Policy Observatory

On 24 February 2017 the Rapporteur of the European Parliament (EP) Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Catherine Stihler MEP, published her draft Opinion on the Copyright Directive. The Opinion sends a strong message against the most extremist parts of the European Commission’s proposal: the “censorship machine” (aka upload filter).

On 25 January, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee of the European Parliament considered the draft report, written by rapporteur Róża Thun (EPP, Poland), on the Proposal for a Regulation addressing geo-blocking. The consideration provided an opportunity for the Rapporteur to present her report, and also allowed other MEPs, including the shadow rapporteurs, to give their feedback on the draft report and on the proposal as a whole.

Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Therese Comodini Cachia, the Rapporteur for JURI on this file, has proposed a number of changes to the original broken and extreme proposal of the European Commission (EC). Ms Comodini has taken a reasonable approach and has amended the worst sections of the proposal: the “censorship machine” (aka upload filter) proposal in Article 13, and the suggestion to expand the “ancillary copyright” (aka “link tax”) that failed in Germany and Spain and was planned to be expanded to the entire EU.