The EU Directive

Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society

Summary

"The Directive harmonises rights in certain key areas, primarily to meet the challenge of the Internet and e-commerce, and digital technology in general. It also deals with exceptions to these rights and legal
protection for technological aspects of rights management systems."

Timetable

The European Community Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society entered into force on 22 June 2001.

Article 13 requires the Directive to be transposed into the national laws
of EU Member States before 22 December 2002.

Implementation within Member States

The implementation of the Directive within the EU member states proceeded much slower than planned. The deadline as laid down in article 13 was only met by Greece and Denmark. Italy and Austria implemented the Directive in April and June 2003 respectively.

On July 14th 2003 the European Comission decided to send reasoned opinions to the other eleven Member States (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and the UK).

The reasoned opinion is a form of warning the European Comission sends to Member States that fail to implement EU law. Should a Member State which has received a reasoned opinion fail to give a satisfactory reply within the deadline (usually two months), the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.

The German Implementation Process

The german implementation process progressed much slower than planned. The government decided to use a so called basket strategy, dividing the necessary changes for amendment of the existing law into two groups or baskets (Körbe). The first basket has been finished and the changes came into force on 13th september 2003. The second basket is currently been implemented.

A Short Chronology of the German Implementation Process

• 22nd May 2001
  EU Directive 2001/29/EC adopted by European Parliament and Comission.
• 18th March 2002
  German implementation process starts with the publication of an adviser's draft (Referentenentwurf).
• 2nd August 2oo2
  Government bill (Regierungsentwurf) for the "Law for Regulation of Copyright in the Information Society.
• 22nd. December 2002
  The deadline for implementation of the EU Directive expires.
• 11th April 2003
  The Lower House of German Parliament (Bundestag) passes the Copyright Law in the Information Society ("Gesetz zum Urheberrecht in der Informationsgesellschaft")
• 7th May 2003
  The committee on legal affairs of the Federal Assembly (Bundesrat) decides the addendum of §53 of the copyright law (UrhG).
  13th May 2003
  The Federal Assembly recommends to call the arbitration panel.
• 3rd July 2003
  The Bundestag passes the Copyright Law in the Information Society ("Gesetz zum Urheberrecht in der Informationsgesellschaft").
• 14th. July 2003
  The European Commission decides to send reasoned opinions to eleven Member States, including Germany.
• 13th. September 2003
  The Copyright Law in the Information Society ("Gesetz zum Urheberrecht in der Informationsgesellschaft") comes into force.
• 16th September 2003
  The second part of the amendment of german copyright law starts.