Music organisations expressing worries about in-process European legislation through the medium of an open letter seems to be a story that comes around again every few months. The latest example, however, is NOT focused on the European Copyright Directive (ECD) and its much-discussed Article 17.
No, this time it’s the separate Digital Services Act (DSA) which is spooking the IFPI, ICMP, IMPF, ECSA, Impala and various other bodies representing the creative industries. Their letter claims that the latest version of the DSA “fails to deliver on the DSA’s original objective of establishing more accountability for online platforms and creating a safer and more trustworthy online environment”.
If you saw the phrase ‘safe harbours’ coming over the horizon, congratulate yourself on your eagle eyesight. The bodies are unhappy about the proposed introduction of a safe harbour for search engines, which they claim would “fall below several existing national measures and obligations and would remove all incentives for search engines to stop enabling access to illegal or harmful content”.
In a flashback to the debates around the ECD, the creative bodies are also protesting about “proposals establishing that intermediary services can continue to benefit from the ‘safe harbour’ privileges even when they do not comply with their due diligence obligations”.
It’s a sign of the tensions around the DSA, and its sister legislation the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that Margrethe Vestager, competition and digital policy boss for the European Union, has called for the other two Euro bodies (the European Parliament and European Council) to approve both acts even if they have reservations.
“It’s important that everyone realises that it is best to get 80 per cent now than 100 per cent never. This is another way of saying that perfect should not be the enemy of very, very good,” she told the Financial Times. Vestager also hinted that the legislation could be reworked sooner rather than later. “We won’t let another 20 years pass before we may revisit.”
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