Copyright Directive: European Parliament listens to civil society and industry and rejects JURI report

Brussels, 5 July 2018 – Today, the European Parliament rejected the Legal Affairs’ Committee (JURI) draft report on the Copyright Directive reform, deeming it premature to enter into negotiations with the Council. EuroISPA welcomes this decision, as the current text would hurt the European Internet ecosystem and its users. We call on the European Parliament to improve the text ahead of the next Plenary session in September, by adopting a more proportionate and targeted approach.

Innocenzo Genna, Chair of EuroISPA’s Innovation and Growth Committee, stated: “Today, MEPs rightly rejected the introduction of additional press publishers’ rights and upload filters. In so doing, they listened to the concerns of hundreds of academics, internet pioneers, civil rights groups and the online sector”.

EuroISPA has consistently argued that Article 11 on press publishers’ rights would present a danger for the free and open internet and would hinder innovation, adding another layer of licensing complexity. Article 13 would mandate platforms to install incredibly expensive upload filters. This would lead to over-blocking and censorship of lawful content, thus endangering European users’ fundamental freedoms.

Therefore, we call on MEPs to amend the draft report ahead of the next Plenary session in September, to formulate copyright rules which are proportionate and targeted, to support the development of the European Internet industry and respect users’ fundamental freedoms.