Digital single market Research Papers (original) (raw)

New players emerge in the audiovisual industry and offer unprecedented solutions for aggregating and distributing content. New entrants, especially social networks, have been the engines of these changes toward multitasking, multi-screening behaviours. The way of accessing and interacting with content has changed. Over the last three decades, the European Commission has been watching carefully the evolution of the media and content industries with the goal to foster growth and innovation of digital content services in the European Union, while at the same time protecting consumers in a harmonised fashion.The paper contrasts the global trends of the market, the features of the dual EU audiovisual markets with some of the recent proposals of the European Commission in the backdrop of its numerous initiatives of the last decades.

- by Thomas Paris
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- Audiovisual Industry, Digital single market

This is a brief case note on the Munich County Court's Judgment of 1 March 2018 (Case 12 O 730) which held that the Amazon Dash Button device violates EU consumer law on several counts. The case note analyzes the Court's line of argument and argues that EU consumer law in its existing form is not sufficiently technically neutral and not ready for display-less devices such as the Amazon Dash Button and voice-activated digital assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

The rise of digital platforms such as Uber and Airbnb has sparked a controversy about how to fit the new business models into existing legal categories and whether there is a need to adapt the regulatory framework to the new platform economy. In December 2017, in a much publicised judg- ment, the CJEU held that Uber is not a just a digital intermediary providing ‘information society services’, but a transport service provider. Consequently, according to the CJEU, Uber does not benefit from the ‘internal market clause in Article 3(2) of Directive 2000/31/EC, which precludes Member States from restricting the freedom to provide cross-border information society services. While Uber has discontinued its services in several EU Member States, the focus of the regulatory battle is now shifting towards short-term rental platforms. Thus, on 16 July 2018, the European Commission and a phalanx of national consumer authorities have called on Airbnb to comply with EU consumer law rules. At the same time, Member States are tightening their regulatory grip on short-term rentals. Now, the first request for a preliminary ruling concerning Airbnb has reached the CJEU. The brief case note provides some very first reflections on the pending case.

- by Christoph Busch
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- European Law, E-Commerce, Sharing Economy, Airbnb

La Direttiva 2019/2161/Ue (c.d. “Direttiva Omnibus”) prevede numerose novità sul fronte delle tutele dei consumatori che accedono al mercato unico digitale. In particolare, vengono apportate modifiche ed integrazioni alle discipline in materia di pratiche commerciali sleali e di obblighi informativi precontrattuali al fine di garantire un corretto e trasparente svolgimento delle operazioni di consumo nei mercati online. Inoltre, viene ampliato il campo di applicazione della Direttiva 2011/83/Ue ai contratti di fornitura di servizi digitali che non prevedono un corrispettivo pecuniario, a cui però viene riservato un trattamento differenziato in merito ad alcuni aspetti disciplinari del recesso di pentimento. Il presente lavoro esamina gli interventi di riforma sopra richiamati, soffermandosi sia sui profili contenutistici che sul tipo di armonizzazione attuata dal legislatore europeo, della quale si mettono in risalto le sfumature cangianti. Si evidenzia, infine, come il moltiplicarsi di iniziative regolatorie del mercato digitale richieda all’interprete un notevole sforzo, che non consiste soltanto nel raccordare le nuove discipline europee ai sistemi nazionali, ma anche nel garantire una coerenza interna alle stesse regole di nuovo conio.
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The Directive 2019/2161/Eu (the so-called “Omnibus Directive”) provides for numerous innovations in the field of consumer protection in the digital single market. In particular, there are some amendments and additions to the set of rules regarding unfair commercial practices and pre-contractual information duties and they aim to make B2C transactions work properly in online marketplaces. Moreover, the scope of the Directive 2011/83/Eu is changed to include digital service contracts which are provided free of monetary charge, but these contracts are treated differently with regard to some legal aspects of the right of withdrawal. The present work analyses the aforementioned changes in terms of both content details and the level of EU harmonization, whose different nuances are underlined. It eventually points out that the legal scholars are required to face the increased EU legislation on digital market, not only focusing on its coherence with national legal systems but also taking care of the consistency of the same new digital rules.

