EN Official Journal of the European Union C 169/5

Council conclusions of 10 May 2012 on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation

2012/C 169/02

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

CONSIDERING THAT:

— The digitisation and online accessibility of the Member States’ cultural material and its long-term digital preservation are essential to enable access for all to culture and knowledge in the digital era and to promote the richness and diversity of European cultural heritage.

— Digitised cultural material is an important resource for European cultural and creative industries (1). Digitisation and online accessibility of Member States' cultural heritage, considered both in a national and cross-border context, contributes to economic growth and job creation and to the achievement of the digital single market through the increasing offer of new and innovative online products and services.

— Coordinated action at Union level is necessary to create synergies between national efforts and ensure that online accessibility of Europe’s cultural heritage reaches a critical mass.

— The context for digitisation efforts and for collaboration at European level has changed since the Council adopted in 2006 conclusions on digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation (2). Europeana was launched in 2008 as a common multilingual access point to Europe’s digital cultural heritage and the agenda for its further development was set out in the 2010 Council conclusions on ‘Europeana: next steps’ (3);

1. WELCOMES:

— the Commission Recommendation of 27 October 2011 on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation (4) (2011/711/EU) as part of the Digital Agenda for Europe (5);

2. RECOGNISES:

— the ongoing efforts in Member States to digitise and make accessible online the material of cultural institutions, as well as the efforts to provide funding for digitisation in a time of economic crisis;

— the valuable work done by Europeana, by the Member States’ institutions and national aggregators contributing to Europeana in terms of content and coordination;

— that although progress has been made in digitising Europe’s cultural heritage, further steps are necessary to turn this heritage into a lasting asset for Europe's citizens and economy in the digital age;

3. UNDERLINES:

— the need to bring out the richness of Europe’s cultural heritage in the online environment and to promote the creation of content and new online services as part of the information society and the knowledge-based economy;

— the vital importance of ensuring the long-term viability of Europeana, including in terms of governance and funding, and the need to further develop it as a common multilingual access point to Europe’s digital cultural heritage and a valuable resource for the creative industries, notably by improving the quality and the variety of the digitised cultural material from all categories (text, audiovisual, museum objects, archival records etc.);

— the need for a cooperative effort by the Member States and the Commission to promote quality and technical standards for the content brought into Europeana;

— the need to continue work on technical standards for digitisation and metadata, including through the framework of Europeana, for the benefit of both accessibility and long-term preservation of digital material;

— the underlying vision of working with all relevant partners to avoid a ‘20th century black hole’ in the material available through Europeana and the need to make more in-copyright material available through the site;

— the need to actively promote voluntary agreements (6) on the large scale digitisation and online availability of out-of-commerce works and to take the necessary measures to provide for the required legal certainty in a national and cross-border context;

— that the digitisation and online accessibility of Europe’s cultural heritage should be carried out in full respect of intellectual property rights;

4. TAKES NOTE OF:

— the report ‘The New Renaissance’ (7) by the Reflection group (‘Comité des Sages’) on bringing Europe’s cultural heritage online, and of the Commission’s recent legislative proposal regarding digital service infrastructures, including on funding of Europeana, as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (8), as well as the proposals regarding orphan works (9) and re-use of public sector information (10);

5. INVITES THE MEMBER STATES TO:

— take the necessary steps in line with the priorities outlined in the Annex in order to: — consolidate their strategies and targets for the digitisation of cultural material; — consolidate the organisation of digitisation and the provision of funding for digitisation, including through promoting the use of public-private partnerships; — improve the framework conditions for the online accessibility and use of cultural material; — contribute to the further development of Europeana, including by encouraging cultural institutions to bring all relevant digitised cultural material into the site; — ensure long-term digital preservation; while taking into account the different levels of progress on, and approaches to, digitisation as well as the overall budgetary consolidation efforts being made in Member States;

6. INVITES THE COMMISSION TO:

— continue to support Europeana as a common multilingual access point to Europe’s digital cultural heritage in line with the 2010 Council conclusions on Europeana;

— gather, analyse and disseminate results and experience gained at national and Union level; present on this basis every two years a report on progress on digitisation, online accessibility and digital preservation;

— support the exchange of information and good practices including on public-private partnerships and standards for digitisation;

7. INVITES THE MEMBER STATES, THE COMMISSION AND EUROPEANA, WITHIN THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPETENCES, TO:

— continue, in line with the 2010 Council conclusions on Europeana, the work on the content roadmap for Europeana, including the masterpieces of Europe's cultural heritage as selected in the individual Member States;

— raise awareness of Europeana amongst the general public;

— promote the use of material accessible through Europeana and the related metadata for innovative purposes in full respect of intellectual property rights;

— further develop Europeana as a user-friendly access point;

— make concrete progress in the discussions on the governance structure of Europeana.

(1) According to the European Competitiveness Report 2010, creative industries account for 3,3 % of EU GDP and 3 % of employment in the EU.

(2) OJ C 297, 7.12.2006, p. 1.

(3) OJ C 137, 27.5.2010, p. 19.

(4) OJ L 283, 29.10.2011, p. 39.

(5) COM(2010) 245 final/2.

(6) On 20 September 2011 a Memorandum of Understanding on the Key Principles on the Digitisation and Making Available of Out-of-Commerce Works was signed in Brussels by stakeholders’ representatives, following a stakeholders’ dialogue sponsored by the Commission.

(7) http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/digital_libraries/comite_des_sages/index_en.htm

(8) COM(2011) 665 final/3.

(9) COM(2011) 289 final.

(10) COM(2011) 877 final.