Today, we are publishing our 2025 annual report (available as a PDF file) that covers COMMUNIA’s activities between January 1, 2025 to November 30, 2025. This corresponds to the third reporting period for our structural grant from Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. The 2025 reporting period marks a consolidation phase […]
The European Commission is expected to present its proposal for a European Research Area (ERA) Act later this year. In anticipation, the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) has adopted a motion for a resolution, accompanied by a set of questions to the Commission, setting out key priorities for the upcoming instrument. […]
Today, the JURI Committee adopted Axel Voss’s own-initiative report on copyright and generative AI. The Committee also endorsed all compromise amendments, some of which reflect concerns raised by COMMUNIA and other stakeholders. However, even with these changes, the report still contains ambiguities and problematic language that risk creating legal uncertainty, particularly for researchers and developers […]
MEP Axel Voss’s own-initiative report on copyright and generative AI will be put to a vote in the JURI Committee on 28 January. Although framed as a response to legitimate questions around AI and copyright, the proposal suffers from serious shortcomings, most notably its disregard for the existing legal framework. Despite some more constructive compromise […]
The EU’s Digital Omnibus Proposal has sparked controversy, especially over the planned changes to the data protection regime. But the package goes beyond privacy rules. One amendment to the Open Data Directive in particular could have serious consequences, potentially undermining open projects such as the Wikimedia projects. As part of its “simplification” agenda, the Commission […]
Last week, COMMUNIA submitted its response to the European Commission’s questionnaire on the European Innovation Act. The Commission considers this initiative a key element of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, designed to improve conditions for innovators by facilitating the commercialisation of research results, strengthening collaboration between academia and industry, and improving access to markets, […]
On June 11th, the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart largely upheld the 2024 decision of the Regional Court of Stuttgart, confirming that the Italian Cultural Heritage Code cannot be enforced outside of Italy. While the appellate court, like the lower court, did not directly address whether the Code aligns with EU law, its ruling nonetheless […]
This week, COMMUNIA made a submission to a call for evidence on the assessment of the May 2023 Commission Recommendation on combating online piracy of sports and other live events (available as a PDF file). The Commission is set to assess whether the Recommendation has led to the adoption of effective measures against the unauthorised […]
Today, COMMUNIA made a submission to the EU Start-up and Scale-up Strategy call for evidence (available as a PDF file). Due to COMMUNIA’s focus on access to knowledge, we focused on this issue, outlining specific barriers to access to knowledge that apply to start-ups and scale-ups as well as the research sector, which is the […]
This week, COMMUNIA made a submission to a call for evidence on the evaluation of the Geo-blocking Regulation (available as a PDF file). The European Commission is set to review the rules for geo-blocking, including for audiovisual services and copyright-protected works, this year. After the stakeholder dialogue on access to and availability of audiovisual works […]
