[dvd-discuss] Finland Postpones EUCD

[Mikael Pawlo <mikael(at)pawlo.com>]

Here are some interesting news (see below).

Sweden's proposal is even more delayed. It should have been implemented on
December 22, 2002, and Sweden is NEVER late in implementing EU directives.
This time, however, we have yet to even see the proposal. From when the
proposal is presented there is at least 6-10 months until it is a law. But
than again, it is only that quick, should the implementation be hassle
free, which most probably will not be the case...

Also online under:
http://grep.law.harvard.edu/article.pl?sid=03/02/01/0457244

Regards,

Mikael Pawlo

>From: "Ville Oksanen" <ville.oksanen@effi.org>
>To: <mikael@pawlo.com>
>Subject: Finland Kills EUCD - For Now
>Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 21:43:14 +0200
>MIME-Version: 1.0
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>
>Hi,
>
>Mikko gave your address, you might find this interesting, Finland has just
>kicked the EUCD-proposal out from the parliament and it's now delayed
>indefinitely:
>http://www.effi.org/julkaisut/tiedotteet/pressrelease-2003-01-31.html
>Could you consider publishing this in Greplaw and/or Gnuheter?
>
>
>Ville
>
>* * *
>
>Helsinki 31st January 2003
>Press release
>For immediate release
>Electronic Frontier Finland - EFFI ry
>
>EFFI: Finland kills EUCD - for now
>
>
>The Finnish parliament returns the national copyright law proposal back to
>the ministry, which originally drafted it. The proposal was based on the
>European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD), the European counterpart to
>United States DMCA. While the deadline for directive implementation was
>December 22th 2002, it has so far been implemented in only two states,
>Denmark and Greece.
>
>
>Electronic Frontier Finland has been the local, vocal voice to criticize the
>copy protection circumvention ban and other controversial issues of the
>proposal. After a parliamentary hearing today, the chair of the hearing
>committee announced that because of heavy criticism it is not possible to
>accept the law as it stands. Mr Jyrki Katainen, member of the parliament
>committee and vice chairman of the Conservative Party, confirmed to EFFI
>that the main reason for this very rare dismissal was the extreme
>unclearness of the law. An unclear law with criminal sanctions of up to two
>years in prison (from e.g. copy protection circumvention) would have formed
>a serious risk to unintended citizens. Mr. Katainen was also worried that
>the law would have harmed the Finnish competitiveness as an information
>society. "The proposal was simply overreaching", he said.
>
>"Of course, this is good news for us. While the ministry drafters weren't
>really interested to hear us, the parliament had a different tone" comments
>Mikko Välimäki, EFFI's chairman. He continues: "Actually EFFI was the only
>organization - among big corporation like Nokia and large media industry
>lobby groups - who got two chances to comment the proposal at the
>parliament." Välimäki points out that EFFI is not anymore alone in its fight
>in Finland. For example, the official Finnish consumer protection agency
>made an announcement criticizing CD-copy protections back in December after
>EFFI's public campaign and today also testified against copy protections.
>
>
>EFFI's vice-chairman Ville Oksanen notes: "We have of course always the risk
>that the next proposal, whenever it comes, is even more pro-content
>industry. Luckily, it´s only theoretical because it's now clear the
>parliament won't take the content industry's argument "more protection is
>always better" for granted anymore. More likely, we expect, and certainly
>hope, the next proposal to look more like a very minimum implementation of
>the directive with maximum fair-use exemptions."
>
>Välimäki concludes: "Today I got the feeling we can really make a difference
>if we just want to"
>
>More information: EFFI's pages on the Finnish copyright law reform (mainly
>in Finnish) http://www.effi.org/tekijanoikeus/laki/index.en.html
>
>Mikko Välimäki
>Chairman, Electronic Frontier Finland ry
>mikko.valimaki@effi.org
>+358 50 5980498
>
>Ville Oksanen
>Vice Chairman, Electronic Frontier Finland ry
>ville.oksanen@effi.org
>+358 40 5368583
>
>Electronic Frontier Finland - EFFI ry was founded in 2001 to defend active
>users and citizens of the Finnish society in the electronic frontier. EFFI
>influences legislative proposals concerning e.g. personal privacy, freedom
>of speech and fair use in copyright law. We make statements, press releases
>and participate actively in actual public policy and legal discussions. EFFI
>has been featured in the national media including TV, radio and leading
>newspapers. EFFI also works in close cooperation with organizations sharing
>the same goals and values in the Europe, United States and elsewhere. EFFI
>is a founding member of the European Digital Rights and a member of Global
>Internet Liberty Campaign. More information from EFFI's home pages:
>http://www.effi.org/
>


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