In the present study, we focus on local distributors operating on the small national market, whose voices were rather missing in the pan-EU debates or under-represented in the policies of international interest groups (i.e. professional associations) and national political positions. The aim of the study is to reconstruct and compare Czech distributors’ attitudes toward the Digital Single Market strategy (DSM) and its individual regulatory initiatives, starting from May 2015. First, we situate the DSM into the wider cultural-political context, marked by tensions between basic principles of free market in the EU and the territoriality of copyright, the latter being a fundamental component of European audiovisual distributors’ business models. We also introduce three legislative proposals that are the most relevant from the perspective of audiovisual industries’ functioning and audiovisual content’s cross-border availability. In the analytical part of the study, this is followed by a reconstruction and classification of our respondents’ attitudes to the DSM strategy and their views of the current problems of digital distribution, with particular attention to the reasons for the poor cross-border availability of audiovisual works in the EU.

- by Pavel Zahrádka and +1
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- Film Industries, Territoriality, Copyright Law, Video on Demand
- by Iulian F Popa and +3
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- European Union, Digital single market

This is an open access book. Media industry research and EU policymaking are predominantly tailored to large (and, in the latter case, Western) European markets. This open access book addresses the specific qualities of smaller media markets, highlighting their vulnerability to global digital competition and outlining survival strategies for them. New online distribution models and new trends in the consumption of audiovisual content are limited by, and pose new challenges for, existing audiovisual business models and their legal framework in the EU. The European Commission’s Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy, which was intended e.g. to remove obstacles to the cross-border distribution of audiovisual content, has triggered a heated debate on the transformation of the existing ecosystem for European screen industries. While most current discussions focus on the United States, Western Europe, and the multinational giants, this book approaches these industry trends and policy questions from the perspective of relatively small and peripheral (in terms of their population, language, cross-border cultural flows, and financial and/or symbolic capital) media markets.

- by Jakub Macek and +2
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- Media Studies, Cultural Policy, Digital Media, Media Industries

In the digital economy a well known problem takes a new shape: planned obsolescence increasingly impacts our everyday life, undermining the performances of our smart devices, from mobile phones, to personal computers, connected cars and smart homes. This shatters the very basis of consumer law, challenges its effectiveness, and raises some crucial issues, requiring innovative solutions. Addressing the legal implications of such phenomenon has thus become a necessity. 1 Current sanctions and the approach of the EU legislator on this point so far show a lack of effectiveness, leaving open some fundamental questions. Is actual consumer law fit enough to tackle planned obsolescence? Can unfair trading law contribute to improving the effectiveness of consumer contract law in solving the issue of planned obsolescence? Other major issues concern the growing tension with the goal of achieving sustainable development 2 and a circular economy; 3 ensuring longer durability of consumer goods is indeed crucial for achieving more sustainable consumption behaviour , waste reduction and environmental protection. European unfair commercial practices' rules play a crucial role in tackling the phenomenon of planned obsolescence, as they cover traders' behaviour before, during and after a commercial transaction in relation to a product. On 25 September 2018, the Italian Competition Authority (hereinafter: ICA) fined, under two separate decisions, both Apple 4 and Samsung 5 for unfair commercial practices concerning software updates which seriously impaired the functioning of certain models of mobile phones. The two big firms were fined 10 m and 5 m Euros respectively. Such decisions immediately gained worldwide resonance. This paper addresses the most challenging issues on this topic and proposes possible responses in way of interpretation and legislation.

