After resolution of the European Parliament: Uploadfilter and the copyright reform - so it continues now

The European Parliament has pushed through copyright reform - including the highly controversial articles 11 and 13. For some creatives and politicians, this is a shock, for others, a cause for joy. But one thing is clear: The biggest remaining hurdle at EU level has taken the reform - despite numerous protests against Article 13 and the subsequently feared introduction of upload filters, especially in German cities.

After the approval of Parliament, the EU states are now on the ball again. You have to agree to the proposal again. This they had - even with a German yes - in February ever done. At that time, only the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland, Italy and Poland voted against the plans.

"Above all, we regret that the directive does not strike the right balance between protecting rightholders and the interests of EU citizens and businesses," said a February February joint statement by these five countries. Slovenia and Belgium abstained and 21 countries voted in favor of the compromise.

Germany should agree again

The possible date for the new vote of the Member States is 9 April. Opponents of the reform hope that Germany will refuse its approval this time. SPD European politician Tiemo Wölken, for example, called on the federal government not to approve the project again. As justification, Wölken referred to the coalition agreement between the Union and the SPD. This rejects so-called upload filter clearly.

"Katarina Barley (SPD) as Minister of Justice and the Chancellor should now rethink their approval of the copyright reform," said Tiemo Wölken the "Rheinische Post". "Then the federal government would abstain in the Council in Brussels, the reform could not be decided."

The fact that the government changes its attitude again, however, indicates nothing yet. Barley regretted Parliament's vote on Tuesday, but failed to show that she had withdrawn her previous approval. In the ARD, the SPD politician referred to the two-year implementation period and stressed that all parties should now look to implement the directive as "user-friendly" as possible in order to obtain the greatest possible freedom in the network.

A directive, not a regulation

If the EU states agree again with the reform plans, they would have two years - ie until 2021 - to transpose the new rules into national law. However, the copyright reform is - unlike, for example, the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO) - a directive, specifically the "Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market". Unlike a regulation, which all EU countries must implement in full compliance, a directive requires countries to make their own rules that are in line with the directive. In the end, the reform could therefore have different effects in different countries.

In Germany meanwhile both the union and the SPD have positioned themselves against upload filters. However, the fact that the CDU's proposed way of making upload filters redundant in this country is suitable for practice is doubted by experts. In the EU Parliament almost all members of the Union voted in favor of the reform - including Article 13.

A close vote

In an immediately preceding vote on whether to vote on amendments to the reform or not, the Parliament narrowly decided - with an official five votes difference - not to deal with possible adjustments of individual reform parts.

Several MEPs, including from Sweden, later said that they had pressed the wrong button at this point. They corrected their voices later - see here, on page 51 below. The vote would have, if the wrong votes were really only an oversight, so synonymous with just the other way round. Concrete consequences have the corrections but no more, it counts the original vote result.

Incidentally, the opponents of reform parts like Article 13 continue to protest against it - also with a view to the European elections in the end Mail. On Tuesday evening there were spontaneous protests in several German cities against the decision of the European Parliament. In Hamburg, according to observers between 200 and 300 people for a protest march together, in Berlin it was according to the police about 250 participants.