Αρχική Νόμος για τη συλλογική διαχείριση δικαιωμάτων πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίαςΆρθρο 69-Καταργούμενες και λοιπές ρυθμίσειςΣχόλιο του χρήστη DIGITALEUROPE | 21 Ιανουαρίου 2016, 10:21
  • Σχόλιο του χρήστη 'DIGITALEUROPE' | 21 Ιανουαρίου 2016, 10:21

    We are grateful for being given the opportunity to participate in the public consultation of December 23, 2015 on the amendments of the Law for the collective management of copyright. DIGITALEUROPE as the voice of the European ICT industry would like to draw the attention of the Ministry to the recent European developments and their potential impact on the national Greek reform of copyright legislation. On December 9, 2015 the European Commission published its Communication “Towards a modern, more European copyright framework” (COM (2015) 626 final) – hereinafter the Communication. In its Communication, the Commission states the following in connection with copyright levies: “The Commission will assess the need for action to ensure that, when Member States impose levies for private copying and reprography to compensate right holders, their different systems work well in the single market and do not raise barriers to the free movement of goods and services. Issues that may need to be addressed include the link between compensation and harm to right holders, the relation between contractual agreements and the sharing of levies, double payments, transparency towards consumers, exemptions and the principles governing refund schemes, and non-discrimination between nationals and non-nationals in the distribution of any levies collected. The Commission will also promote a reflection on how levies can be more efficiently distributed to right holders.” As a result, we expect that the Commission will prepare a follow-up Recommendation to the Member States on the issues mentioned in the Communication. Therefore we believe that any amendments to the current Greek copyright levy system should wait and be synchronized with the publication of the Commission’s Recommendation. We would also like to mention the recent jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in particular cases Copydan Båndkopi v Nokia Danmark A/S (C-463/12) and Hewlett-Packard Belgium SPRL v Reprobel SCRL (C-572/13), which the Greek Government should carefully examine to ensure that any legislative changes properly take into account their outcome as well as other relevant court cases. In such regard, the CJEU sets a number of principles that evidence the lack of conformity of the system of copyright levies system applied in Greece with EU law, for example: 1) Publishers cannot be allocated a part of the fair compensation payable to rightholders (see Reprobel judgment, para. 44-49). In opposition to this EU principle, article 18 of the Greek Law nº 2121/1993 provides that the fair compensation related to the reproduction of books and assimilated printed works has to be distributed 50% in favor of creators and 50% in favor of editors. 2) The fair compensation must be set based on the criterion of actual harm suffered by rightholders from the legitimate copies actually produced (see Reprobel judgment, para. 69 and ff.). In opposition to this EU principle, the approval of the list of products and related tariffs (in particular proposed addition of PCs) in article 18 of Law nº 2121/1993 was not preceded by any exercise to assess what the actual harm resulting from private copying of protected works is. 3) Appropriate “ex-ante” exceptions (or under certain circumstances, “ex-post” reimbursement) schemes should exist when products are supplied to persons other than natural persons for purposes clearly unrelated to copying for private use (e.g. business users and public administration), not being possible to restrict the application of such exemption to any prior registrations (see judgment of 5 March 2015, case C-463/12, Copydan, para. 42-51). In opposition to this EU principle, article 18 of Greek Law nº 2121/1993 does not provide for effective real exemptions for sales to business and public administration customers in general. According to its Communication, the Commission has committed itself to address certain issues addressed by the aforementioned mentioned CJEU ruling. We therefore strongly advise the Government not to move ahead with the levies related provisions before the Commission has finalized it assessment and published its recommendations. Furthermore, the proposed provisions are not in line with the current CJEU jurisprudence and therefore the law may be open to legal challenge for inadequate transposition of EU Copyright Directive 2001/29. In conclusion, we believe that the changes of the Greek copyright legal framework should be focused on ensuring a proper implementation of the Collective Rights Management Directive 2014/26 and leave other changes to after the Commission publishes its Recommendation. If however the Ministry thinks it must press the reform, then we would like to mention that a proper implementation of the Directive 2001/29 requires meeting the requirements set by the CJEU, as mentioned above, in particular (1) no allocation of levies to editors, (2) well-define criteria and methodology of harm assessment to determine that products are subject to levies and what their related tariffs should be, and (3) an effective exemption of levies for any use other than non-private use by natural persons (e.g. use by businesses and public administration). We would also be happy if we can help the Ministry in its work on adapting the copyright levies system to a more suitable system to the digital age. We remain available for further dialogue. DIGITALEUROPE represents the digital technology industry in Europe. Our members include some of the world's largest IT, telecoms and consumer electronics companies and national associations from every part of Europe. DIGITALEUROPE wants a European Union that nurtures and supports digital technology industries, and that prospers from the jobs we provide, the innovation and economic benefits we deliver and the societal challenges we address. Our mission is to foster, on behalf of our members, a business, policy and regulatory environment in Europe that best realises our vision. We will achieve this by working as positive partners with the European Institutions and other European and global bodies and, through our national trade associations, the member states of Europe