European Commission unveils Digital Single Market strategy
One year ago European Commission PresidentJean-Claude Juncker promised to make a single market strategy for the digital age, on Thursday (AEST) the EC finally unveiled its plans.
Its plan to break down barriers within the European Union (28 member states that are located primarily in Europe) for digital platforms and services sets out 16 key initiatives to deliver by the end of 2016.
The 16 actions outlined in the EC’s Digital Single Market strategy are based around three guiding pillars: (1) Better access for consumers and businesses to digital goods and services across Europe; (2) creating the right conditions and a level playing field for digital networks and innovative services to flourish and (3) maximising the growth potential of the digital economy.
The initiatives create a platform for many of the copyright reforms the EC have been pushing for, specifically a move to see the removal of ‘geo-blocking’ barriers to digital trade and consumption which complicate licensing agreements and make it so that content on services like YouTube and Netflix are only available in certain countries –thus pushing consumers toward piracy.
The EC said in a statement: “The Commission wants to ensure that users who buy films, music or articles at home can also enjoy them while travelling across Europe. [We] will also look at the role of online intermediaries in relation to copyright-protected works”.
The strategy also addresses the unintended "value gap" which IFPI chief executive Frances Moorementioned when she delivered the annualDigital Music Reportlast month. Currently, European law allows intermediary platforms like YouTube and Dailymotion to abuse safe harbourrules to host content without being subject to copyright liability. The Digital Single Market strategy will see that those who distribute or intervene in distribution have full licenses, pay creators the same rates as services like Spotify and Deezer, and are not neutral carriers who can benefit from the safe harbour.
The IFPI released a statement overnight, which partly read: "We look to the Commission’s DSM Strategy to support our industry’s efforts by providing a fair environment in which to do business. To achieve that, a targeted, evidence-based approach is needed."
The proposals could see tech giants like Google, Apple and Facebook butting heads with European regulators. The EC has this week launched an antitrust investigation into the European Union’s e-commerce sector to uncover competition concerns affecting Europe’s e-commerce markets. The EC launched its investigation into Apple’s licensing agreements with labels in early April following reports it was pushing labels to kill-off free streaming in the lead-up to its Beats Music relaunch.
The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA) has welcomed the commitments. In a statement the non-profit body’s Executive Chair Helen Smith said: "An industrial policy for culture is essential to achieve a successful Digital Single Market through which Europe will be the world's strongest and most inclusive digital player."
The proposals have already been met with criticism however; the UK’s Music Managers Forum and Featured Artists Coalition released a statement pointing out the lack of reward for creators in the digital age.
“The document only say ‘measures to safeguard fair remuneration of creators also need to be considered in order to encourage the future generation of content’,” the MMF and FAC said in a joint statement. “[In fact] there are legislative issues that should be adopted now to aid creators”.
FAC CEO Paul Pacifico told media: “We urgently need action to give performers an unassignable right that guarantees transparent remuneration to deliver real and transparent value to performers and to reassure consumers that the artists they love are actually getting paid.”
The Digital Single Market will be on the agenda of the European Council meeting on 25-26 June.
See below for the 16 proposals for the EC’s DSM strategy:
Pillar I: Better access for consumers and businesses to digital goods and services across Europe
The Commission will propose:
1.rules to make cross-border e-commerce easier. This includes harmonised EU rules on contracts and consumer protection when you buy online: whether it is physical goods like shoes or furniture; or digital content like e-books or apps. Consumers are set to benefit from a wider range of rights and offers, while businesses will more easily sell to other EU countries. This will boost confidence to shop and sell across borders (seeFactsheetfor facts & figures).
2. toenforceconsumer rules more rapidly andconsistently,by reviewing the Regulation on Consumer Protection Cooperation.
3. more efficient and affordableparcel delivery. Currently 62% of companies trying to sell online say that too-high parcel delivery costs are a barrier (see the newly releasedEurobarometer on e-commerce).
4. to end unjustifiedgeo-blocking– a discriminatory practice used for commercial reasons, when online sellers either deny consumers access to a website based on their location, or re-route them to a local store with different prices. Such blocking means that, for example, car rental customers in one particular Member State may end up paying more for an identical car rental in the same destination.
5. to identify potential competition concerns affecting European e-commerce markets. The Commission thereforelaunched todayanantitrust competition inquiryinto the e-commercesectorin the European Union (press release).
6. amodern, more European copyrightlaw: legislative proposals will follow before the end of 2015 to reduce the differences between national copyright regimes and allow for wider online access to works across the EU, including through further harmonisation measures. The aim is to improve people's access to cultural content online – thereby nurturing cultural diversity – while opening new opportunities for creators and the content industry. In particular, the Commission wants to ensure that users who buy films, music or articles at home can also enjoy them while travelling across Europe. The Commission will also look at the role of online intermediaries in relation to copyright-protected work. It will step up enforcement against commercial-scale infringements of intellectual property rights.
7. a review of theSatellite and Cable Directiveto assess if its scope needs to be enlarged to broadcasters' online transmissions and to explore how to boost cross-border access to broadcasters' services in Europe.
8. to reduce the administrative burden businesses face from differentVATregimes: so that sellers of physical goods to other countries also benefit from single electronic registration and payment; and with a common VAT threshold to help smaller start-ups selling online.
Pillar II: Creating the right conditions and a level playing field for digital networks and innovative services to flourish
The Commission will:
9. present an ambitious overhaul of EUtelecoms rules. This includes more effective spectrum coordination, and common EU-wide criteria for spectrum assignment at national level; creating incentives for investment in high-speed broadband; ensuring a level playing field for all market players, traditional and new; and creating an effective institutional framework.
10. review theaudiovisual media frameworkto make it fit for the 21stcentury, focusing on the roles of the different market players in the promotion of European works (TV broadcasters, on-demand audiovisual service providers, etc.). It will as well look at how to adapt existing rules (the Audiovisual Media Services Directive) to new business models for content distribution.
11. comprehensively analyse the role ofonline platforms(search engines, social media, app stores, etc.) in the market. This will cover issues such as the non-transparency of search results and of pricing policies, how they use the information they acquire, relationships between platforms and suppliers and the promotion of their own services to the disadvantage of competitors – to the extent these are not already covered by competition law. It will also look into how to best tackleillegal contenton the Internet.
12. reinforce trust and security in digital services, notably concerning the handling ofpersonal data. Building on the new EU data protection rules, due to be adopted by the end of 2015, the Commission will review thee-Privacy Directive.
13. propose a partnership with the industry oncybersecurityin the area of technologies and solutions for online network security.
Pillar III: Maximising the growth potential of the digital economy
The Commission will:
14. propose a 'European free flow of data initiative' topromote the free movement of data in the European Union. Sometimes new services are hampered by restrictions on where data is located or on data access – restrictions which often do not have anything to do with protecting personal data. This new initiative will tackle those restrictions and so encourage innovation. The Commission will also launch aEuropean Cloudinitiative covering certification of cloud services, the switching of cloud service providers and a "research cloud".
15. define priorities forstandards and interoperabilityin areas critical to the Digital Single Market, such as e-health, transport planning or energy (smart metering).
16. support an inclusive digital society where citizens have the rightskillsto seize the opportunities of the Internet and boost their chances of getting a job. A newe-governmentaction plan will also connect business registers across Europe, ensure different national systems can work with each other, and ensure businesses and citizens only have to communicate their data once to public administrations, that means governments no longer making multiple requests for the same information when they can use the information they already have. This "only once" initiative will cut red tape and potentially save around €5 billion per year by 2017. The roll-out of e-procurement and interoperable e-signatures will be accelerated.