Hello everybody,

The European Commission has presented its Digital Single Market Strategy last week [1] and there are two important takeaways for us: *They will propose a change in copyright legislation before the end of the year *They are looking for 2-6 exceptions and limitations that can be harmonised

The harmonisation candidates will have to be real cross-border issues and ideally an obstacle to innovation and new jobs in Europe. The Commission units are doing the Impact Assessment now. This is a document that analyses various issues, states whether the problems are within the Commission's authority and draws up several policy solutions. It is by its very nature evidence-based and less polemic than general political communication. [2]

For us this means that we should write a moderately long letter that provides evidence and concrete examples on how Freedom of Panorama is a European rather than a national issue and how it hurts the "single market". Ideally it will also make a connection to the DSM Strategy.

I would be very grateful for everyone who is willing to help gather data and specific cases and who wants to work on polishing the text, as I believe it is a decisive step in our advocacy efforts. We're looking for a style that combines academic and legal writing. We have time for this at least until beginning of June, so there is no need to rush, but the earlier it comes, the more time the Commission has to read it.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of the week!

Dimi

[1] http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/digital-single-market/docs/dsm-communication_... [2]http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/impact/index_en.htm