Yesterday, we submitted our response (PDF file) to the public consultation questionnaire on the European Research Area (ERA) Act. The ERA Act, which the European Commission is expected to introduce towards the end of this year, aims to remove persistent barriers to the completion of the European Research Area. While the final content of the proposal is not yet known, we hope it will include robust measures to address obstacles to the free circulation of scientific knowledge in Europe—particularly copyright-related barriers.
Our contribution
The consultation covers a broad range of issues, but we focused our response on the part of the questionnaire (Section 3.2.2) that directly relates to our core mission: legal barriers to access to and reuse of scientific publications and research data. We argue that the ERA Act should introduce, at a minimum, two key measures: a Union-wide secondary publication right; and a general, mandatory scientific research exception with cross-border effect, applicable to both institutional and non-institutional users.
Too often, publicly funded research remains locked behind paywalls, limiting scientific progress and forcing European taxpayers to pay twice—first to fund the research and again to access its results. Authors should therefore benefit from an unwaivable right to republish publicly funded research outputs immediately in open access repositories. To maximise its impact, this secondary publication right should apply retrospectively. In addition, the EU should introduce an exception allowing cultural heritage institutions and other knowledge institutions to republish publicly funded research outputs under appropriate open licences. Ideally, the secondary publication right should take the form of a legal obligation to deposit publicly funded research outputs in open access repositories immediately upon publication.
At the same time, existing EU research exceptions are inadequate for cross-border and digital research. They are constrained by non-commercial purpose requirements, routinely overridden by contract—including through choice-of-law clauses—and further restricted by technological protection measures (TPMs). The ERA Act should therefore establish a fully harmonised, mandatory, cross-border scientific research exception that is technologically neutral, applies to all exclusive rights, and is protected from contractual override. Finally, EU law must ensure that TPMs do not impede lawful research activities by providing a rapid and transparent administrative mechanism that guarantees timely access to protected research resources.
Call to action
The consultation remains open until 23 January 2026. We encourage all stakeholders to make their voices heard and participate.
