The main EU directives for audiovisual authors
2024 - Artificial Intelligence
The Artificial Intelligence Act establishes a common regulatory and legal framework for responsible governance of AI and provides the first tools for rightsholders to enforce their rights. The AI Act includes the obligations for providers of General Purpose AI to make available a sufficiently detailed summary of the works used to train their models, to retain detailed technical documentation, and to demonstrate that they have policies in place to comply with EU copyright law, regardless of where they acquired data or trained and developed their AI models. While these obligations are a first step for rightsholders to enforce their rights, the AI Act does not resolve the legal uncertainty around the authors’ authorisation for the use of their works for generative AI purposes and their remuneration for such uses. The European Commission’s interpretation of the Text and Data Mining exception leaves rightsholders with only an opt-out. The legislative text: 2024/1689EU
2019 - Copyright in the Digital Single Market
The Directive establishes a new EU standard of proportionate remuneration for authors and performers allowing them to share in the economic success of their works. It also includes unwaivable provisions strengthening authors’ right to information on the exploitation of their works, a contract adjustment mechanism and a right of revocation. The Directive is mostly known for having created an obligation for online content -sharing platforms to obtain an authorisation from rightsholders. The legislative text: 2019/790/EU.
2019 - Online Broadcasting and Retransmission
The Directive ensures that authors continue receiving royalties for the retransmission of their works included in TV programmes’ packages distributed all around Europe, whatever the technology used. The way in which the distributor obtains the programme-carrying signals from the broadcasters has no longer impact on the qualification of a retransmission. Furthermore, the principle that broadcasters can exploit the programmes on their online services throughout Europe with only clearing the rights in their country of establishment (country of origin principle) only applies to “news and current affairs” and “fully financed own productions of the broadcasters”. For all other programmes, broadcasters will need to continue to obtain the authorisation of rightsholders for all the territories covered. The legislative text: 2019/789/EU.
2018 - Audiovisual Media Services
The Directive sets a minimum quota of 30 percent of European works in video-on-demand catalogues, to encourage the promotion and visibility of European works on video-on-demand services across the EU. Furthermore, it allows Member States to require financial contributions (direct investment in works or contribution to funds) from all media services (broadcasters and on-demand services) established in their territory and in other Member States but targeting their audience. The legislative text: 2018/1808/EU.
2014 - Collective Rights Management and Related Rights
The Directive is about collective rights management on one hand and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online uses on the other hand. As far as collective rights management is concerned, it applies to all collective management organisations in all sectors. It provides for general principles as well as detailed rules on the establishment, functioning and accountability of collective management organisations in order to develop high standards for European organisations. The legislative text: 2014/26/EU.
2004 - Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
The Directive requires all Member States to apply effective, dissuasive and proportionate remedies and penalties against those engaged in counterfeiting and piracy. It means that all Member States now have a similar set of measures, procedures and remedies available for rightsholders to defend their intellectual property rights (be they copyright or related rights, trademarks, patents, designs, etc.) if they are infringed. The legislative text: 2004/48/EC.
2001 - Copyright in the Information Society
This Directive adapted legislation on copyright and related rights to reflect technological developments and to transpose into EU law the two internet treaties adopted in 1996 within the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). To do so, it harmonised the rights of reproduction, of communication to the public, of distribution and established a closed list of optional exceptions (except one which is mandatory). The legislative text: 2001/29/EC.
1993 - Term of Protection
The Directive established the authorship of the director of a film as a general principle and provided for a total harmonisation of the period of protection of authors’ rights and related rights – 70 years after the death of the author (for audiovisual works, after the death of the last survivor among the director, the author of the screenplay, the author of the dialogue and the composer of the original music, whether or not they are designated as co-authors) and 50 years after the event setting the time running for related rights. A 2011 Directive extended the term of protection for performers and sound recordings to 70 years and provided for accompanying measures to ensure that performers and not only producers benefit from the extension. The legislative text: codified by 2006/116/EC, amended by 2011/77/EU.
1993 - Cable and Satellite
The Directive aimed at facilitating the cross-border transmission of audiovisual programmes such as, particularly broadcasting via satellite and retransmission by cable. It set up specific mechanisms to ensure that creators and producers of programmes obtain fair remuneration, in particular the mandatory collective administration of the cable retransmission right. The legislative text: 93/83/EEC.
1992 - Rental and Lending Rights
The Directive recognised for the first time the director of a film as an author of the audiovisual work, but for the purpose of this Directive only. It provided for a rental and lending exclusive right to authors, with an unwaivable right to equitable remuneration for the rental when the exclusive right is transferred. It addressed collective management as a model for the management of the equitable remuneration right, but it is not a requirement. Member States can derogate from exclusive public lending right, provided that at least authors obtain remuneration for such lending. The legislative text: 2006/115/EC.