In the digital era, language barriers represent a major challenge preventing European citizens and businesses from fully benefiting from a truly integrated Europe. These barriers particularly affect the less educated and older population, as well as speakers of smaller and minority languages, thus creating a notable language divide. Language barriers have a profound effect on (1) cross-border public services, (2) fostering a common European identity, (3) workers’ mobility, and (4) cross-border e-commerce and trade, in the context of a Digital Single Market. The emergence of new technological approaches such as deep-learning neural networks, based on increased computational power and access to sizeable amounts of data, are making Human Language Technologies (HLT) a real solution to overcoming language barriers. However, several factors, such as market fragmentation, uncoordinated research and insufficient funding, are hindering the European HLT industry, while putting underresourced languages in danger of digital extinction. Moreover, language technologies are not properly represented in the agenda of European policy-makers, although they are likely to be crucial for the construction of a fair and truly integrated European Union. Based on the analysis of the current state of affairs, the study argues for setting up a multidisciplinary large-scale coordinated initiative, the European Human Language Project (HLP). Within the HLP, eleven policies are proposed and assessed. These policies are grouped into: institutional policies, research policies, industry policies, market policies, and public service policies.

En un momento en que la protección de datos y la privacidad de las comunicaciones gana especial importancia en la Unión Europea, resulta llamativo que la propuesta de Reglamento sobre la privacidad y las comunicaciones electrónicas siga lejos de ser adoptada. En el presente trabajo, se analizarán las razones de este retraso, centrándose en los elementos controvertidos de la propuesta como la conservación de datos o su relación con el Reglamento General de Protección de Datos. También se explicará la postura de los principales actores en el desarrollo normativo como el Parlamento Europeo o el Consejo, para terminar con unas recomendaciones sobre los elementos clave que deben reforzarse en el proceso legislativo.

A conferma di ciò, a parere di chi scrive, è interessante il punto di vista di chi ha sostenuto che il mercato dei contenuti video on-line sia "characterised by blockage rather than flow". 9 Ed in effetti, in alcune ipotesi sono gli operatori del mercato ad operare al fine di impedire l'accesso a contenuti on-line, quale che sia la ragione; in altre ipotesi, soprattutto in realtà caratterizzate da regimi di censura o da modelli economici dirigistici, è finanche l'apparato statuale che potrebbe avere interesse ad evitare l'accesso a determinati contenuti. Come osservato da alcuni, ne deriva che "the fact remains that where you access the internet says a lot about what kind of internet you experience". 10 Volendo calare tali considerazioni in un contesto maggiormente concreto, si consideri quanto segue:  la piattaforma video YouTube è disponibile in circa 70 versioni diverse a seconda del Paese dal quale l'utente effettui l'accesso, ma è accessibile ad intermittenza in Thailandia, Turchia, Bangladesh e Marocco, mentre è del tutto in accessibile (è "geobloccato", se si preferisce) in Cina, Iran, Pakistan e Siria;  la piattaforma di contenuti digitali a pagamento Netflix è del tutto inaccessibile in Cina ed anche ove la piattaforma in senso lato risulta accessibile, esso offre un catalogo di prodotti accessibili differenziato da Paese a Paese;  alcuni famosi siti internet che offrono servizi di streaming di contenuti digitali, tra cui BBC iPlayer e Hulu sono accessibili esclusivamente nel Paese di origine (Regno Unito e Stati Uniti, rispettivamente) e sono "geobloccati" in tutto il resto del mondo;

- by Luca Villani
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- European Law, Antitrust (Law), European Union Law, Digital Copyright

This article analyses, defines, and refines the concepts of ownership and personal data to explore their compatibility in the context of EU law. It critically examines the traditional dividing line between personal and non-personal data and argues for a strict conceptual separation of personal data from personal information. The article also considers whether, and to what extent, the concept of ownership can be applied to personal data in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT). This consideration is framed around two main approaches shaping all ownership theories: a bottom-up and top-down approach. Via these dual lenses, the article reviews existing debates relating to four elements supporting introduction of ownership of personal data, namely the elements of control, protection, valuation, and allocation of personal data. It then explores the explanatory advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches in relation to each of these elements as well as to ownership of personal data in IoT at large. Lastly, the article outlines a revised approach to ownership of personal data in IoT that may serve as a blueprint for future work in this area and inform regulatory and policy debates.

