Dear Colleagues

Apologies for cross-posting.

Below is an urgent message from Sandy Norman, Copyright Adviser to The
Library Association. Urgent lobbying action is needed now, so we would be
grateful if you would consider writing personally to your own MEPs by e-mail
or fax asap. Please note that each MEP for a region represents each person
living there so you can write to all of those representing your region.
You can use (and amend if you wish) the text of the letter which appears
below at the very end of this message under the heading/subject line of "EU
Directive on copyright and related rights in the information society", to
send to your own MEP whether or not he or she is on the Legal Affairs
Committee (LAC). The Library Association has already faxed its own letter to
all the UK MEPs who sit on the LAC. The names and contacts for all UK MEPs
by electoral region can be found at
http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/mainframe.html

Library and information workers and users now need to mobilise to maintain
the fair balance of the Common Position. This is the first stage and we may
need to ask you to lobby again in a few weeks when the draft Directive goes
to the European Parliament next month. If as a result of writing you get
asked for more information by your MEP(s) please contact me and we will
supply.

Thank you for your support.

Barbara Stratton
Information Manager, Members' Information Centre
E-mail: [log in to unmask]   Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0624 (direct)

The Library Association, 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E 7AE
Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0500 Fax: +44 (0)20 7255 0501 Textphone: +44 (0)20 7255
0505
General email: [log in to unmask]  Web: www.la-hq.org.uk/

From Sandy Norman...
Setback on the EU Copyright Directive

The final stages of this Directive are in sight although we have had,
potentially, a huge setback. On the 8th January, the rapporteur of the Legal
Affairs Committee, Mr Boselli, presented his eagerly awaited draft
recommendations on changes to the Common Position text. The  Legal Affairs
Committee then put forward their own amendments to the  text which will be
put to a vote on 30 January.  This is the text that will then go forward for
a vote by the whole European Parliament 12-15 February. Around 200
amendments have been tabled, some good, most bad. This deluge of amendments
looks like a device to discredit the carefully balanced Common Position.

From the debate, it is clear that many MEPs believe that the protection
given to rightsholders in the Common Position is not tight enough and that
private copying should be even more restrictive. From our point of view the
Common Position, while not ideal, is a good compromise. The Council of
Ministers worked hard to reach this compromise during 1999-2000 and have
been pressing for its adoption as it is. It complies with the WIPO
obligations and presents as good a balance as possible.
However, the Common Position text is now under threat from some MEPs who
apparently do not understand the word balance. From initial analysis of the
amendments, it is especially bad for libraries, education and research.
Practically all of the exceptions are under attack. Despite the checks of
the three-step-test, some MEPs still persist in believing that every
exception should have a fair compensation clause as well. The whole point of
the three-step-test is that exceptions should not harm rightsholders so
there is no need for them to be compensated for something which does them no
harm.

The worst blow for libraries is the proposal that Article 5.2(c), the
exception covering library copying, should be limited yet again to archiving
and conservation only! This is actually worse than the amended proposal text
of May 1999 because this time there is also the fair compensation clause
attached.

It is very important that the Legal Affairs Committee do not accept  these
amendments. We must persuade the 70 members (35  permanent and 35
substitutes) to reject them. Otherwise, the  whole Common Position is in
danger of collapsing. There is very little time left to change things but we
must try. Please try to contact your regional MEPs, especially if he/she is
a member of the LAC.

UK MEPs on the Legal Affairs Committee
Mr Bill Miller MEP (socialist) fax: 00-32-2-284-9715; email:
[log in to unmask]
Ms Arlene McCarthy MEP (socialist) fax: 00-32-2-284-9501; email:
[log in to unmask]
Mr Malcolm Harbour MEP (conservative) fax 00-32-2-284-9132;
[log in to unmask]
The Lord Inglewood MEP (conservative) fax: 00-32-2-284-9309; email
[log in to unmask]
Ms Diana Wallis MEP  (liberal) fax: 00-32-2-284-9201; email:
[log in to unmask]
Ms Theresa Villiers MEP  (conservative) fax:  00-32-2-284-9792: email:
[log in to unmask]
Ms Mel Read MEP  (socialist) fax: 00-32-2-284-9511; email:
[log in to unmask]
Professor Neil MacCormick MEP (Green group, SNP) fax:  00-32-2-284-9480;
email [log in to unmask]

A suggested letter for your own MEPs (whether or not he she is on the LAC)
follows below.


Dear

EU Directive on Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society

I am one of your constituents. The following problem may not be one with
which you have much direct concern but I hope you will be able to use your
influence with the fellow members of your party in Europe who sit on the
Legal Affairs Committee.

This Directive is about Copyright and the Information Society and so will
affect the way all information is handled from protection for all rights
holders to access for legitimate public interests. It has been extremely
controversial. The first text appeared in December 1997 and it still has not
been adopted although a Common Position was finally reached last September.
Although not entirely ideal, the education and library community approve of
the text of the Common Position and could now live with it as it is. The
Council of Ministers working group has worked hard for over a year to find a
reasonable compromise. Now the text is with the Legal Affairs Committee
which has to recommend whether it can be adopted or not by the EP in
February. Some MEPs have put forward amendments to this carefully crafted
text which threaten to upset the balance between protection and access and
will interfere with education and library uses of copyright protected
material. This not only covers Internet uses but also print-based material
as well.

We are aware that some 200 amendments have been put forward, many of them on
behalf of powerful groups of rightholders in order to secure more protection
for their position. Such well-meant intervention is unnecessary since
rightholders are already thoroughly protected by a fail-safe provision in
the text which is demanded by international copyright conventions.  Any use
of their material that affects them adversely can be stopped, or made the
subject of payment, by virtue of Article 5.5.

If these harmful amendments are adopted, the essential user services covered
by the present UK library copyright regulations would cease. Furthermore,
they could prevent libraries from playing an active part in the digital
environment. As the critical vote on amendments to the Copyright Directive
approaches I should like to urge your support for the Common Position and
the few amendments proposed by the Legal Affairs Committee's rapporteur, Mr
Boselli.

I would be grateful if you could do all you can to help. Time is short as
the LAC is voting next Monday.

If you need more information, I will gladly supply it.

Yours sincerely