23 Amendments of Herbert DORFMANN related to 2023/2019(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas Parliament requested that the Commission carefully assess the possible inclusion of electronically supplied services whose main feature is the provision of access to and use of copyright protected works or other protected subject matter into the scope of the Geo-blocking Regulation; whereas the Commission report on the first short-term review of the Geo-blocking Regulation stated that, as regards audiovisual content, a European consumer has on average access to only 14% of the films available online in the EU279a. The number of consumers trying to access audiovisual content offered in other Member States are rising steadily. Therefore, the Commission would engage in dialogue with stakeholders with a view to fostering the circulation of quality content across the EU; whereas this dialogue is included as Action 7 in the Media and Audiovisual Action Plan9 ; __________________ 9a COM(2020) 766 final 9 COM(2020)0784.
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas citizens living in border regions and linguistic minorities are often prevented from accessing audiovisual content in their native languages due to geo-blocking, which hinders their access to and enjoyment of cultural content; whereas the ‘Minority SafePack’ European Citizens’ Initiative proposed an amendment with the effect of ensuring freedom of service and freedom of reception of audiovisual content in those regions where the minorities live;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. whereas the European Parliament in its resolution of 13 November 2018 on minimum standards for minorities in the EU has called the Commission and Member States to take into account national and ethnic minorities when licensing media services and already encouraged the Commission to create the legal and regulatory conditions to ensure freedom of service, passage and reception of audiovisual content in regions where minorities live;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the European Parliament in its resolution of 17 February 2022 on tackling non-tariff and non-tax barriers in the single market recalled that despite the Geo-blocking Regulation certain obstacles persist, particularly in the provision of audiovisual services and content, and that this manifests itself in reduced consumer confidence in cross- border online shopping within the Digital Single Market;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2 c. Recalls that this dialogue was also mentioned in the Media and Audiovisual Action Plan adopted on 3 December 2020, where the Commission stated that this dialogue will take place in the course of 2021 and contribute to agreeing on concrete steps to improve access to and availability of audiovisual content across borders, that possible specific targets to increase the circulation of audiovisual works across the EU and ways to achieve them could be defined in the dialogue, and that the Commission, will monitor the progress in the achievement of the specific targets in cooperation with the audiovisual sector and decide on the follow-up, assessing various options, including legislative intervention;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2 d. Notes that the Commission effectively launched the dialogue on 9 November 2021 and that the fifth and the final meeting took place on 6 December 2022. Regrets that the Commission did not set out clear targets in regard to improving access to and availability of audiovisual content across borders at the beginning of the dialogue with the industry; Regrets that during past 3 years, from the announcement of the dialogue with the audiovisual industry at the end of 2020 until today, this exercise did not bring any concrete solutions, in terms of improving access to and availability of audiovisual content across borders, for the consumers;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 e (new)
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2 e. Calls the Commission to present to the Parliament the detailed outcome of its stakeholder dialogue on improving access to and availability of audiovisual content across borders, as a matter of urgency; asks the Commission to complement this report with an assessment of the proposed measures and its potential benefits for consumers;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas Parliament called for these issues to be addressed in its resolution of 13 November 2018 on minimum standards for minorities in the EU has called the Commission and Member States to take into account national and ethnic minorities when licensing media services and already encouraged the Commission to create the legal and regulatory conditions to ensure freedom of service, passage and reception of audiovisual content in regions where minorities in the EUlive; whereas the ‘Minority SafePack’ European Citizens’ Initiative proposed an amendment with the effect of ensuring freedom of service and freedom of reception of audiovisual content in those regions where the minorities live and called for these issues to be addressed through the development of a unitary European copyright that will lead to the abolition of licensing barriers within the Union;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the Commission organised within the framework of the Media Audiovisual Action Plan a stakeholder dialogue to find solutions for these issues, but no significant agreements were reached and the proposals put forward would not adequately address the geo-blocking of digital media content for minorities in the EU;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas piracy in order to access content can be put in relation with the persistent barriers to accessing to digital media content, such as price, fragmentation, geo- blocking and the unavailability of dubbing or subtitles force citizens to resort to piracy in order to access content;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that one third of all complaints received by responding competent authorities were not actually covered by the Regulation, including, among other things, copyright-protected content and insurance services; acknowledges the need for further investigation into these areas, particularly in light of the Commission's study on the impacts of extension of the scope of geo- blocking regulation to audiovisual and non-audiovisual services giving access to copyright protected content; emphasizes the importance of considering the potential benefits of extending the scope of the Regulation to new areas such as copyright-protected content, particularly in relation to audiovisual content, the availability of which is often limited within national borders and access to which is often geo-blocked, as well as insurance services;