- by Václav Janeček
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- European Law, PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION, Internet of Things, European Union Law

Současný boom nadnárodních VOD služeb přinesl bezprecedentní růst online sledovanosti a investic do produkce původního audiovizuálního obsahu v západní Evropě. Lze očekávat, že v následujících letech bude VOD trh výrazně růst i v ČR a že se zde zvýší i investice nadnárodních VOD služeb do produkce původního obsahu v českém jazyce (jak to již dnes naznačuje příklad Polska). Otevírá se tak jedinečná příležitost podpořit udržitelnost veřejného financování audiovize a zvýšit kvalitu i export domácí filmové a televizní produkce – pokud ovšem bude činnost nadnárodních korporací adekvátně regulována.
Článek 13(2) revidované evropské směrnice o audiovizuálních mediálních službách nabízí členským zemím dva typy nástrojů k takovéto regulaci Netflixu a jeho konkurentů: povinnost nadnárodních VOD služeb odvádět příspěvky do vnitrostátních fondů a/nebo přímo investovat do evropských (tj. včetně národních) děl. Vládní transpoziční návrh ale volí cestu tzv. minimalistické transpozice, omezené na nezbytné prvky revidované směrnice, a možnost zavedení těchto finančních povinností, zakotvenou v odstavci 2 článku 13, zcela opomíjí. Tato zpráva doporučuje toto opomenutí v další fázi transpozice napravit a inspirovat se při tom úspěšnými mechanismy finančních povinností dle článku 13(2), implementovanými v menších zemích EU. Nadnárodní VOD služby a platformy se totiž v současnosti národním regulacím podrobují ochotněji než v době před schválením Revidované směrnice, a proto odpadly překážky, které zavedení finančních povinností donedávna bránily (např. neochota nadnárodních VOD služeb spolupracovat s národními regulátory nebo poskytovat data o výnosech či počtu předplatitelů).

- by Petr Szczepanik and +1
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- Media Studies, Cultural Policy, Media Law, Czech Cinema

The paper focuses on the challenges that the ‘sharing economy’ presents to the updating of the European Union’s (EU) Audiovisual Media Service Directive (AVMSD), part of the broader Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy of the EU. It suggests that the convergence of media markets and the emergence of video-sharing platforms may make the existing regulative tradition obsolete. It demonstrates an emergent need for regulatory convergence – AVMSD to create equal terms for all technical forms of content distribution. It then shows how the operational logic of video-sharing platforms undermines the AVMSD logic aimed at creating demand for professionally produced European content – leading potentially to the liberalisation of the EU audiovisual services market. Lastly, it argues that the DSM strategy combined with sharing-related network effects may facilitate the evolution of the oligopolistic structure in the EU audiovisual market, potentially harmful for cultural diversity.

- by Indrek Ibrus and +1
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- Internet Governance, Media Policy, European Union, Peer-to-Peer

The research report describes the audiovisual field in the Czech Republic and identifies its key issues in the context of the Digital Single Market strategy. The introductory part is devoted to the definition of the audiovisual field and the general description of the changes in the audiovisual industry in Europe as a result of digitization. The second part focuses on the description of key players in the audiovisual field in the Czech Republic, the basic business models and the wider socio-technological context. The third part focuses on the description of legal regulation of the audiovisual field and the proposed measures within the Digital Single Market strategy in the EU, including the opinions of the various stakeholders.

- by Petr Szczepanik and +8
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- Copyright, Media Law, ISP Liability, Film Production

Online intermediaries, often categorised as the gatekeepers of information, have become major protagonists in a variety of policy and legislative actions within the EU Digital Single Market. These initiatives endeavour to tackle illegal content online by imposing enhanced responsibility rules. The emerging scheme undertakes to nevertheless maintain the safe harbour liability exemption under the E-Commerce Directive. In this article we argue that whether that is really the case remains to be seen, in particular with a view to the proposal for a new directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market, the proposal to amend the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the Commission's guidance on enforcement of IPRs. This article strives to understand how the new set of obligations is accommodated in the realm of existing rights and duties and whether the boundaries of the safe harbour are blurred by virtue of these recent legislative initiatives.

