The debate on the European Copyright Directive is happening right now. The vote is scheduled for 12.30 p.m. Watch it live here. Refresh your browser for updates.
UPDATE 12:51: Parliament has voted yes to the copyright directive!
UPDATE 12:51: Here we go: Parliament voted not to decide on amendments first.
UPDATE 12:29: There is a short recess before voting starts at 12:30. The copyright directive is 11th on the list of votes so it will probably happen around 1 p.m. Stay tuned.
UPDATE 12:27: Rapporteur Axel Voss says the two directives under debate today -- the online sales directive and the copyright directive -- are good for the digital market, cross border trade and legal certainty.
The procedure
Normally there’s a vote on the whole directive first, and if the Yes vote wins, it’s a done deal – it goes to Council for formal approval, publication in the Official Journal of the EU, and then on to transposition into the national laws of the member states.
But there are a number of MEPs who are proposing amendments to delete Article 13, Article 11, or both. According to normal procedure, voting on amendments is only possible if the Trialogue agreement on the directive is rejected by Parliament. Parliament rules also permit a vote on whether to vote on amendments first – a reversal of the normal order of things. Of course, adopting an amendment first will have exactly the same result as rejecting the Copyright Directive as whole. Any change to or exclusion of the articles in the directive would make it impossible to reach a new agreement on the text anytime soon. Opponents will therefore try every possibility to ensure this directive fails.
Do not let these attempts to derail the directive succeed.
Only a Yes vote can make Europe a leader in copyright for the digital era.
The last vote
On Sept. 12, 2018, the European Parliament adopted its version of the Copyright Directive by a landslide majority - 438 MEPs voted for it, 226 against (39 abstained).