A dozen EU Member States, including the Netherlands and Belgium, have rejected a new version of the new EU Copyright Directive. The member states are critical about articles 11 and 13, which deal with the plans to come to a ‘link tax’ and to set up ‘upload filters’.

Politico reports that the Council of Ministers has blocked the negotiating mandate with regard to the EU copyright Directive. The various EU authorities could not agree on a joint position on Articles 11 and 13 . MEP Julia Reda reports that the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Finland and Slovenia have already rejected an earlier version and have also refused the current compromise text. In the meantime, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Luxembourg and Portugal have also rejected the new text. The opposition against the two articles therefore increases considerably, even if according to Reda this does not mean that the plans are out of the question.

On 12 September , the EU Parliament approved a text for the new copyright directive. This brought the legislative process to an end and the non-public negotiations between the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission, which are also called the ‘trilogue’, started. These negotiations to arrive at a final joint text started on 2 October. On 21 January, the last trialogue should have taken place, where a final compromise text of the directive should have been adopted. However, this session has been canceled by Romania, the current President of the Council of Ministers. It is unclear when the next meeting follows and how the disagreement can be removed. Reda therefore states that it is now unlikely that the new directive will be in force for the forthcoming EU elections in May.

Article 13 concerns an obligation for internet platforms to prevent the possibility of uploading copyrighted material. The obligation to set up an upload filter does not appear as such in the legal text, but critics think that internet platforms can not comply with the rules without such a filter. The EU governments that have rejected the latest compromise text are critical of the level of liability, the handling of content uploaded by creators, and the treatment of small and medium-sized businesses.

Article 11 deals with a new right for publishers of press publications, with which they can limit the use of their articles. This also applies to hyperlinks. This is also called link tax or link tax. In this article, the opposing EU Member States disagree, among other things, on the status and treatment of ‘snippets’ of press publications.