- by Maria Lillà Montagnani and +1
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- Copyright, Hate Speech, ISP Liability, Online Platform

This article offers an analysis of one small-nation market’s perspective on the current and expected changes of digital distribution and its intermediaries. It demonstrates how key stakeholders in the Czech audiovisual distribution sector are reacting to regulatory processes at the EU level and how they are reconsidering their existing business practices, strategic plans, and structural positions vis-à-vis new global trends and competition in the evolving sphere of digital distribution. The article is not a full-fledged analysis of the Digital Single Market’s (DSM) potential impacts: instead, it considers DSM as just one factor in the strategic thinking of stakeholders, a factor that functions as a catalyst and a focal point in both business operations and policy making.

- by Petr Szczepanik
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- Media Studies, Cultural Policy, Media Industries, Globalization and Media

La legge sul diritto d’autore collide frontalmente con il progresso scientifico. Mentre l’evoluzione della scienza si basa sul dialogo pubblico tra uomini, la legge sul diritto d’autore restringe sempre di più gli spazi di libera discussione e lo fa paradossalmente nel momento in cui l’umanità dispone della più potente tecnologia (il Web) utile a rafforzare ed estendere la comunicazione tra esseri pensanti. La politica legislativa europea sul diritto d’autore è sempre più plasmata su (alcuni) interessi commerciali e sempre meno incline a propiziare il progresso della conoscenza. La direttiva UE 2019/790 sul diritto d’autore nel mercato unico digitale aggiunge un altro tassello al puzzle della legislazione che minaccia l’evoluzione della scienza. Ciò non dovrebbe preoccupare solo gli scienziati ma tutti i cittadini e anche le imprese che si dedicano all’innovazione tecnologica. Senza una scienza autonoma, libera e pubblica, senza una scienza aperta, non ci può essere né democrazia, né progresso culturale, né innovazione tecnologica. Da questa prospettiva la disciplina delle c.d. eccezioni e limitazioni (al diritto di esclusiva) concernenti la ricerca scientifica che adopera tecniche di text and data mining non risolve il conflitto tra scienza e legge sul diritto d’autore. La politica dell’UE appare sempre più contraddittoria, da una parte rafforza la proprietà intellettuale, dall’altra promuove (o dice di voler promuovere) la scienza aperta. Si tratta di obiettivi inconciliabili.

- by Roberto Caso
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- EU Law, Copyright Law, Digital single market, Text and Data Mining

In the digital markets, thanks to a wider availability of data, firms are able to charge different prices according to customers' location and their guessed reservation prices. Geographic price discrimination is facilitated by geo-blocking, which prevents users in one country from accessing or buying on marketplaces in other countries. Geo-blocking creates barriers to the cross-border access to online contents and it is a source of concern for the European Union, as it hinders the goal of a Digital Single Market. This thesis aims at providing empirical evidence of geographic price discrimination due to geo-blocking and contributes to the ongoing debate on the issue with an extensive analysis of the phenomenon.

- by Antonella Zarra
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- European Studies, Industrial Organization, Competition Law, Competition Policy

Cílem první části výzkumné zprávy (kap. 1 až 5) je vysvětlit (a) význam principu teritoriality pro fungování obchodních modelů audiovizuálního průmyslu na malém trhu, resp. vysvětlit význam šíření audiovizuálních (převážně filmových) děl na základě prodeje exkluzivních teritoriálních licencí; (b) význam zeměpisného blokování přístupu k obsahu nabízenému audiovizuálními online službami (tzv. geoblokace) pro uchování hodnoty teritoriální licence v online prostředí. Tohoto cíle je dosaženo na základě rekonstrukce postojů českých distributorů audiovizuálních děl k návrhům Evropské komise na vytvoření jednotného digitálního trhu v Evropě, které byly postupně předloženy a diskutovány v letech 2015 až 2018. V navazující druhé části zprávy reflektujeme právní diskusi týkající se legálnosti uplatňování geoblokačních opatření, a to jednak z hlediska principů volného trhu v EU a jednak z hlediska toho, zdali má geoblokace oporu v autorském právu. Cílem druhé části zprávy (kap. 6 a 7) není rozhodovat mezi vzájemně si konkurujícími právními výklady vztahu práva a geoblokace, ale posoudit dopady odlišných právních rámců – utvářejících základní mechanismy fungování audiovizuálního trhu – na produkci a distribuci audiovizuálních děl na českém trhu. K tomuto cíli jsou využita empirická zjištění z první části.

