Digital Single Market: state of play

Mid April, the Council adopted new rules on copyright, sales contracts for goods and digital content. Member states will now be required to transpose the new Directives into their national law. The European Parliament also held votes in Plenary on the provisional agreements.

Copyright in the Digital Single Market

On 15 April, the Council EU adopted the Copyright Directive, which seeks adequate protection for authors and artists while also opening up new possibilities for accessing and sharing copyright-protected content online throughout the EU. Following the publication of the Directive, Member States will have 24 months to transpose the new rules into their national law. The adopted text is available here.

‘SatCab’ Directive

The Council also adopted a Directive which aims to facilitate the cross-border provision of online TV and radio content. The co-legislators agreed to extend the ‘country of origin’ principle to a limited set of online services, and to facilitate the licensing of re-transmission services over the internet under certain conditions. Following the publication of the Directive in the EU’s Official Journal, Member States will have 24 months to transpose the new rules. The adopted text is available here.

Sales contracts for goods and digital content

Also on 15 April, the Council adopted a package comprising a Directive regulating the private-law aspects of contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services in the internal market and a Directive on contracts the sales of goods. The adopted texts are available here and here. Following their publication in the Official journal, Member states will have two years to transpose both Directives into their national law.

Digital Europe Programme

On 17 April, the European Parliament endorsed in Plenary the provisional partial agreement resulting from interinstitutional negotiations on the file ‘Establishing the Digital Europe programme for the period 2021-2027’ with 561 votes in favour, 39 against, and 50 abstentions. The voting list is available here.

Platform-to-Business relations

The European Parliament also endorsed in Plenary the provisional agreement resulting from interinstitutional negotiations on new rules for fairness and transparency for business users of online services (P2B) with 632 votes in favour, 22 against and 3 abstentions. Stakeholder reactions to this vote are available here.