This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Application of Directive (EU) 2015/1535 to online news aggregators services'.



proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on copyright in 
the Digital Single Market2, notably its Article 11.  
In the meantime, the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market has been 
adopted and published in the Official Journal of the European Union.3 It foresees in its 
Article 15 a new right for press publishers:  
“Article 15 
Protection of press publications concerning online uses 
1.
Member States shall provide publishers of press publications established in a
Member State with the rights provided for in Article 2 and Article 3(2) of
Directive 2001/29/EC for the online use of their press publications by
information society service providers.

The rights provided for in the first subparagraph shall not apply to private or
non-commercial uses of press publications by individual users.

The protection granted under the first subparagraph shall not apply to acts of
hyperlinking

The rights provided for in the first subparagraph shall not apply in respect of the
use of individual words or very short extracts of a press publication.

2. The rights provided for in paragraph 1 shall leave intact and shall in no way
affect any rights provided for in Union law to authors and other rightholders, in
respect of the works and other subject matter incorporated in a press publication.
The rights provided for in paragraph 1 shall not be invoked against those authors
and other rightholders and, in particular, shall not deprive them of their right to
exploit their works and other subject matter independently from the press
publication in which they are incorporated.

When a work or other subject matter is incorporated in a press publication on the
basis of a non-exclusive licence, the rights provided for in paragraph 1 shall not
be invoked to prohibit the use by other authorised users. The rights provided for
in paragraph 1 shall not be invoked to prohibit the use of works or other subject
matter for which protection has expired.

3. Articles 5 to 8 of Directive 2001/29/EC, Directive 2012/28/EU and Directive
(EU) 2017/1564 of the European Parliament of the Council1 shall apply mutatis
mutandis in respect of the rights provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article.

4. The rights provided for in paragraph 1 shall expire two years after the press
publication is published. That term shall be calculated from 1 January of the year
following the date on which that press publication is published.

2 COM(2016)593. 
3 Official Journal of the European Union of 17.5.2019, L 130/92 


Paragraph 1 shall not apply to press publications first published before 6 June 
2019. 

5. Member States shall provide that authors of works incorporated in a press
publication receive an appropriate share of the revenues that press publishers
receive for the use of their press publications by information society service
providers.”

Member States must take legislative action to transpose the provisions of the Directive, 
including adjustments to their laws where necessary by 7 June 2021.  
The European Commission will closely monitor the amendments to the LPI introduced 
by Spain to implement the Directive, in particular Article 15 thereof.  
It is against this backdrop that I wish to inform you that we intend to close this case. 
However, should you have any new information that might be relevant for the re-
assessment of your case, I invite you to contact us within four weeks from the date of this 
letter, after which date the case might be closed.  
I would also like to highlight that the closing of this complaint does not prejudice your 
ability to file a new complaint in the future, for example should you consider the 
implementation of Article 15 of the Directive in Spanish law to be inadequate. 
Yours sincerely, 
‘e-Signed’ 
Giuseppe ABBAMONTE 
Contact details:  
, Telephone: +32 2 29

@ec.europa.eu