Hi all,
The text on Freedom of Panorama in Belgium that was adopted in committee
two weeks ago is finally available online (FR & NL). [1] There were only
minor, technical changes as compared to the version adopted in the first
reading. Notably, "reproduction" was replaced by "reproduction or
communication" in two places, which is very useful in regard to the EU's
legal framework.
The Socialists and the French speaking Christian-Democrats proposed again
to limit the exception to non-commercial uses only, which was rejected by
10-5 with one abstention. The same opposition then proposed a second
amendment, asking for at least compulsory attribution when the images are
being used commercially. This was again rejected 10-5 with one abstention.
[2]
The entire text was adopted with an identical voting behaviour of 10-5 with
one abstention. The majority is made up of Flemish Nationalists, Flemish
Christian-Democrats and the Liberals from both language groups. This is
also the governing coalition of Belgium. The Greens, who normally side with
the Socialists in Belgian federal politics, abstained instead of siding
with the opposition which they are part of. As part of the debate the
Socialists kept bringing up the example of France, while the Liberals and
Flemish Nationalists replied, that they intentionally chose to model the
legislation after the Dutch and UK examples.
The next step is a plenary vote that should happen rather soon (in several
weeks, depending on the workload). We have a stable majority, but might
still try to split the Socialists by asking parts of the group to at least
abstain (voting for government coalition proposals is not really a
political option for them at this point). After that the King has to
confirm the bill by signing it before it is published in the State Gazette.
10 days after publication the text become legally binding in Belgium.
Cheers,
Dimi
[1]http://www.lachambre.be/FLWB/PDF/54/1484/54K1484009.pdf
[2]http://www.lachambre.be/FLWB/PDF/54/1484/54K1484008.pdf