CISAC Round Table Debate on Europe and Authors' Rights at 2016 Think Culture Conference
CISAC was a partner in the inaugural Think Culture conference organised by News Tank Culture. This innovation and cultural industries conference took place at Paris Dauphine University on 6 September. Eric Baptiste introduced the debate “Europe: Ally or Adversary?” in underscoring,
When we think about the European Union, we think about the economy and not culture. However, cultural industries are very influential. They represent 30 million jobs in the world with 8 million in Europe. Culture and those activities that depend on it are an economic industry for the future.”
In his eyes, the balance statement in regards to the European Union and culture isn't always black and white. On one side, important advancements have been accomplished: growing the European Union extended authors’ rights principles and cultural exception to new countries. On the other side, establishing a single digital market sparked off concerns within the cultural community. Often critical in regards to the European Commission, cultural actors are expecting a lot from Europe, particularly to rebalance the transfer of value (also known as the value gap), which has benefited giant digital companies to the detriment of creators of cultural goods.
European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture Director for Culture and Creativity Michel Magnier admitted that “culture isn’t the privileged area of the Commission. Up until now, we have focused too much on economic aspects and not enough on social and especially cultural aspects.” However according to European rules, member states are those who are responsible for cultural matters.
Only 0.015% of the European Commission budget is allocated to culture. The budgetary decisions of the Commission don’t put culture forward. The Commission nevertheless is interested in culture when it focused its priorities on establishing a single digital market. “Europe, in regards to culture, is often view in a negative light due to specific events and unfortunate attitudes. These stances hide a much more positive reality. Europe is working to develop its activities in the area of culture,” Michael Magnier sought to reassure. “Concerning the polemic around authors’ rights, a lot of people, especially in France, believed that the Commission had wanted to kill authors’ rights.”
ADAGP Director General and European Visual Arts (EVA) President Marie-Anne Ferry-Fall went back to the fears that the will of the European Commission to reform authors’ rights in order to harmonise the single digital market had stirred up. “In the area of authors’ rights, for visual arts, we have the best protection here in France that exists compared to other countries. If Europe wants to “harmonise”, there is a real risk concerning authors’ rights of lowering the bar. When we are already at the highest level that exists, harmonisation represents more a risk than an asset.”
If the 2001 extension of resale right, which allows an artist to receive a percentage of the price of their works sold by a gallery or in an auction, to the entirety of Europe represented a true advancement, Europe has also had “unfortunate interventions” according to Marie-Anne Ferry-Fall. She then cited the directive that established a lack of responsibility for large digital entities in regards to authors’ rights. She also cited the calls to modernise authors’ rights from various Commission presidents “who make us shudder, or the dramatic consequences for authors of European Court of Justice decisions.” Today’s reform of the information society directive, which has leaked to the press and that the Commission is to adopt on 21 September, seems to contain certain advancements. “The Commission seems to have understood that it was necessary to stop ceaselessly adding new exceptions to rights exclusive to authors. It seems ready to consider sharing value”, she concluded on a reassuring note.
La SCAM Director General Hervé Rony discussed information about the Commission’s project, “…with the Commission, it’s always necessary to speak loudly in front of people who don’t have our culture. However I believe that we can’t lose hope in the EU”. He underscored, “The fundamental contradiction that exists in Europe, between linguistic realities and various cultures that brings member states to favour an extremely strong regulatory political environment, is where Europe’s goal is to break down borders and harmonise them. This is why we have the impression that the EU occupied with breaking down certain protections. The fundamental contradiction between a state-focused organisation of culture and harmonization is going to continue to weigh the debates”. He also denounced “the great hypocrisy of member states in regards to taxation” that allow certain Internet operators to not pay taxes, contrary to local cultural entities.
SACD Secretary General and SAA Vice President Patrick Raude called for more ambitious European politics in terms of financing creation. With the difficulty in obtaining a consensus among 28 member states, he is hoping for a better recognition of “the principle of subsidiarity in cultural politics, which leaves the possibility of continuing to establish favourable cultural systems to member states. Currently every three years, the French system of support for cinema is re-examined by the European Commission often in a contentious atmosphere. French Parliament voted two years ago on a tax on Video on Demand service boxes that, for lack of being validated by the European Commission, has only been able to collect by services established in France,” he stated.
SACD is expecting that the Commission reinforce its obligations in financing creation with on-demand audiovisual services. They would also like them to end tax and regulatory distortions in the online distribution of works. Finally, SACD supports expanding the unwaivable right to remuneration for screenwriters and directors, recognized in France but not in all countries of the European Union. A large scale campaign, supported by CISAC and Writers & Directors Worldwide (W&DW) has been launched.
Member of the National Assembly in France, Marcel Rogemont added, “The European Union is founded as a single market that exists for us as consumers and not as citizens. For a consumer, the best price will always be free. There is simply a strong relationship between producing and distributing cultural goods that must be organized. Neither ally nor adversary, we need Europe as a partner”.
National Assembly member François de Mazières estimated that, « The major problem today in the politics of culture is digital. It’s necessary to as the question about tax harmonization. The struggle against derogatory systems, particularly benefiting major tech companies like Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, is one of the major issues of the European Union”. Eric Baptiste expressed hope that the “current questioning of the legitimacy of enormous transfers of tax amounts from states to large digital companies is also causing a similar questioning on the transfer of value of copyrighted works and its damage to cultural content creators and the companies that support them”.
Responding to these speeches, Michael Magnier expressed that “the time when we could access works for free on the Internet is at its end”. He assured attendees that online platforms like YouTube could no longer qualify as ‘passive’ in the upcoming reform of the informational services directive that the Commission is going to adopt on 21 September. “This text is going to clarify the fact that there is “communication to the public”, he stated. This would no longer permit these platforms to declare themselves not responsible as to the content that they distribute, to the respect of creators and authors’ rights.
Throughout the debate, it was reminded several times that the European Union’s politics on culture depended first on the will of member states. In the end, the debate was less controversial than its title presented. It also showed that beyond the criticism addressed to the European Commission that the expectations for Europe from cultural professionals favours their industries’ prosperity, according to Eric Baptiste. He concluded that the result of the meeting was that “it is a message of hope”. He views the expected change by the Commission regarding the responsibilities of those platforms in the directive is
an encouraging sign for those in our industries to loudly express themselves and to participate in good faith in dialogue with the Commission”.
The first directives that protected those platforms were inspired by United States rules and telecommunications industry regulations, which protect the privacy of the transmitted message. According to the CISAC Board of Directors Chairperson,
These ideas dating back to the 1990s are simply no longer adapted to the digital world of today. If Europe shows the way in this area, it will move Internet regulation” throughout the world.