Competitiveness Council, 20/02/2014, 20 February 2014

Council adopts directive on copyright and access to online music

Meeting in the Competitiveness Council, ministers adopted the new collective management of copyright directive and also held discussions on key issues including industrial competitiveness.

The new directive, adopted by the Council on 20 February, aims to improve management of copyright and cross-border licensing of online music. Instead of having to obtain a copyright license in every EU member state, online retailers and music streaming services will be able to get them from collective management organisations working across borders.

The directive should therefore give consumers a much wider choice of music to download or stream online. It should also ensure that artists' rights are better protected and their royalties paid more quickly.

Once the directive enters into force, member states will have 2 years to incorporate it into national law.

Ministers also held a debate on industrial competitiveness, in preparation for the next European Council meeting in March. Ministers looked at issues such as key policies and actions to improve EU industrial competitiveness, the competitiveness of energy intensive industries alongside new energy and climate change policy objectives, and the potential mainstreaming of industrial competitiveness concerns throughout all policy areas.

The outcome of this debate will contribute to discussions on industrial policy at the March European Council, taking place on 20 and 21 March.

Managing music copyright

Collective management of copyright is mostly carried out by collective management organisations. They:

• grant licences to commercial users, such as TV channels, radio stations, online music service providers
• collect royalties and redistribute these to the copyright holder/s

Commercial users are able to clear rights for a large number of music tracks through collective management organisations. Without them, they would have to negotiate individually with composers and artists.

Other topics on the agenda

Ministers also took note of the political agreement reached on:

• e-invoicing in public procurement, which is part of the EU's digital agenda package
• establishment of a European surveillance and tracking service for space, to contribute to the safety of space infrastructures, such as satellites

Ministers also held discussions on a number of other topics, including:

• the Commission's Annual Growth Survey for 2014, and the accompanying report on the state of the Single Market integration, which starts the European Semester process
• progress towards the implementation of the European Research Area (Ministers also adopted conclusions)
• relations between the EU and the European Space Agency