The Commission has issued its Guidance on the implementation of Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive (CDSM). The Guidance, which is not legally binding, is supposed to facilitate cooperation between online content sharing service providers (OCSSPs) and rightsholders, while also helping Member States’ transposition efforts to address certain issues of practice in line with the word and spirit of Article 17 of the CDSM.

Article 17 is intended to put an end to the freeriding and parasitic behaviour of tech giants that circumvent EU frameworks. It clarifies their liability for making authors’ right/copyright protected works available to the public on their services and the need to remunerate creators fairly. The EU institutions and creator community welcomed this long-sought EU legislation as a great achievement against the intimidation, pressure and misinformation campaigns ran by the concerned tech giants during the legislative process.

The adoption of the guidance comes just in time before the deadline for the transposition of the CDSM, on 7 June. A significant number of Member States have already transposed this provision into national law or are at an advanced stage in the process. GESAC therefore considers that keeping the Directive’s text as the main guiding document is the safest and most appropriate approach for transposition.

GESAC notes that although there are some useful clarifications on some important aspects of the implementation in line with the objective of the Directive, the Guidance risks creating uncertainty and ambiguity by going beyond the scope of the Directive, which makes the exercise an overall missed opportunity. 

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