On October 2, COMMUNIA hosted an in-person event in Brussels on why Europe needs a Digital Knowledge Act. A video recording of the event is now available (hosted on Vimeo).
The event brought together academics, representatives of civil society and EU policymakers to discuss legislative measures that would enable knowledge institutions, such as libraries, archives, universities and other research organisations, to fulfil their public mission in the digital age. The event also marked the release of our brochure A Digital Knowledge Act for Europe (download the PDF file).
Video recording
Why Europe needs a Digital Knowledge Act
Over the last mandate, the EU has taken important steps to promote European research and innovation. It has expanded its research funding through Horizon Europe and passed a number of ambitious legislative instruments, such as the Data Act, the Digital Services Act, and the AI Act among others, to improve access to important data sources for researchers.
For all that, the EU has failed to address the root causes of the digital woes that are plaguing Europe’s knowledge institutions. As COMMUNIA’s Policy Director Justus Dreyling remarked in his opening speech the barriers that European knowledge institutions are facing that prevent them from fulfilling their public mission in the digital environment remains considerable.
Four pitches
Instead of a legislative patchwork, COMMUNIA and its allies envision a comprehensive legislative intervention – a Digital Knowledge Act – that finally enables knowledge institutions in Europe to offer the same services online as offline. In the second part of the event, four representatives of civil society organisations made pitches for measures that should be included in a Digital Knowledge Act (starting at the 00:04:30 timestamp). The four pitches correspond to the four actions that we highlight in our brochure:
- Protect the Public Domain (00:05:39):
Brigitte Vézina (Director of Policy and Open Culture, Creative Commons) shed light on how some EU Member States “weaponize their cultural heritage laws as a kind of pseudo-copyright” to limit the reuse of Public Domain materials. In order to remedy the situation, she proposed to introduce as part of a Digital Knowledge Act a safeguard to ensure that the use of digital reproductions of Public Domain cultural heritage cannot be subject to restrictions imposed by cultural heritage laws. - Unlock research (00:13:10):
Ben White (Co-founder of Knowledge Rights 21) introduced the idea of an open-ended research exception to ensure that the European copyright framework can keep pace with technological development and offer a harmonised legal landscape for cross-border research collaborations. - Promote digital adaptation (00:20:20):
COMMUNIA’s Legal Director Teresa Nobre addressed the abusive practices encountered by knowledge institutions when attempting to acquire licenses for digital materials, specifically in the context of e-lending. She proposed to introduce an obligation to license digital materials to institutions under fair terms and to declare certain contract clauses unenforceable to level the playing field between publishers and aggregators on the one hand and knowledge institutions on the other. - Shield institutions from legal risk (00:28:36):
Open Future Policy Director and COMMUNIA president Paul Keller discussed how the fragmented state of European copyright law creates legal uncertainty for practitioners in knowledge institutions. As a result, knowledge institutions often don’t exhaust the existing copyright flexibilities. This could be remedied by limiting damages and introducing safe harbour provisions for knowledge institutions.
Panel discussion
In the third part of the event, a panel of four experts, three academics and a practitioner, engaged in an in-depth discussion of the idea of a Digital Knowledge Act (00:36:50). Our moderator Teresa Hackett (Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, Electronic Information for Libraries) invited the experts to comment on the proposals made by civil society advocates. Here are some key insights from the exchange:
- Giulia Priora (Professor, NOVA Law School Lisbon) agreed with Brigitte Vézina’s analysis, stressing that copyright is not perpetual for a reason. She remarked that by carving out the protections for cultural heritage materials from its transposition of Article 14, Italy might have wrongfully implemented the CDSM Directive. She also agreed that a Digital Knowledge Act would be a good place to establish that the Member States cannot restrict the use of reproductions of cultural heritage by other means than copyright.
- Martin Senftleben (Professor, University of Amsterdam) remarked that the EU should move to a mandatory research exception, which should be an open provision in that it would not be limited to specific types of research or research methodologies to enable the research community to keep pace with the rapidly evolving information society. He also noted that the lawmaker needs to clarify that in cross-border research projects all members have legal access to materials and may share them among themselves.
- Susan Reilly (Director, Irish Research e-Library) reported that even though her consortium pools a lot of expertise and spends considerably on e-resources it does not have the negotiating power to achieve outcomes that support equity of access to information. Some vendors attempt to write unlimited indemnity into contracts, particularly in the context of AI training, and some libraries might sign such agreements. This creates a massive chilling effect, which would be helped greatly by a limitation of damages.
- Bernd Justin Jütte (Professor, University College Dublin) argued that if we want to put knowledge repositories, such as libraries, in a position to acquire the works that they need, there must be an obligation for rightsholders to license works under fair conditions. In the face of the power imbalance in the market, we need positive obligations as counterweights to the currently overpowering effects of exclusive rights.
Closing remarks by Tiemo Wölken
Finally, MEP Tiemo Wölken (S&D) delivered highly supportive closing remarks (01:39:00), underlining that a Digital Knowledge Act should enshrine the fundamental right of access to knowledge. While universities and libraries were able to provide access to information in the analogue age, access to reliable information is much harder to obtain in the digital age. This is partly a function of the raising of barriers around knowledge by publishers and others. While this does not mean that knowledge should be completely free and creators need to be compensated for their work, the MEP agreed with the presenters that the balance needs to be restored.
COMMUNIA thanks all speakers and participants for joining us in Brussels. Make sure to subscribe to our event newsletter if you would like to receive information regarding future events and our general newsletter if you would like to receive monthly updates about our activities.
