The European Union has approved its copyright reform: member countries will have until 2021 to adapt

The Council of the European Union (EU) gave this Monday the final approval of the controversial copyright reform on the Internetwhich, after its official publication, it must be incorporated into the legislation of the 28 member countries in less than 24 months.

"EU Council Ministers have just adopted the Copyright Directive," said Romania, who holds the interim presidency of the bloc, pointing out that it is a "milestone" for the digital single market.

For Valer Daniel Breaz, Romanian Minister of Culture, this "balanced text" creates "Multiple opportunities for the creative sectors in Europe but also for users, whose freedom of expression on the Internet will be consolidated", according to the release.

The Directive concerns in particular three main areas: first, it establishes a series ofand limitations and exceptions to copyright for educational purposes and the dissemination of "cultural heritage"; Secondly poses a series of changes in content licensing practices; and finally enter the right of content producers to higher remuneration of advertising revenues obtained with the diffusion of the works.

The reform did not reach the unanimity of the bloc countries. Italy, Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Poland and the Netherlands voted against the text, a minority insufficient to block the reform, according to a European source.

For the supporters of the new directive,This will allow them to receive a fairer payment from Internet giants such as Google or Facebook for their advertising revenue. that they get through the dissemination of works of artists and publishers.

Before them are the giants of the US Silicon Valley, as Google or Facebook, as well as supporters of a free internet, who fear restrictions in these broadcast channels.

The most controversial articles are Articles 11 and 13. The first is called "tax on links" and allows publishers and the media to charge aggregators or search engines such as Google or Facebook, for example, for content downloaded on their platforms.. They will only be exempted if they reproduce "some excerpts or words" from the portals.

This initiative counted mainly on the support of different communication mediums which thus see the balance is balanced as they will be able to load them on the big platforms, for the distribution of its contents.

For its part, Article 13, known as "the same anti" or "download filters", establishes that all sites and applications where users may publish audiovisual material or music must make every effort to avoid the downloading of unauthorized copies of copyrighted works.

It's called "download filter " as it is felt that to comply with these guidelines, platforms should include automatic content filters. Critics of this directive say that this would limit freedom of expression.

The approval of the new directive by the Council of the European Union, a legislative body composed of the ministers of the 28 Member States, it was the last necessary step in the course of the reform, after its approval by Parliament in March. Now the text will be published in the official EU newsletter and from there. Member States will have up to 24 months to integrate it into their domestic legal regimes, that is to say until 2021.

Here is the text approved by the European Union, in English: