EU Council's Position
As adopted 25th May, 2018
View Commission's Position on Recital 13a
Recital 13a
Exception or limitation for temporary reproductions and extractions of works
In addition to their significance in the context of scientific research, text and data mining techniques are widely used both by private and public entities to analyse large amounts of data in different areas of life and for various purposes, including for government services, complex business decisions and the development of new applications or technologies.
Rightholders should remain able to license the uses of their works and other subject-matter falling outside the scope of the mandatory exception provided for in this Directive and the existing exceptions and limitations provided for in Directive 2001/29/EC.
At the same time, consideration should be given to the fact that users of text and data mining techniques may be faced with legal uncertainty as to whether temporary reproductions and extractions which are a part of the process of text and data mining may be carried out on publicly available and lawfully accessed works and other subject-matter, in particular when the reproductions or extractions made for the purposes of the technical process may not fulfil all the conditions of the existing exception for temporary acts of reproduction in Article 5(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC.
In order to provide for more legal certainty in such cases, this Directive should enable the Member States to provide under certain conditions for an exception or limitation for temporary reproductions and extractions of works and other subject-matter, insofar as these form a part of the text and data mining process and the copies made are not kept beyond that process.
This optional exception or limitation should only apply when the work or other subject-matter is accessed lawfully by the beneficiary, including when it has been made available to the public online, and insofar as the rightholders have not reserved the right to make reproductions and extractions for text and data mining, for example by agreement, unilateral declaration, including through the use of machine readable metadata or by the use of technical means.
Rightholders should be able to apply measures to ensure that their reservations in this regard are respected. This optional exception or limitation should leave intact the mandatory exception for text and data mining for research purposes laid down in this Directive.