EMAIL:
Subject of the email: EU AI Act - GPAI Code of Practice and Transparency Template: a joint letter from the rightsholders’ coalition
Dear [Ambassador / Deputy Permanent Representative],
On behalf of the coalition of authors, journalists, performers, producers, publishers and other rightsholders across the EU’s cultural, media and creative sectors, we are writing to you to express our concerns regarding the GPAI Code of Practice and the Transparency Template under the EU AI Act.
We have been working collaboratively with the European Commission and the drafters of the GPAI Code of Practice Code toward a viable Code. We have also been actively engaged in sharing our views and proposals with the Commission’s AI Office concerning the Transparency Template. Both the Code and the Template must be actionable by rightsholders and accompanying measures that can deliver legal clarity and foster trust across the AI ecosystem. However, we are not there yet.
We would like to share with you some reflections and proposals for moving forward:
We believe there is a shared goal to ensure the Code supports both legal compliance and practical implementation. However, the third draft of the copyright section did not yet meet this objective and was fundamentally flawed. We want to avoid that a Code introduces legal uncertainty and hinders, rather than helps, the effective enforcement of EU copyright law. Whilst the Code does not change the law per se, the commitments regarding copyright compliance in the current draft contradict it. In the event of litigation, the Code could be cited as an interpretive tool. This risks allowing signatories to unilaterally define what compliance means and to what extent they are bound. As a result, it would create significant legal uncertainty and could lead to costly litigation, from which rightsholders are unlikely to derive meaningful benefit.
We understand the European Commission still wishes to have a Code approved by August. We reiterate our willingness to cooperate to foster a more in-depth and inclusive dialogue on the copyright section of the Code. To ensure that progress on the broader Code is not delayed, we would suggest a pragmatic solution: temporarily removing the copyright section from the final version of the Code, allowing additional time for such a dialogue. This would provide space to develop collaboratively a robust, workable and legally sound text that can command broad support from both GPAI developers and the rightsholder community to whose benefit said section is to be drafted.
We would also like to highlight the importance of the forthcoming Template for the “sufficiently detailed summary” of training data to enable rightsholders to exercise and enforce their rights. As this will have direct legal and operational implications and we represent the main target/beneficiaries of this provision, we request a separate, transparent and inclusive consultation with rightsholders on the actual draft text before its adoption.
We would appreciate your support for us to engage with the AI Office and relevant Commission services to explore concrete, technically sound approaches that meet the requirements of the AI Act while enabling rightsholders to exercise and enforce their rights effectively. Meaningful transparency is both (i) legally necessary to allow us to exercise, through licensing for example, and enforce our rights against unlawful use of works or other subject matter, and (ii) technically feasible. We are ready to work with all policy makers to provide detailed information about what we need, and how this can be met by GPAI providers. Disclosures of basic identifying information on the use of copyright protected works or other subject matter should not be circumvented by unfounded claims of trade secrets and confidential business information, which are clearly defined under EU and international law.
AI innovation and copyright protection are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they can—and must—reinforce each other, as our sectors know and demonstrate. A regulatory environment that respects existing copyright law will help foster a competitive, ethical, and human-centric AI landscape in Europe, underpinned by lawful, informed and consented use of high quality and trustworthy European content by European based AI providers, giving the EU a competitive edge in the global AI race and offering long-term benefits for developers, users, and creators alike. This is a goal we share.
We need to work together to ensure that access is managed in a rights-compliant way so that providers can compete at European level on quality, and on reliability and not just on scale; but this has to be done by respecting authors, journalists, performers, producers, publishers and other rightsholders’ rights and in a business-friendly way for rightsholders as well as AI developers.
We look forward to working with you toward practical solutions, and we stand ready to contribute constructively at every stage of this process.
We are at your disposal should you have any questions.
Best regards,
On behalf of:
AAPA - Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance
AEPO-ARTIS - Association of European Performers’ Organisations
CEATL - European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations
CEPI - European Audiovisual Production Association
CEPIC – CEnter of the PICture industry
CISAC - International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers
EANA - European Alliance of News Agencies
ECSA - European Composer and Songwriter Alliance
EFJ - European Federation of Journalists
EGAIR - European Guild for Artificial Intelligence Regulation
EMMA - European Magazine Media Association
EMMA – European Music Managers Alliance
ENPA - European Newspaper Publishers’ Association
EPC - European Producers Club
EPC - European Publishers Council
EUROCINEMA - Association of Film and Audiovisual Producers
EVA - European Visual Artists
EWC – European Writers Council
FEP - Federation of European Publishers
FERA - Federation of European Screen Directors
FIA - International Federation of Actors
FIAPF - International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations
FIM - International Federation of Musicians
FSE - Federation of Screenwriters in Europe
GESAC - European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers
IAO - International Artist Organisation
ICMP - International Confederation of Music Publishers
IFJ - International Federation of Journalists
IFPI - International Federation of the Phonographic Industry
IFRRO - International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations
IMPALA - European association of independent music companies
IMPF - Independent Music Publishers International Forum
IVF - International Video Federation
NME - News Media Europe
SAA - Society of Audiovisual Authors
STM - Global trade association for academic and professional publishers
UNI MEI - UNI Media, Entertainment and Arts