Publications Archive

The European Commission has announced a reform of the copyright rules in the EU before the end of this year. It intends to reduce the differences between national copyright rules by way of harmonised exceptions. The cep assesses the benefits and problems of mandatory exceptions to copyright.

The cep investigates how EU net neutrality rules are best shaped to guarantee innovation. We extend the focus to the upcoming US regulation and conclude with six recommendations to EU policy makers.

The EU Commission wants to promote financing by way of crowdfunding.

The EU Commission wants to promote investment in NGA networks and maintain effective competition on the broadband market. It wants to do this by stricter non-discrimination obligations, greater clarity as to when obligations on price control for NGA networks should be removed and by imposing a standard costing methodology.

The Commission wishes to accelerate the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and to establish a legal framework. In its Action Plan the Commission calls for action and sets a timeframe for the deployment and improvement of single ITS.

The rapid development of the internet creates new services and applications. Not only the EU Commission, but also many national politicians call for "broadband access for all" and a quick expansion of high-speed networks in urban areas. The growing use of smart radio tags (RFID technology) storing and transmitting data, enables new applications on the one hand, but, at the same time, raises critical issues as to data protetion on the other hand.

The EU Commission wishes to promote the circulation of electronic money by simplifying the legal requirements for the institutions concerned. The issuance of money is to be supervised according to its actual economic risk potential. Hence, the Directive treats institutions licensed to issue e-money different from credit institutions. Moreover, e-money institutions will be entitled to engage in further business activities. 

The Commission and many Member States have announced to support the deployment of boradband networks as part of their economic recovery packages. This includes not only traditional broadband networks but also new "NGA Networks". However, subsidies (State aid) are subject to certain conditions which the Commission clarifies in its latest Guidelines.

The public sector possesses extensive information such as satellite images, judicial decisions or statistics ("Public Sector Information" - PSI), all of which can serve as raw material for products and services offered by private providers such as navigation systems, weather forecasts or financial services. The Directive 2003/98/EC (“PSI Directive“) is to remove barriers to the private use (“re-use”) of PSI in the internal market. The aim of the Communication is to review the impact thus far of the PSI Directive and to show new ways to tap the full economic potential in re-using PSI.

The Commission wants to hold an open debate on the possibilities of mobile health and, in particular, to establish whether and what problems exist in relation to extending the sector. It calls on the public to answer a list of 23 questions.