- by Pavel Zahrádka and +2
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- Media Studies, Cultural Policy, Copyright Law, Digital single market

Commerce in some data is, and should be, limited by the law (data extra commercium) because some data embody values and interests (in particular, human dignity) that may be detrimentally affected by trade. In this article, drawing on the Roman law principles regarding res extra commercium, we investigate the example of personal data as regulated under the EU Charter and the GDPR. We observe that transactions in personal data are not forbidden but subject to what we call a dynamically limited alienability rule. This rule is based on two dynamic variables: the nature of data and the legal basis for commercially trading such data (at primary or secondary level). Accordingly, in order to deal with such dynamism and the uncertainty it poses, we propose a general two-stage reasonableness test that should help legal practitioners, judges and law-makers in considering when trade in data is illicit and who (if anyone) shall be held responsible for this mischief. Finally, we show how the two-stage test and the limited alienability rule can advance European contract law and help enforce legal principles of data extra commercium in automated and autonomous data trading systems.

- by Václav Janeček
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- Civil Law, European Law, Contract Law, Privacy

En este trabajo se describen las medidas tomadas en la Unión Europea para luchar contra el discurso del odio en línea, en particular el Código de conducta para la lucha contra la incitación ilegal al odio en Internet, las leyes adoptadas en los Estados miembros para reforzar la responsabilidad de los intermediarios en caso de discurso de odio en Internet y la reforma de la Directiva de servicios audiovisuales con la inclusión en la misma de las plataformas en lo relativo al discurso de odio.

- by Ana Gascon Marcen
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- Hate Speech, European Union, Discurso De óDio, Internet intermediaries

Companies have been analyzing data from their own customer interactions on a smaller scale for many years. But only recently, they understood the potential treasure trove of non-traditional and less structured data (such as machine-generated data and social media data) that can be mined both for internal marketing purposes and for licensing to third parties. From the business perspective, the protection of this data is needed to secure the significant economic investment that the " new data economy " can require. Otherwise, data holders may lack the incentives to share the data they own and control, because of the risk that non authorized users may " free ride " on their investment. Granting property rights is often suggested as a solution to overcome the incentive problem. In the case of data, while relying on contract freedom may seem the favourite solution, between those extremes a spectrum of possible " halfway " approaches has been proposed. They range from " quasi-property " or " semi-commons " , with a liability-like regime, to access rights, requiring to license extractions and reuse of data on FRAND terms.

- by Jacopo Ciani
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- Property Rights, Intellectual Property Rights, Big Data, Intelligent environments

In line with Aniko Imre’s argument, I attempt to portray Bulgarian cinema as an organic part of “an increasingly integrating transnational entertainment industry in which media forms, platforms and technologies are intertwined” (Imre 2012: 2). I further argue that new technologies present an alternative both to finding audiences for festival cinema and to mainstream distribution practices. I examine netcinema.bg – a Bulgarian video-on-demand (VoD) website – which participated in Streams, the Online European Film Festival in 2013 in light of Marijke de Valck’s exploration of the effects of convergence and digitisation on the festival network (de Valck 2008: 15-23) and Dina Iordanova’s idea of digital disruption (Iordanova 2012). I compare the Bulgarian edition of Streams with film distribution and exhibition taking place during the Sofia International Film Festival and myFrenchFilmFestival. I speculate that the Internet could provide an alternative distribution model for Bulgarian cinema but there is still a practical problem of reaching the right audience and achieving financial sustainability.

