Online service subscriptions, such
as Netflix and Sky's Now TV, will be portable across the EU under
proposals announced on Wednesday.
The European Commission also
described its plan to overhaul copyright laws, which it said would make
it easier to legally buy and use content.
Supporters said the proposals were an opportunity for creative industries.
But some industry bodies attacked them, saying they lacked detail and would cause harm.
Under
the first set of proposals, which will need to be approved by the
European Parliament before they can be implemented, online subscriptions
to services would become portable within the EU.
"People who
legally buy content - films, books, football matches, TV series - must
be able to carry it with them anywhere they go in Europe," said Andrus
Ansip, the commission's vice-president for the digital single market.
The
commission said that allowing cross-border portability would mean
"enabling consumers to use their home online subscription while they
stay temporarily abroad".
It said it expected the regulations to be approved
next year and implemented in 2017, "the same year as the end of roaming
charges in the EU".
The
commission also announced plans - to be turned into more concrete
legislative proposals within the next six months - to allow providers to
sell content across the EU under a single set of copyright rules,
rather than having to draw up various contracts to adhere to national
laws.
It later clarified that the BBC's iPlayer would be exempt
from the rules because it does not verify a user's country of residence.
"This said, the BBC has announced that it is willing to allow
its users to access the iPlayer when they are outside the UK for a
limited period," said Nathalie Vandystadt, the European Commission's
spokeswoman for the digital single market.
She added that the
rules were not aimed at covering all online content services "as it
might be too burdensome and expensive for some services to adopt the
necessary verification system. For free of charge services, the choice
remains open: if they decide to start using verification methods, they
can benefit from the rules".
'Huge opportunity'
The
commission said: "Overall, the commission wants to make sure that
Europeans can access a wide legal offer of content, while ensuring that
authors and other rights holders are better protected and fairly
remunerated.
"The key sectors of education, culture, research and innovation will also benefit from a more modern and European framework."
Mr Ansip said: "When you download a movie or a song, it must play.
"If this is not the case, you should be able to end the contract and get your money back."
He added the proposals would provide a "common set of EU rules instead of a patchwork of national laws".
Alliance
for Intellectual Property chairman Richard Mollet called the portable
subscription proposals a "huge opportunity for the UK's creative
industries, which are globally successful and are enjoyed by hundreds of
millions of European consumers every day".
And he said the
copyright plans must "enhance the opportunities for creators to sell
their content across Europe and help them protect it".
"Alliance
members are already working to deliver even better access to content,
but we also must ensure that the value of creativity is not reduced, as
well as maintaining strong incentives to invest," he added.
But John McVay, the chief executive of Pact, the
trade association for the UK's independent media companies, said the
commission's portability proposal "falls far short of that goal due to
inadequate safeguards to prevent abuse and a lack of clarity in key
concepts like the meaning of 'temporary'".
He said: "It is
critical that portability is conditional on robust and effective
authentication of consumers' country of residence.
"We urge the EU institutions to address these issues as a matter of urgency.
"The
commission's proposals to mandate cross-border access to digital
content remain a significant concern for producers, distributors and
broadcasters of film and TV content in the UK and across the EU."
A
BBC representative said: "We are interested in being able to allow UK
licence-fee payers to access BBC iPlayer while they are on holiday in
the EU, and welcome the European Commission proposing regulation to help
make this possible.
"There are complex technical issues to resolve and aspects of the commission's proposal need clarification.
"Being
able to offer BBC iPlayer also depends on the UK government
implementing legislation to modernise the licence fee to include video
on demand as well as linear viewing, something the government has
committed to do next year.
"That will mean users of BBC iPlayer could be verified as UK licence-fee payers while they are on holiday in the EU."
A
Netflix representative said: "We are committed to providing Netflix
members with great programming wherever they are and are studying the
EU's proposal."
A Sky representative said: "We will need to
consider the plans in detail, but we welcome anything that helps
customers get even more value from their subscriptions.
"We look
forward to working with the commission to ensure that the proposals are
part of a robust framework that supports investment in European
content."