EuroISPA in South Korea to promote innovation-friendly intermediary liability environment

Brussels, 01 June 2015 – EuroISPA President Oliver Süme was in Seoul last week, addressing the South Korean Open Net-Harvard Berkman Center seminar on intermediary liability. Mr Süme briefed attendees on the liability environment facing European Internet intermediaries, and advised on the necessity of an innovation-friendly legislative framework to underpin economic growth.

Mr Süme’s address focused specifically on the European Union’s 2000 E-Commerce Directive, the legislative infrastructure that defines the European intermediary liability environment. In addition to unravelling the legal character of the Directive, Mr Süme also gave an insight into how the Directive has impacted on the operating environment for European ISPs on the ground.

The event featured addresses and panel discussions from other intermediary liability experts in the international community. It comes as South Korean lawmakers begin discussions on a new liability environment for intermediaries in the country and was organised to provide international perspectives on the makeup of an effective legislative framework. The audience included South Korean politicians, academia, civil society and industry actors.

The South Korean regulatory outlook is of particular interest to European ISPs, especially given the concern among the ICT community that recent amendments to the Korea Copyright Act may conflict with the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Indeed, the obligation for Online Service Providers operating in South Korean to filter content under what is effectively a Notice and Staydown mechanism is contradictory to the FTA, especially in the context the recent EU Court of Justice rulings that prohibit the kind of general monitoring that a filtering obligation requires.

The Open Net engagement continues EuroISPA’s latest targeted campaign around intermediary liability, in the context of the Commission’s recently-published Digital Single Market Strategy. It follows the EuroISPA event Intermediary Liability in the Digital Single Market and recent media op-eds and European Parliament engagements by EuroISPA Officers.

Speaking after the event, EuroISPA President Oliver Süme said: “Europe is a key player in the global Internet environment, and as the voice of the continent’s Internet sector EuroISPA takes every opportunity to use its experiences in Europe to help drive innovation-friendly smart regulation in a global context.”