The proposed Directive will stimulate creativity and innovation by ensuring that music, films, videos and all materials protected by copyright are adequately protected throughout the Internal Market.
The Directive aims to make cross-border trade in copyright-protected goods and services easier, with particular emphasis on "new" Information Society products and services (both on-line and on off-line).
Network operators will have the benefit of an obligatory exception for technical copies on the net.
"This is a breakthrough in what is a vitally important dossier," said Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein. "The internet is transforming film, video and music and reinventing the concept of audience participation. For Europe's creative artists and copyright-based industries to derive maximum benefit, we need to ensure their intellectual property rights are protected. But that has to be weighed against the rights of other interests network operators, users including consumers, the educational community and society at large. The balance has been delicate, but it is finally secured."
The Directive covers the rights of reproduction, communication to the public, distribution, the legal protection of anti-copying devices and rights management systems.