Common Position on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society - Position of the EFJ

Authors' rights are important to the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). The (over 200.000) media professionals who are members of EFJ produce a great deal of the content that is the foundation of the Information Society, and will not be able to sustain a professional career if they do not have strong protection of their authors' rights. There is also a strong link between authors' rights on the one hand and good press conduct and media liability on the other. We support the proposed directive in general as we recognise the need for a harmonisation of authors' rights within the EU at a high level. However, the EFJ is very much opposed to some of the compromises from the later phases of the negotiations. We find, for example, that Article 5, 2. (b) should have given rightholders "equitable remuneration" and not just "fair compensation" and we find Article 6 extremely difficult to understand and fear for the subsequent results. The particular reason for this application, however, is Article 5, 3 (c) on reproduction by the press. EU member states have different but well-established traditions regarding analogue and digital press clippings. The existing systems are in some cases already in function across borders and in other cases on their way to being so. Both publishers and authors benefit from the efficient and low cost collecting systems. And retroactive agreements between the various collecting societies ensure smooth and fair crossborder use. Bringing Article 5, 3 into the catalogue of exceptions will not further crossborder press clippings. Instead there is a risk that it may upset existing harmonisation and cause new conflicts of interest. To avoid this the EFJ hereby proposes the following addition to Article 5, 3: "..provided that this exception in January 2000 already was in existence under national law." If this amendment of Article 5, 3 is adopted, the few member states who have made use of the possibility of adopting such an exception by virtue of the Berne Convention will be able to continue doing so. And - more important - the majority of member states who have not, will be able to continue their systems which have not caused problems for the internal market or disturbed cross-border activities.