Policy summary
The Commission still sees too many barriers that block the free flow of online services and entertainment across national borders. Digital Single Markets objectives are to boost the music download business, establish a single area for online payments and further protect EU consumers in cyberspace.
Such borders could be, for instance, national differences concerning modalities for online payments. According to the Commission, more than 60 per cent of all online cross-border internet shopping attempts in the EU fail due to technical or legal reasons such as refusal of non-domestic credit cards. Another issue affecting EU citizens are roaming costs when using their cell phones abroad. The Commission has set the objective that the difference between roaming and national tariffs should approach zero by 2015.
Another problem that has left unsolved so far is the question of how to deal with internet users downloading data (music, movies, etc.). Regulations defining how to deal with piracy differ from state to state. While France is pushing forward stricter regulation, Germany ministry has refused to adopt the three strikes scheme applied in France.
The commission has set up a 21-point-action plan in order to achieve its objectives concerning the Digital market. It includes the creation of EU online rights, updating the eCommerce Directive, simplifying the distribution of creative content, .
Milestones
- 2000 Adoption of E-Commerce Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC): the main
objective is proper functioning of the internal market for information society services, it confirms the country of origin principle for the e-commerce - 2001 EC Regulation 2560/2001 harmonises fees for cross-border and domestic euro transactions
- 9 Apr. 2001: Council adopts the EU Copyright Directive, the key legal text for online copyright in Europe
- 2002 E-Commerce Directive transposed by most of EU Member States
- 2008 SEPA pan-European payment instruments become operational in
parallel to domestic instruments - 9 Feb. 2010: Neelie Kroes becomes as digital agenda commissioner.
- 19 May 2010: Kroes unveils five-year Digital Agenda (read full text).
- Dec. 2010: Adoption of Review of the European Interoperability Framework by Commission and Review of EU ICT Standardisation Policy.
- January 2011 : European Commission launches consultation on IPRED 2 (new directive on copyright)
- 2011 SEPA payments will replace all national payments in the Eurozone
- 2011 A legislative proposal simplifying pan-European licensing foronline works will be issued
Issues
E-commerce
The Electronic Commerce Directive, adopted in 2000, sets up an Internal Market framework for electronic commerce, which provides legal certainty for business and consumers alike. It establishes harmonised rules on issues such as the transparency and information requirements for online service providers, commercial communications, electronic contracts and limitations of liability of intermediary service providers.
The proper functioning of the Internal Market in electronic commerce is ensured by the Internal Market clause, which means that information society services are, in principle, subject to the law of the Member State in which the service provider is established. In turn, the Member State in which the information society service is received cannot restrict incoming services.
Examples of services covered by the Directive include online information services (such as online newspapers), online selling of products and services (books, financial services and travel services), online advertising, professional services (lawyers, doctors, estate agents), entertainment services and basic intermediary services (access to the Internet and transmission and hosting of information). These services include also services provided free of charge to the recipient and funded, for example, by advertising or sponsorship.
Interoperability
2004 European Interoperability Framework v.1.0 issued (part of EU directive on the Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens) 2010 EIF v. 2.0 was adopted by the European Commission as the Annex II- EIF (European Interoperability Framework)
Interoperability means working together, it enables exchange of data and infromaion between various systems. The European Interoperability Framework supports the European Union's strategy of providing user-centred eGovernment services by facilitating, at a pan-European level, the interoperability of services and systems between public administrations, as well as between administrations and the public (citizens, businesses).
Copyright
The European Commission has launched on 12 January a public consultation to prompt the views of other European institutions, the Member States and private stakeholders on the findings reflected in the report on the application of the "Intellectual Property Rights" (IPR) enforcement directive (IPRED). Interested parties can submit their opinions by 31 March 2011. The Commission will create a new legislative proposal on the basis of the results of the consultations in 2011. Though, it expressed that legislation was not an imperative.
In September 2010 European Parliament finally adopted voted in favour of a non-binding proposal to enforce EU laws on authors rights and copyright infringement, but rejected calls to penalise online piracy. French MEP Marielle Gallo who has pushed forward stricter regulation is considered as hardline anti-piracy advocate. Some NGO's and politicians fear that IPRED 2 could repress file-sharing by using the Three strikes scheme adopted in France (2 emails sent to pirates before eventually to cut their internet connection). Or even by blocking websites. There's different views inside the Commission between Michel Barnier, the french commissionner in charge of Internal Market, in favour of an copyright inforcment, and Nelly Kroes, responsible for the Digital Agenda.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), that EU and other WTO members concluded in November 2010, could also force Internet access providers to filter the Net.
The EU will also create a body to manage this rights, like the Sacem in France. It will collect the royalties from each country the licensed songs are being played. Consultancy firm Deloitte has started initial moves to introduce the global repertoire database within two years, a song rights system that shows which music services provider or songwriter clearly owns which rights, which otherwise would make it hard to determine where to direct the royalties. (
Positions
- European Commission:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/pillar.cfm?pillar_id=43&pillar=Digital%20Single%20Market
Online markets in the EU are fatally fragmented. Consumers and businesses alike have difficulties accessing online shops and services in other EU countries. Some websites do not accept bank cards issued by other EU countries, and many websites do not deliver goods or services across the EU.
