Yesterday, a new coalition agreement between Labour (PvdA) and the Liberal party (VVD) was presented in the Netherlands. This agreement will form the basis of their collaboration in a new government, expected within weeks. In addition to provisions concerning social security, education and health care, the agreement devotes some provisions to digital and technological topics, including copyright. 

The agreement entails a fiercer stand against cybercrime, better protection of online privacy and an extension of the retention period for telecom data. In addition, the parties agreed upon ‘modernising copyright’ to protect the rights regarding creative works, without affecting the benefits consumers will have using these works. This provision remains rather vague, however, since the new coalition did not elaborate on how they plan to achieve this goal. A ban on downloading from an illegal source has not been included in the agreement, nor has the upcoming change in the Dutch private copying levy been addressed. In any event, the European treaty against online piracy, ACTA, will not have the support of the new cabinet.

Future of Copyright will keep you informed about these developments, in case more concrete plans regarding the modernization of Dutch copyright law will be announced. For more background reading on Dutch policy developments, many related articles are available on Future of Copyright: 

• Dutch Parliament reviews proposed amendments to Dutch copyright law
• Preliminary questions to the ECJ from the Dutch Supreme Court on illegal downloading under the Home Copy Regime
• Dutch Socialist Party proposes to reform private copying levy

Source: nu.nl 

Written by: Nathalie Falot