Portugal

[PT] Self-regulatory agreement signed to protect copyright in the digital environment

IRIS 2015-9:1/22

Ronan Ó Fathaigh

Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam

On 30 July 2015, the Secretary of State for Culture announced that a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed by a number of organisations, in order to create a self-regulatory agreement on the protection of copyright in the digital environment. These organisations included two public bodies - the ministry of culture’s Inspector General of Cultural Activities (Inspecção Geral das Actividades Culturais) and the Consumer Directorate General (Direção-Geral do Consumidor) - and a number of other organisations, including the telecommunication operators association (Associação dos Operadores de Telecomunicações), an anti-piracy association (Movimento Cívico Anti Pirataria na Internet), an advertising association (Associação Portuguesa das Agências de Publicidade, Comunicação e Marketing), and the association responsible for the top-level domain “.pt” (Associação dns.pt).

The 11-page memorandum sets out a procedure for the blocking of websites that may be violating copyright law. This procedure includes the signatories notifying the anti-piracy association MAPINET of websites allegedly violating copyright law, which may then forward a complaint to the ministry’s Inspector General of Cultural Activities (IGAC). IGAC may then request internet service providers to block access to these websites.

Following a complaint to the Commission on Access to Administrative Documents (Comissão de Acesso aos Documentos Administrativos), the memorandum has now been published. The agreement took effect in August 2015.