Online platforms are an easy way to distribute and exchange all kinds of content: music, films, pictures and more. Consumers have high expectations they want to access content effectively and efficiently online. But Europe lacks a unified market for online content. It can be difficult for example, for a Maltese consumer to download from a German website. Sometimes, it is only possible illegally.
Consumers and authors both lose out. Consumers do not have access to all available European content and authors are losing revenue because of the illegal markets which spring up to bridge the gaps.
- EuroISPA pan European association of European Internet Services
Providers Associations (ISPAs)
PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON THE FUTURE OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE IN
THE INTERNAL MARKET AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DIRECTIVE ON
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE (2000/31/EC)
8http://www.euroispa.org/files/1011_euroispa_consultation_ecommerce.pdf)
EuroISPA welcomes the opportunity to provide comments in relation to
the E-Commerce Directive (thereafter ECD). As a general, introductory remark, we
believe that the Directive offers a well balanced and functioning framework. The principles laid down therein showed to be the cornerstones for the development of the ICT industry in
Europe. Therefore, they should be preserved. Without being overly prescriptive, the provisions in question serve to provide a secure and predictable legal base for our industries to connect European citizens to the Internet and other electronic communication platforms. An
interference in this delicate balance will bring with it an increase of burdens for
legitimate commerce, creating a negative impact on innovation, distorting competition and undermining consumers fundamental rights to privacy and free flow of information.
Instead legal uncertainty and interpretative problems occur more on
the national level where the implementation of the Directive has not been done in a consistent
manner. Additionally, EuroISPA considers that barriers to e-commerce can be found not in the
ECD, but rather in other EU legislation.
WEWANTITUNES. POLAND Jan 24, 2010 http://www.wewantitunes.pl/
Polish iTunes users want an iTunes Store in Poland: we want to be able to purchase music and movies from the comfort of our homes. () Apple has been selling their products on the Polish market for many years now. Futhermore, iPods and AppleTVs are almost always available at our local resellers. However, the latter especially are completely useless without access to the iTunes Store. The last seven years have not yielded a local online music store either. The blame is most often shifted onto the law and ZAIKS (a Polish PRS/RIAA equivalent). Our record company community believes that offering music, along with
other formats, for purchase over the internet will not eliminate piracy and will cause even greater losses for them and the artists they represent. It is our aim to prove to the world that there are people living in Poland who are prepared to take out their credit cards and purchase select songs, albums or even movies from a local iTunes Store.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in its annual report (20 of january 2011). Global revenue from music via the Internet and mobile phones rose 6 percent to $4.6 billion, accounting for 29 percent of record companies sales but it was not enough to turn around an estimated 8-9% annual fall in total trade value. The value of the recorded music market has fallen by 31 percent since 2004, because of piracy and the decline in CD sales.
In Sweden, says IFPI, a study of consumer behaviour found that 52% of illegal filesharers had stopped or dramatically reduced their activities following the implementation of anti-piracy legislation in the country. And the legal market rose by 80%.
A poll published the 23 of january in France, and made by Hadopi, the official body in charge of the Three strikes scheme , showed that despite this measure, half of the people were still illegaly downloading, but by other ways than peer-to-peer. But it also showed that the pirates are the biggest consumers of cultural products.
La Quadrature du Net (french NGO) on its web site (http://www.laquadrature.net/en/ipred-consultation-is-decisive-for-the-future-of-the-internet) : The Commission's services who drafted the report regarding the "Intellectual Property Rights" (IPR) enforcement directive (IPRED), the Internal Market Directorate General exhibit a profound misunderstanding of current technologies, as they seek to apply an unadapted copyright regime to this new digital era.
(...) The Commission is engaging in a major effort to toughen up copyright enforcement policies in the digital environment. The Internal Market DG is once again refusing to adopt an open-minded, evidence-based approach to deal with file-sharing, Instead, the new reports of the future of the EU's IPR policies call for an increased repression against file-sharing and other tools for sharing culture online. The Commission denies the facts: impartial studies show that file-sharing has either a neutral or positive impact on the cultural economy.
About blocking websites, LQDN says : In the name of an obsolete copyright regime, legal threats are now looming over ISPs, such as search engines, hosting providers or Internet access providers, to force them to take the role of copyright police and start automatically filtering out the Net. Such extra-judicial policies are a clear violation of the rights of the public to access culture, and even more importantly the fundamental freedom of communication and the right to privacy. (...) The Commission's report is already providing justification for the criminalization of non-commercial file-sharing, by announcing the upcoming revival of the directive on the criminal enforcement of "IPR".
Jimmy Schulz, FDP member of the Bundestag
Music industry wants us to block illegal downloading websites. Do I have to do that ? Pony express' success story ended in 1866 : when telegraph were invented, the company wanted Washington to make a law against it ! Something like that is happening with the music business model, and some companies will not survive. The conservative party want to avoid access to child pornography, but even in that case I don't think blocking websites is the best measure. (...) Can we decide what people are able to see or not to see ? If we do have such instruments, we can use it to block nazi websites, but why not communist or liberal websites?
Official Documents
European Commission launches reflection on a Digital Single Market for Creative Content Online
NGOs and Think-Tanks
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