DG Connect's guidelines on Article 17 could possibly be discussed by the European Commission on April 14

By Emmanuel Legrand

The European Commission's Guidance on the application of Article 17 of the Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market could be released in the coming weeks, according to sources in Brussels.

  The members of the Working Party on Intellectual Property at the Council of Europe have tentatively listed on their agenda a possible presentation from the European Commission on the Guidance on the application of Article 17 of the Copyright Directive. The Guidance proposal, which will provide a framework for Member States to implement Article 17, has been under discussion for the most part of 2019 and 2020.

  The Commission's DG Connect held a series of consultations with stakeholders in order to come up with a consensus on how to deal with Article 17. However, several countries, such as France, objected to Commission's approach, which they saw as drifting away from the letter and the intent of the Directive. 

Concern about the Commission's approach

  The same concern was expressed by Members of the European Parliament, who sent a letter to the Commission in February 2021, claiming that the current approach to the Guidance "would not properly reflect the agreement hardly achieved after long negotiations on Article 17 of the Copyright Directive.”

  Representatives from the creative sector are concerned that the Commission's Guidelines will be watering down the scope of Article 17 and have publicly expressed their views to the Commission and Member States.

  The Guidance still needs to be adopted by the Commission and industry sources in Brussels suggest that it could be on the agenda of an April 14 meeting of the Commission. 

Guidelines not yet adopted by the Commission

  "For this to be confirmed on the working group's agenda, the college of commissioners would have to adopt the guidelines on Wednesday April 14, but it is still quite improbable at this stage," said a source in Brussels.

  During the same April 19 meeting, the Working Party is also supposed to hear from the Commission a report on the implementation of Directive on collective rights management.