Authors: Andrea Renda, Felice Simonelli, Giuseppe Mazziotti, Alberto Bolognini and Giacomo Luchetta

Series: CEPS Special Report No. 120 No of pp: 188

This study provides an ex-post evaluation of the EU copyright framework as provided by EU Directive 29/2001 on Copyright in the Information Society (InfoSoc Directive) and related legislation, focusing on four key criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and relevance. The evaluation finds that the EU copyright framework scores poorly on all four accounts. Of the four main goals pursued by the InfoSoc, only the alignment with international legislation can be said to have been fully achieved. The wider framework on copyright still generates costs by inhibiting content production, distribution and creation and generating productive, allocative and dynamic inefficiencies. Several problems also remain in terms of both internal and external coherence. Finally, despite its overall importance and relevance as a domain of legislation in the fields of content and media, the EU copyright framework is outdated in light of technological developments. Policy options to reform the current framework are provided in the CEPS companion study on the functioning and efficiency of the Digital Single Market in the field of copyright (CEPS Special Report No. 121/November 2015).

Andrea Renda is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Regulatory Affairs Programme at CEPS; Felice Simonelli is Researcher in the Regulatory Affairs Programme at CEPS and Giuseppe Mazziotti is Associate Research Fellow in the Regulatory Affairs Programme at CEPS. Alberto Bolognini is Senior Economist and Giacomo Luchetta is Economist at Economisti Associati srl, in Bologna.