9 October 2012 – The Concil of the European Union has adopted on 4th October the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on Certain Permitted Uses of Orphan Works. The new Directive provides a legal framework which ensures that libraries, museums, archives and film heritage institutions can digitise and make available orphan works across Europe when fufilling their public interest mission. It also defines a common approach to determine the orphan status of a work.
ACE welcomes the adoption of the Directive as an important step to open-up access to orphaned kowledge and culture, but regrets that the new instrument doesn’t fully embrace the opportunities created by digitisation and access to content, as it only allowes for uses related to the public interest mission of cultural heritage institutions.
The members states are requested to incorporate the new rules into national legislation within two years.
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