Evaluation of Directive on Electronic Pay Services

In their formal evaluation of the European Directive on Electronic
Pay-Services (98/84/EC), the European Commission strongly promotes legal
measures against copyright infringements. The report, published 2 weeks
ago, evaluates the implementation and enforcement of the directive by
member states and candidate countries, from its adaptation in November 1998
through to December 2002. Part of the report is dedicated to the problems
with satellite TV. According to the authors, a significant amount of piracy
is caused by the fact that many EU-citizens are unable to access protected
satellite TV channels originating from other member states, even if they
are willing to pay for it. The industry is called upon to actively seek
contractual solutions.

If that could be seen as criticism of the entertainment market, the rest of
the report is devoted to the need for ‘a coherent pan-European legal
framework against the piracy of electronic pay services’, in which any form
of piracy is to be considered a cybercrime. “(There is a) need for a
balanced and coherent enforcement framework applicable to all kinds of
piracy and counterfeiting and agreed at Community level and the
distribution of keys and illicit devices via the Internet.”

On the legal protection of electronic pay services – COM (2003)198 (24.04.2003)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/media/condac/functioning/index.htm