As part of the Commissions Digital Single Market Strategy, the European copyright rules are also under review. So far, a rather general communication “Towards a modern, more European copyright framework” as well as a draft regulation on cross-border portability have been published (blog post series). This was in December 2015. Since then, particularly the draft regulation has been subject to controversial discussion. The European Parliament will debate a revised version of the draft in early January 2017. However, the Commission already anticipated a more detailed outline of its plans for the modernization of the copyright in Europe. The communication is due in September. That said, just yesterday, a Staff Working Paper was leaked through British non-profit organization Statewatch. The 182-page document holds an impact assessment on the modernization of EU copyright rules.

Quite interestingly, the Commission analyses several legislative options in order to reform European copyright rules and to make them fit for the digital age. A core element of the paper is a comprehensive impact assessment. The document is basically divided into three areas: