EU ratifies “old” copyright treaties

The EU and the member states have just ratified two copyright agreements that were negotiated in 1996. The agreements were both drawn up by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

The late ratification does not mean that the EU has so far ignored the treaties. Far from it: the EU Copyright Directive of 2001 is partially based on these treaties.

"Immediately after the [WIPO] Diplomatic Conference in 1996, work started at the European level to adapt European copyright law to the WIPO 'internet' Treaties," a statement of the European Commission reads. "A European Copyright Directive was adopted in 2001."

While the EU decided to ratify the treaties in 2000, it has only just come around to actually doing so.

The ratification occurs when member states meet with Charlie McCreevy, Commissioner for the Internal Market, as part of a newly established European body that is to oversee and coordinate copyright enforcement and anti-piracy policies across the EU: the European Observatory for Counterfeiting and Piracy.

"We must do more to protect ourselves and the Observatory is a fundamental step in bringing together Member States, authorities, private businesses and consumers in a joint, concerted effort to rid ourselves of this dangerous problem," McCreevy said, “[T]here is an acute need to support enforcement efforts through practical non legislative means."

15-12-2009