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that, in order to improve cross-border access to and availability of audiovisual content in the EU for linguistic minorities, audiovisual content licences are geographically extended to the nationally defined territory of the recognized linguistic minority of the neighbouring country, in which the same language is spoken, without calling into question the territoriality principle in general;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Recommends a broader and more detailed analysis to address concerns regarding the selective distribution and exclusive rights agreements that undermine the right of passive sale and competition in online and offline products and services distribution channels, with a particular focus on the possibility of cross-border passive sales for online services giving access to copyright-protected content, with the aim to facilitate cross-border access to audiovisual content and thus, provide a wider choice of content across Europe;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recalls that, according to Article 1(5) of the Regulation, it should not affect copyright law; emphasises that Parliament requested, in line with the review clause of the Regulation, that the Commission assess whether the Regulation should also apply to electronically supplied services whose main feature is the provision of access to and use of copyright protected works or other protected subject matter, including the selling of copyright protected works or protected subject matter in an intangible form, provided that the trader has the requisite rights for the relevant territories11 ; __________________ ; calls the Commission to take into account the findings of the "Study on the impacts of the extension of the scope of the geo- blocking regulation to audiovisual and non-audiovisual services giving access to copyright protected content" in its assessment; in this context, recalls the findings of the First short-term review of the Geo-blocking Regulation, stating that, if distributors did not need additional licences for responding to unsolicited requests from individual consumers from outside territories where they are actively providing the service, cross-border demand would also be driven by consumers looking for new content or language versions not available in their Member State. In this scenario11a, overall revenues for online service providers could increase, because local content would find new audiences across borders; __________________ 11a SWD sec. 3.1.5.4 based on VVA et al (2020). 11 European Commission, ‘Study on the impacts of the extension of the scope of the geo-blocking regulation to audiovisual and non-audiovisual services giving access to copyright protected content’, 2020.
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. WelcomAcknowledges the progress made in terms of the cross-catalogue availability of music, e-book, video game and software products and services, both in subscription and transaction-based models; regrets the limited improvements regarding the cross- catalogue availability of video content and live sports events, which contribute to consumers’ perception that the audiovisual services sector is applying the highest level of geo-blocking;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Calls on the Commission to rapidly create the legal and regulatory conditions to ensure freedom of service, dissemination and reception of digital media content in regions where minorities live, so that they can watch and listen to content in their mother tongue, without geo-blocking of this content if it is broadcast or provided from another country;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15 b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that, in order to improve cross-border access to and availability of audiovisual content in the EU for linguistic minorities, audiovisual content licences are geographically extended to the nationally defined territory of the recognized linguistic minority of the neighbouring country, in which the same language is spoken, without calling into question the territoriality principle in general;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Believes that the Portability Regulation12 delivered substantial benefits to consumers who expect to receive continued access to their services when they are temporarily present in another Member State; welcomescalls on the Commission’s ongoing to present concrete solutions as outcome of the stakeholder dialogue on access to and the availability of audiovisual content across the EU, with the aim of diversifying audiovisual content available online; emphasises that further actions are needed to meet consumers expectations concerning the cross-catalogue availability of and cross-border access to sports events via streaming services; calls, therefore, on the Commission and, the Member States and the audiovisual industry to carefully assess all options that willand to commit towards reduceing the unjustified and discriminatory geo- blocking barriers for access to audiovisual services and sports events, while taking into account the potential impact on diversity and the available financing of the creative sector; reminds the Commission to present Parliament with the outcome of its stakeholder dialogue on possibly extending the scope of the Geo-blocking Regulation to audiovisual content; __________________ 12 Regulation (EU) 2017/1128 of 14 June 2017 on cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market, OJ L 168, 30.6.2017, p.1.
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. In this context, urges the Commission to propose, at the latest by September 2024, the comprehensive revision of Geoblocking Regulation, consisting, in particular, of the inclusion of audiovisual services in the scope of this Regulation, and the deletion from Article 4(1)(b) of the exclusion of electronically supplied services, the main feature of which is the provision of access to or use of copyright-protected works or other protected subject matter;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16 b. Calls on the Commission to include, in this comprehensive Revision of Geoblocking Regulation, specific provisions on modalities related to how the prohibition of unjustified geoblocking will apply to audiovisual services and take into account in particular the need for assuring realistic timeframe allowing providers of audiovisual services to prepare for the implementation of new rules; calls on the Commission to make sure that all European citizens, in particular those living in border regions and linguistic minorities, have access to the content in their preferred language at all times; calls the Commission to take into account the need to provide consumers with a wider choice of content across borders, while acknowledging the need for further assessment of the potential impact on the overall dynamics of the audio-visual sector;