IFPI Press Release, January 20, 1999

EP Legal Committee Takes A Good First Step on Copyright Directive

January 20, 1999

The European Parliament has made an important first step towards creating the conditions for a legitimate electronic music market, the organization representing the international recording industry said today.

IFPI, representing more than 1,300 record producers and distributors, said the vote taken on Wednesday by the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee on the proposed EU Copyright Directive had put Europe on the road towards implementing the key international copyright (WIPO) Treaties concluded in Geneva in December 1996.

The Legal Affairs Committee voted on some 300 amendments that had been tabled to a draft Directive that is designed to align copyright legislation into the technologies of the digital era. The Plenary session of the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the Directive in the second week of February.

The amendments adopted by the Committee should, in general terms, have the following impact on the draft Directive proposed by the Commission in December 1997:

• They strengthen the protection of artists, song writers and record companies from piracy by amending provisions on temporary copying.
• They improve the rights of artists, song writers and record companies to use technical measures to protect and distribute their works in the digital era.
• They provide adequate protection against tracking devices which could be used to undermine those copyright protection systems.

For further information contact:
Hanne Thorboll: 00 322 511 9208
Adrian Strain: 44 171 878 7939