The Minister of Culture and Communication of the French Republic and the Minister of Goods, Cultural Activities and Tourism of the Italian Republic;
Stressing their common attachment to the protection and promotion of cultural diversity, a fundamental value of European societies of the 21st century, guaranteed by the 2005 UNESCO Convention, which they are preparing to celebrate 10 years;
The European Union considers it necessary for the European Union to recognise culture and heritage as a central element of the European project and to take this into account in all its policies and initiatives, particularly in the context of the mid-term review2020 strategy roadmap;
considering that Europe should mobilise all its efforts toto promote and guarantee the creation of works of the spirit and to enable the digital age to provide access for all to rich and diverse cultural content;
- Recall the fundamental role played by copyright in serving cultural diversity, artistic creation and freedom of expression;
- emphasise the importance of the cultural sector for the European economy. In a global knowledge economy, where creation and innovation are more highly valued than ever, cultural and creative industries are a strategic area for competitiveness, growth and employment in Europe, as well as global reach. Their development must therefore be encouraged and the financing of creation ensured;
- undertake, in the European debate on copyright and the digital single market, to work together on concrete proposals to ensure that copyright continues to play its essential role in remuneration for creation and support for innovation. The signatories believe that the business models that are developing in the digital environment must better take into account the need for fair remuneration for authors and artists. Ensuring equitable sharing of value among actors must be a priority objective for the European Union, in particular for the most fragile actors, promoting in particular the economic and cultural development factor represented by collective management societies;
work to improve the implementation of intellectual property rights at the European level, and recall the importance of the involvement on this issue of all actors in the digital ecosystem, particularly internet service operators. It is therefore necessary that any reflection on the future of the Community framework of copyright should be integrated into a global perspective on the law applicable in the digital environment;
- wish to take advantage of all the potential offered by the new digital environment to ensure, through the development of licences, the portability of offers and the interoperability of formats, Europeans' access to works, particularly music and cinema. They want an internal market that guarantees the future of the creative economy and its contribution to growth and employment. With this in mind, they stress their attachment to the territoriality of rights, which is an essential instrument in the service of cultural diversity within the European Union;
- also wish to develop access to knowledge, particularly in the context of education, research and public service provided by libraries, focusing efforts on improving and promoting contractual solutions. License modernization must be a priority to meet the demand for access to works in the digital environment. The optional framework for exceptions and limitations to copyright responds to the need to protect cultural diversity through targeted policies adapted to national traditions. The introduction of any exception must meet specific needs, be justified by proven evidence and be subject to detailed impact studies;
- are determined to work for the establishment of an environment of fair competition between the actors, which is the condition for the development of a sustainable creative economy in Europe. They encourage the European Commission to work towards the development of an appropriate policy for regulating digital platforms which draws all the consequences of their central role in the life of Europeans and ensures the application of the objectives of general interest that the Union and its Member States;
- call on the European Commission, together with the European Parliament and the Member States meeting within the Council, to work, within the framework of the Digital Single Market and of all European policies, on concrete initiatives for culture in Europe. Beyond the modernization of copyright and the establishment of fair conditions of competition through the regulation of digital platforms, it is an ambitious creative creative agenda that must be defined in order to ensure the full contribution of the cultural and creative sectors to growth and employment as well as the influence of European culture, whose importance is more decisive than ever to affirm our shared values.
Done at Paris on 9 April 2015,