tl;dr
The Telecoms Single Market package is finally through. It establishes some very limited form of network neutrality and promises the end of roaming, kind of. Copyright reform will be split into two packages – an uncontroversial one in December and a more ambitious one next year.
This and past reports: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor
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Telecom Single Markets: The European Parliament voted in favour of the Telecommunications Single Market (TSM) bill. Amendments proposed by several MEPs to disallow zero-rating were rejected. As a consequence of the package, roaming charges will disappear in the EU by mid-2017. [1] This however, will be limited by a “review of pricing” and “fair use” limit. No one really knows how charges in other EU countries will be handled in practice. Most civil society groups and Tim Berners-Lee heavily criticised the network neutrality part of the deal. [2] The Regulation will become applicable on 30.04.2016. An interesting peculiarity is that BEREC (the body of national European telecoms regulators) has nine months to produce implementation guidelines that define the details within the given frame. [3]
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Copyright Reform: The European Commission will not be able to propose the announced copyright reform in time. After postponing the dossier for about 12 months already, there seems to be willingness to propose at least… something. The new plan now is to table a first Information Society Directive reform that contains the most consensual proposals in December and to work on a second package with more daring ideas sometime next year. The reason seems to be lack of courage and lack of agreement within the political cabinets.
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Digital Single Market Consultation: We haven’t really much to show for DSM-wise, but the European Commission is already waving another “red herring” with a new consultation on the Digital Single Market. The question is what should be done in the 2016-2020 window. [4] This however really depends on what will (not) be proposed in December.
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Digital Single Market Report: At the same time the European Parliament is working on a DSM own-initiative report. [5] The most relevant discussions there are whether and how to distinguish between online services and online service providers as well as between for-profit and non-for profit services. We are at the stage where the committee amendments have been tabled. Next steps are trying to reach compromises ahead of the committee votes, which are expected in December.
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UK Staunchly Against EU-wide Licensing: Not a massive surprise, but the UK government has announced that will listen to demand by its home-grown industry and oppose any attempt by EU to introduce pan-European level licenses for TV and film. [6] With France and the UK staunchly against this centrepiece of copyright reform it remains to be seen what the Commission will actually propose. From what we can tell, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip still stands behind this proposals. A political clash or back room bargaining is to be expected.
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Mass Surveillance: The European Parliament has passed a resolution [7] (i.e. nothing binding) that condemns the European Commission’s lack of action to protect EU citizens from mass surveillance. Data transfers to the US and Safe Harbour (which was already struck down by the Court of Justice of the EU) were mentioned, but recent national laws in France and the UK are also targeted. Our verdict: Too little, too late, not convincing.
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CopyCamp and School of Copyright: THE European copyright bootcamp will take place this Wednesday in Warsaw. [8] WMCZ, WMPL, WMDE and Dimi will be present from Wikimedia. The days after European activists will be taught copyright advocacy at the School of Rock(ing) Copyright. [9] If successful, the format is to be repeated.
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[1]http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5265_en.htm
[2]http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/27/technology/net-neutrality-europe-tim-berners-lee/
[6]http://www.politico.eu/article/uk-minister-digital-single-market-entertainment-industry/