- by Maya Nedyalkova
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- French Cinema, European Cinema, Audience and Reception Studies, Film Distribution

This paper aims at studying two main fundamental rights, namely, the rights to human dignity and to the protection of personal data which, throughout their analysis in the digital context, will be found to be affected by the use of new technologies and the mechanisms of digital economy.
In order to carry out the said analysis the first two paragraphs will investigate the origins and the meaning of the right to human dignity in its sense of self-determination, and to privacy in its narrower notion of personal data protection and will try to demonstrate that both these rights that are currently recognised and protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the “Charter” or “CFR”) initially took origin from the studies of US scholars and from the interpretive activity of the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCotUS”).
The third paragraph will briefly offer some observations on the comparison between the two legal systems of the EU and the US concerning privacy protection.
The fourth paragraph will consider the framework of data driven economy which forms an important part of the digital economy and will particularly play an imperative role in the development of the EU digital single market as craved by the 2020 objectives set out by the European Commission, in order to increase commercial transactions inside and outside the EU economic area.
The final paragraph will explore the possibility to apply competition law (at least, EU competition law – insofar as the EU single market is concerned) with the view to increase competition between firms operating in the digital context and in the meantime to reduce market power of the biggest digital firms. In the concluding paragraph, some remarks on the analogies and differences between the EU and the US legal systems will be made and some solutions to prevent the infringement of the right to self-determination will be suggested.

- by Fiorella Dal Monte
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- Competition Law, Comparative Public Law, European Union Law, Human Dignity
- by Maria Nieves Pacheco Jimenez
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- Mobile Payments, Cibersecurity, Digital single market

- by Gianclaudio Malgieri
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- Civil Law, European Law, Contract Law, Privacy

Geo-blocking is the new phenomenon of the current digital era, which affects our everyday lives. Geo-blocking is a modern form of discrimination which is considered a geographically based restriction for consumers that may be a ban for free movements and therefore affect the single market of the European Union, too. The European Commission adopted the Digital Single Market (DSM) Strategy in 2015 by which a new path forward to innovation was taken down. The new EU Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen aims not only the continuation of the development of the DSM to improve our digital welfare, but introduced the concept of the promotion of European way of life which is strongly interlinked with the digital aspects, too. As the human perspectives of our lifestyles came up to a higher level of policymaking, digital readiness, skills, and geo-discrimination might also be part of current debates. The research intends to present the geo-blocking as a new issue for the society, politics and economy, then broadly summarizes its definitions and the latest solutions for the treatment of unjustified restrictions in the EU.

- by Kiss Lilla Nóra
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- European Law, Digital single market, Geoblocking, Geo-Blocking

Pre-conference
Paris
Université Paris 7
June 28, 2017

- by Nolwenn Mingant
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- Film Industries, Film & Digital Video, Film Distribution, Hollywood

Così come il “mercato comune” si propone di eliminare le barriere commerciali tra gli Stati membri con l'obiettivo di aumentare la prosperità economica, allo stesso modo il mercato unico digitale vuole eliminare le barriere nazionali alle transazioni online. Proprio in questi giorni, il collegio dei commissari Ue ha avuto una prima discussione sulla strategia da adottare e definito gli ambiti d’azione per il mercato unico digitale, la cui presentazione è prevista per maggio.

- by Demetrio Zavettieri
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- Unione Europea, Digital Transformation, Digital single market
- by Silvia Martinelli
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- Contract Law, Ecommerce, Private law, Legal Informatics

Today's viewers are increasingly consuming audiovisual content via online services, which are better equipped, compared with traditional cinema or linear TV, to respond to their demand for immediate access to any content, anywhere, on any user interface. At the same time, consumers-particularly linguistic and cultural minorities, short-term and long-term migrants, exchange students, and those keen on a foreign language and culture-are also interested in content which is offered by online services abroad. The European digital market is, however, divided by virtual barriers that block consumers from cross-border access to audiovisual content based on the user's location in a particular Member State.

- by Petr Szczepanik and +1
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- Media Studies, Cultural Policy, Digital Media, Media Industries

The EU Commission has started to update its Audiovisual Media Services Directive as part of its larger push to implement its Digital Single Market Strategy. It is expected that this will not be just a light fix for some of the ‘bugs’ in the regulation, but a major overhaul motivated by the significant changes in media systems related mostly to media convergence and globalisation. In this context this paper offers a small country’s view of these processes. It demonstrates in detail how Estonia, a very small country on the EU periphery, is challenged by the need to develop its positions with regard to the complex processes at the EU level. It discusses the ‘impossible conflicts’ that it encounters when trying to articulate its media policies and EU strategies. It also describes the complexities of developing media policy in a country where different government institutions are shaped by different ideological frameworks, and therefore have different policy goals; and how cultural policy goals tend to be sacrificed when they are in conflict with various techno-economic imperatives.

