EU Council's Position
As adopted 25th May, 2018
View Commission's Position on Recital 25a
Recital 25a
Determining whether works and other subject-matter are out of commerce
When determining whether works and other subject-matter are out of commerce, a reasonable effort should be required to assess their availability to the public in the customary channels of commerce, taking into account the characteristics of the particular work or set of works. Member States should be free to determine the allocation of responsibilities for making the reasonable effort.
The reasonable effort should not have to be repeated over time but it should also take account of any easily accessible evidence of upcoming availability of works in the customary channels of commerce. A work-by-work assessment should only be required when this is considered reasonable in view of the availability of relevant information, the likelihood of commercial availability and the expected transaction cost.
The verification of availability should normally take place in the Member State where the cultural heritage institution is established, unless verification across borders is considered reasonable, for example when there is easily available information that a literary work was first published in a given language version in another Member State.
In many cases the out-of-commerce status of a set of works could be determined through a proportionate mechanism, such as sampling. The limited availability of a work, such as its availability in second-hand shops, or the theoretical possibility to obtain a licence to a work should not be considered as availability to the public in the customary channels of commerce.
