive measures into the final text. So our work with that
file is far from done.
======
======
Copyright
Two weeks ago the Council gave the final “green light” for the Copyright in
the Digital Single Market Directive. [3] In the end Italy, Luxembourg,
Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland voted against, while Belgium,
Estonia and Slovenia abstained (which has the same effect as voting
against). Still, the necessary double majority was reached.
---
The final text [4] will soon be published in the Official Journal of the EU
and from that date on Member States will have 24 months to transpose it
into national law. The European Commission has stated that they would like
to work on non-binding best practice implementation guidelines for Article
17 (formerly Article 13, the one with upload filters). We expect most
Member States to participate and make use of them. Procedure and timeline
are still to be announced. In the meanwhile, it looks like France is keen
on transposing the Directive without additional delays. The Estonian
government has asked stakeholders about their views on implementation. Did
you hear about your government doing something in this regard already?
Please let us know!
======
======
E-Commerce Directive Reform
We may consider it as certain that the next European Commission will
propose a reform of the E-Commerce Directive, most likely turning it into a
Regulation. This means that intermediary liability will be directly
discussed and redrawn during the next legislative term. So upload filters,
deletions, stay-downs are going to be a central topic. We need to have a
positive vision for what a regime change may look like in order to be a
serious stakeholder in the debates. If you would like to join a working
group this, please let us know!
======
======
BIG FAT BRUSSELS MEETING
The Big Fat Brussels Meeting will be on 1-2 June, the weekend after the EP
elections. We will be setting up our transposition work and will be making
plans of how to reach out the newly elected MEPs. If you want to attend,
but can’t afford the travel, please let us know! [5]
======
======
[1]
https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?refere…
[2]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2019-0421_EN.pdf
[3]
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2019/04/15/eu-adjus…
[4https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/PE-51-2019-INIT/en/pdf
[5]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Commerce_Directive_2000
[6]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Big_Fat_Brussels_Meeting_VI