- by Indrek Ibrus
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- Media Policy, Media Convergence, Media regulation, Audiovisual Media Regulation

The public's widespread access to devices with an Internet connection, and to others that will appear in the future, are leading to profound changes on a global scale. Their true dimension can at present only be speculated on, despite their apparent development, and we only say that we are witnessing a "re-evolution".
European notaries, who inherently have close links to the devolopment of the society they serve, have from the outset paid close attention to the critical social process triggered by increasingly widespread access to technology. They have made enormous investments in order to implement new technologies, and to take full advantage of the latter’s functionalities, in order to fulfil their responsibilities more fully, based on this evolution, in what is known as the "digital environment".

- by Aleksandra Kozak
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- European Union, Digital single market, Geoblocking

This paper examines the implications for European music culture of the European Union’s (EU) Digital Single Market strategy. It focuses on the regulatory framework being created for the management of copyright policy, and in particular the role played by collective management organisations (CMOs or collecting societies). One of the many new opportunities created by digitalisation has been the music streaming services. These depend on consumers being able to access music wherever they are, but such a system runs counter to the management of rights on a national basis and through collecting organisations which act as monopolies within their own territories. The result has been ‘geo-blocking’. The EU has attempted to resolve this problem in a variety of ways, most recently in a Directive designed to reform the CMOs. In this paper, we document these various efforts, showing them to be motivated by a deep-seated and persisting belief in the capacity of ‘competition’ to resolve problems t...

Copyright bares an inner tension between cultural and market values: it historically oscillated between empowering creators through the market and protecting them from the market. How does this tension play in the digital age? To tackle this question, this chapter look at the salient parliamentary debates on the 2019 “copyright in the digital single market” directive, framed as a victory of culture against the market. We contrast this perspective by highlighting that, following the digitalisation of the economy, a new set of values entered the actors’ repertoire: open-access values. Thus, three competing sets of values framed MEPs’ interventions: culture, market, and open access. We argue that in the digital age, the conflict between market and culture that structures copyright policies is rebalanced to fit in a classical market regulation dilemma. Culture values, supporting market regulation to fight GAFA’s monopolies, are opposed to open-access values, supporting a free market to encourage digital innovation. Thus, both sets of values, whereas historically and socially developed in opposition to economic incentives, are mobilised to defend different market approaches (more vs. fewer barriers to entry).

- by Céleste Bonnamy
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- Discourse Analysis, European Studies, Intellectual Property, Cultural Policy

Il Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology (GCNCT) della Commissione Europea ha promosso un sondaggio di opinione per monitorare i trend nella comunicazione elettronica e valutare come le famiglie e i cittadini europei traggono benefici dal loro innovativo ambiente digitale. In particolare il survey pone l’accento sull’esperienza dei consumatori relativa al mercato unico europeo delle telecomunicazioni, inteso come “Connected Continent”. Proviamo a snocciolare alcuni dati e percentuali del sondaggio.

This paper provides an overview of the position of consumers on the EU Digital Single Market under de lege lata and de lege ferenda EU legislation. By fulfilling the goals of the EU Digital Single Market Strategy from 2015, the European Commission has released two proposals containing harmonised rules for the supply of digital content and online sales of goods that should significantly boost the growth of the Digital Single Market. It is estimated that the adoption of Proposals will increase Intra-EU exports by around €1 billion, while the overall real EU GDP will gain about €4 billion per year. Both consumers and traders should be more confident about their rights and duties when concluding online contracts, which should encourage between 7.8 and 13 millions of consumers to start buying online cross-border. The goal of the Union is to “remain competitive on global markets” by answering to challenges of technologically driven economy and by integrating the “digital dimension into the EU single internal market”.

- by Emilia Miscenic
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- Marketing, European Law, ICT for Development, Consumer Protection (Law)