Finland
Status
In progress
Explanatory note re status
The implementation process has been delayed in Finland. The DSM Copyright Directive will be implemented in Finland by amending the Finnish Copyright Act (404/1961) and the Act on Electronic Communications Services (917/2014). In 2019, the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture set a working group in order to prepare the national implementation of the Directive. In 2019 and 2020, several open workshop-based discussion meetings were held. The draft government proposal was in circulation for comments during 27.9–31.10.2021. After the comments, the Ministry started its refinement work. On 14.2.2022, a public hearing for stakeholders was held, and the Ministry announced that major changes were made to the proposal. The government proposal was submitted to the parliament on 13.4.2022. Currently, the proposal is being considered in various committees of the parliament.
Implementation Act
The Finnish Copyright Act (404/1961) and the Finnish Act on Electronic Communications Services (917/2014).
(Envisaged) Implementation Date
Unknown
Approach to Implementation
Amendments to existing law, i.e. the Finnish Copyright Act (404/1961) and the Act on Electronic Communications Services (917/2014).
Next steps
The government proposal has been submitted to the parliament on 13.4.2022. Following the parliamentary review, the parliament will enact the amendments to the current legislation. The amended legislation was previously estimated to come into force and the directive therefore implemented on 1.1.2023. However, the implementation has again been delayed, and no exact implementation date has yet been set.
Noteworthy points arising from legislative changes
On most points, the legislative proposal remains close to the wording and structure of the DSM Directive. Some articles of the Directive (articles 13, 16 ja 21) were left unimplemented since existing provisions already fulfilled the prequisites set out in these articles.
Articles 3 & 4: The Text and Data Mining Exceptions
In the legislative proposal, Article 3 is proposed to be implemented in Section 13b(2) of the Copyright Act and Article 4 in Section 13b(1) of the Copyright Act. Both proposed provisions mainly correspond to the text and structure of the Articles of the DSM Directive.
Article 15: The Press Publishers' Right
(a) This Article is proposed to be implemented in a new section 50 of the Copyright Act. (b) The term “very short extracts" of Article 15 of the DSM Directive is not proposed to be defined in the amended Copyright Act. According to the legislative proposal, the term should be left to be defined in legal praxis.
(c) The new Section 50(3) defines press publications as collections that consist of mainly journalistic literal works that are not published for scientific or academic purposes. In addition, the following requirements should be met for a collection to be defined as a press publication:
o The press publication forms a separate number of a periodical or regularly updated press publication which is under one title
o The purpose of the press publication is to provide the general public with news or information related to other topics
o The newspaper publication has been communicated to the public in whichever media at the initiative of the publisher
Article 17: Platform Liability Provisions
(a) Article 17 is proposed to be implemented in the new chapter 6 a of the Copyright Act. (b) Article 17(4) of the DSM directive stipulates that Member States must ensure that users are able to rely on certain exceptions or limitations to copyright while uploading or making available content. The Finnish Section 55e goes further as it stipulates that a user may upload content lawfully if any of the copyright exceptions or limitations apply. In addition, platfrom providers must inform users in their terms and conditions that they are able to use the works based on any copyright exception or limitation.
(c) According to article 17(8) of the DSM directive, the application of Article 17 shall not lead to a general monitoring obligation. This is implemented in Section 55f of the Finnish Copyright Act which stipulates that the service provider must have policies to ensure that the legal transmission of works to the public is not prevented. In addition, automatic blocking measures may be used only when it is highly probable that a copyright-protected work is communicated to the public. (d) Article 17(9) obligates member states to provide that online content-sharing service providers put in place an effective and expeditious complaint and redress mechanism. The amended Copyright Act introduces a mechanism which is free of charge and voluntary for the parties and the recommendations are given by experts appointed by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.
Chapter 3 Overview
The text and structure of the provisions implementing the DSM Directive mainly correspond to the text and structure of the directive.
Article 18:
(a) Article 18 is implemented in Section 28 of the Copyright Act. According to Article 18(2) of the DSM directive, in the implementation of the principle of appropriate and proportional remuneration, Member States have the freedom to use different mechanisms. Freedom of contract remains the principle in the implementation of the DSM Directive in FInland, and no additional mechanisms were introduced in the legislative proposal.
Article 19: Transparency Obligations
(a) Article 19 is implemented by adding a new Section 30a to the Copyright Act.
(b) According to Section 19(3), member states may provide that in duly justified cases, the obligation may be limited to the types and level of information that can be reasonably expected in such cases. In Finland, this option is exercised in Section 30a(3) of the Copyright Act.
(c) Section 19(4) Directive also allows member states to stipulate that the transparency obligation is not applied when the contribution of the author or performer is not significant. This option has also been exercised in Section 30a(4) of the Copyright Act.
Other Information
The official webpage for the implementation of the Directive into the Finnish legislation is available here (only in Finnish).
