Make your voice heard! Join the EU Public Consultations

14 December 2015

If you thought there wasn’t much you could do about EU regulations, I have good news for you! You can actually make a difference. The European Union often asks citizens (and other parties) how they feel about certain issues before starting the legislation process, in what we call EU Public Consultations. So, there is a real chance for you to speak up your mind and tell the EU Commission and Parliament your thoughts on what should be done and what matters to you. Currently, there are a few public consultations and surveys going on which you should take a look at. I know some look a bit daunting, but believe me: the possibility of having a freer, more accessible borderless digital market in the EU is worth every single minute. Get yourself a cup of tea and get going!

Eurpean_Commissions_Platform_Consultation

By December 25th

You still have an opportunity to speak your mind on why we need to #fixcopyright. There are two surveys for this, depending on your time and needs. If you don’t have too much time but really want your voice heard on copyright, use youcan.fixcopyright. If you want to answer the full range of questions on platforms, use the EDRi guide.

  • Let’s Fix EU Copyright (short version) – The name says it all: this is about copyright. You can give your input from various perspectives: online user, parent, teacher/academic/researcher, librarian (or cultural heritage professional) and content creator.
  • Platforms (extended version) – What is an online platform? How should cloud data be handled? Can online intermediaries be liable? These are some of the topics at stake on this one. To help you go through the immense amount of information, ERDi has created a small guide on how to answer to this (like, you don’t have to answer in one go and a few other tips).

By December 28th

  • Geo-blocking – Have you ever bumped into the infamous “Sorry, this is not available in your country” message? Tell the EU why it’s important to fix this! Maybe you’re an expat that can’t access content in your native language, maybe you’re trying to learn a new language, maybe you’re a researcher trying to access more information… The more the voices, the louder the message.

By April 1st 2016

  • Intellectual Property  Rights Enforcement – This might be the trickier one, but you have more than enough time to go through it. It’s mostly about the Digital Single Market and how we can create a proper cross-borders economy that fosters transparency, fairness and accessibility. This is open to views from all interested parties, in particular rightholders, the judiciary and legal profession, intermediaries, public authorities, consumers and civil society.

.: Featured photo by Howard Lake :. CC BY-SA