SAA - Society of Audiovisual Authors

For the SAA, a revision of the E-Commerce Directive as the horizontal instrument that regulates digital services is necessary to reflect the rapid transformation and expansion of e-commerce in all its forms and address the current challenges. The E-Commerce Directive is indeed outdated. It does not address today’s market realities: a much wider diversity of services than in 2000 and the massive turnover generated by and around these digital services.

Read our full position here.

10-points of what the Digital Services Act must do:

1. Define the liability regime of online services, instead of their liability exemption, so that ‘what is illegal offline is illegal online’.
2. Include respect of intellectual property rights at the same level of obligation as the protection of other fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression.
3. Apply without prejudice to the provisions of the Copyright Directive and the AVMS Directive.
4. Define digital services/online platforms in a comprehensive way, which would encompass the ‘video-sharing platform service’ of the AVMS Directive and the ‘online content-sharing service’ of the Copyright Directive.
5. Legally secure remuneration for the authors of the copyright-protected works for any type of exploitation.
6. Ensure cooperation between digital services, rightsholders and regulatory authorities in the fight against piracy.
7. Oblige global digital platforms to give content service providers access to data generated by the content produced or provided, or which is directly associated therewith.
8. Mandate effective audits allowing rightsholders to access all relevant data regarding the income generated in relation to the content provided.
9. Extend national media regulatory authorities’ competence to the supervision of digital platforms and reinforce their enforcement powers.
10. Apply to online services offered in any Member State, independently from their country of establishment.

Download the full contribution below.