Ministers from six European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, The Netherlands and Sweden) have written a joint letter to the European Commission regarding the need for a legislative proposal on rules and boundaries of international application of EU law on copyright and neighbouring rights. The English version of the letter is available here.
The letter refers to two judgments from the European Court of Justice on the international application of European law – RAAP (C-265/19) in 2020 and Kwantum (C-227/23) in October this year, and expresses concern that the resulting lack of reciprocity between EU and third countries, whereby EU member states are now obliged to provide protection to rights holders from outside the EU even if those countries do not provide EU rights holders with equivalent protection, leads to an economic imbalance.
The ministers call on the Commission to prioritise putting forward a legislative proposal on rules and boundaries of international application of EU law on copyright and neighbouring rights, and specifically “to ensure conditions of fair competition between right holders, as well as users, in the EU – vis-à-vis third countries – and at the same time encourage third countries to introduce the same rights, thereby strengthening the competitiveness of the EU and its Member States by safeguarding a level playing field.”
________________________
To make sure you do not miss out on regular updates from the Kluwer Copyright Blog, please subscribe here.
