Norway

[NO] Implementation of EC Copyright Directive - Final Step

IRIS 2006-3:1/33

Thomas Rieber-Mohn

University of Oslo

Norway has implemented the EC Copyright Directive. The implementation was carried out through several alterations of the Norwegian Copyright Act (it has entered into force as of 1 July 2005). A White Paper prepared by the Ministry of Cultural and Church Affairs laid the foundations for the implementation (see IRIS 2005-4: 16). During the subsequent Parliamentary scrutiny, some minor adjustments were made. Most controversial among these was undoubtedly the expansion of the statutory permission to circumvent applied technological protection measures in order to be able to enjoy a lawfully acquired work on “relevant user equipment” within the private sphere. Contrary to what had been the Ministry's express intentions, the Parliament decided that the said exception shall also encompass circumvention of copy-controls on CDs for the purpose of conversion to mp3.