EU Commission Proposes Measures Against Illegal Online Content Including IP Infringement 01/03/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)The European Commission today recommended a set of operational measures against a wide range of online content considered illegal, lumping intellectual property rights-infringing material in with that of terrorists, child sexual abusers, hate speech, and commercial scams. “What is illegal offline is also illegal online,” it said in an explanatory FAQ document. The “European Commission Recommendation on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online” is available here. The press release is available here. “The objective of this Recommendation is to give effect to the political guidelines set out in the Communication on tackling illegal content online presented by the Commission in September 2017,” the FAQ document said. “The guidelines remain valid.” The recommendations aim to speed up actions against illegal online content. “Today’s Recommendation takes the work one step further and formally lays down the operational measures that should be taken by the companies and Member States regarding the detection and removal of illegal content through reactive (so called ‘notice and action’) or proactive measures,” the FAQ states. “It contains precise definitions of the various aspects of countering illegal content online. It constitutes a further step in the recognition of trusted flaggers for fighting illegal content and recommends on how notice and action and proactive measures – including automated tools – can be implemented across the EU to facilitate removal of illegal content, while adopting appropriate safeguards in terms of counter-notice, transparency and reporting.” On what the measures cover, it said: “What is illegal offline is also illegal online. Illegal content means any information which is not in compliance with EU law or the law of a Member State. This includes terrorist content, child sexual abuse material (Directive on combating sexual abuse of children), illegal hate speech (Framework Decision on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law), , commercial scams and frauds (such as Unfair commercial practices directive or Consumer rights directive) or breaches of intellectual property rights (such as Directive on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society).” Next steps include: “The Commission will monitor the actions taken in response to this Recommendation and determine whether additional steps, including, if necessary legislation, are required. The Commission will also continue its analytical work, working closely with stakeholders, and in this context will launch a public consultation on this matter in the coming weeks. In order to allow for the monitoring of the effects of the Recommendation, Member States and companies will be required to submit relevant information on terrorist content within three months, and other illegal content within six months.” On IP rights, it said in the FAQ: “The Commission put forward an Intellectual Property package, including guidance on the Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. It will also continue to work on the establishment of Memoranda of Understanding with different intermediaries to find concrete solutions for the removal of counterfeited goods online.” A section of the Commission press release is reprinted below: “In its Communication of September 2017 on tackling illegal content online, the European Commission promised to monitor progress in tackling illegal content online and assess whether additional measures are needed to ensure the swift and proactive detection and removal of illegal content online, including possible legislative measures to complement the existing regulatory framework. As a follow-up, the Commission is today recommending a set of operational measures – accompanied by the necessary safeguards – to be taken by companies and Member States to further step up this work before it determines whether it will be necessary to propose legislation. These recommendations apply to all forms of illegal content ranging from terrorist content, incitement to hatred and violence, child sexual abuse material, counterfeit products and copyright infringement. The Recommendation builds on the on-going work with the industry through various voluntary initiatives to ensure that the internet is free of illegal content and reinforces actions taken under different initiatives Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said: “Online platforms are becoming people’s main gateway to information, so they have a responsibility to provide a secure environment for their users. What is illegal offline is also illegal online. While several platforms have been removing more illegal content than ever before – showing that self-regulation can work – we still need to react faster against terrorist propaganda and other illegal content which is a serious threat to our citizens’ security, safety and fundamental rights.” The spread of illegal content online undermines the trust of citizens in the Internet and poses security threats. While progress has been made in protecting Europeans online, platforms need to redouble their efforts to take illegal content off the web more quickly and efficiently. Voluntary industry measures encouraged by the Commission through the EU Internet Forum on terrorist content online, the Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Sale of Counterfeit Goods have achieved results. There is however significant scope for more effective action, particularly on the most urgent issue of terrorist content, which presents serious security risks.” High-Tech Industry Concerns The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) issued a statement criticising the recommendation as imbalanced and impractical (including one-hour turnaround time for taking down terrorist content). It also noted the recommendations are not legally binding, but said it “encourages Member States and puts pressure on hosting services providers to take detailed measures to tackle illegal content online. It can also be referred to in Court.” “The Recommendation also encourages the broad adoption of proactive automated measures to remove infringing content across the whole of the Internet,” CCIA said. “If implemented, this may lead to widespread online censorship by forcing hosting services providers to suppress potentially legal content.” “This Recommendation finally also encourages hosting services providers to prevent the re-upload of infringing content that has already been taken down (“notice and stay down”), creating a de facto general obligation to monitor, thereby infringing Article 15 of the e-Commerce Directive,” it said. CCIA Senior Manager Maud Sacquet said in the statement: “This Recommendation undermines online rights as well as the legal foundation of the entire European Internet economy. We call on the Commission to continue its dialogue with stakeholders to develop workable and balanced measures to tackle illegal content online.” Image Credits: European Commission Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Related William New may be reached at wnew@ip-watch.ch."EU Commission Proposes Measures Against Illegal Online Content Including IP Infringement" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.