Commission Recommendation of 24 August 2006 on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation
Date: 2006-08-24
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Internet, access to information, copyright, cultural heritage, cultural policy, digitisation, virtual library

L 236/28

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

31.8.2006

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION

of 24 August 2006

on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation

(2006/585/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community, and in particular Article 211 thereof,

establishing the European

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

for economic growth,

On 1 June 2005 the Commission presented the i2010
initiative, which seeks to optimise the benefits of the new
job
information technologies
creation and the quality of
life of European citizens.
The Commission has made digital libraries a key aspect
of i2010. In its Communication ‘i2010: digital libraries’
of 30 September 2005 (1), it set out its strategy for digi-
tisation, online accessibility and digital preservation of
Europe's collective memory. This collective memory
includes print
journals, newspapers), photo-
graphs, museum objects, archival documents, audiovisual
material (hereinafter ‘cultural material’).

(books,

Measures applying that strategy with a view to opti-
mising, by means of
the economic and
cultural potential of Europe's cultural heritage should
be recommended to the Member States.

the Internet,

archives

and museums

In that context, the development of digitised material
should be
from libraries,
encouraged. The online accessibility of the material will
make it possible for citizens throughout Europe to access
and use it
It will give
for leisure, studies or work.
Europe's diverse and multilingual heritage a clear profile
on the Internet. Moreover, the digitised material can be
re-used in industries such as tourism and the education
industry, as well as in new creative efforts.

(5)

(6)

Furthermore,
15-16
the Council Conclusions
November 2004 on the Workplan for Culture 2005-
2006 stress the contribution of creativity and creative
industries to economic growth in Europe, and the need
for a coordinated digitisation effort.

of

The European Parliament and Council Recommendation
of 16 November 2005 on film heritage and the competi-
tiveness of related industrial activities (2) already recom-
mended to Member States to adopt appropriate measures
to increase the use of digital and new technologies in the
collection, cataloguing, preservation and restoration of
In as far as cinematographic
cinematographic works.
works
concerned the present Recommendation
complements the Parliament and Council Recommen-
dation on film heritage on a number of aspects.

are

are

fragmented. Concerted

Digitisation is an important means of ensuring greater
access to cultural material. In some cases it is the only
means of ensuring that such material will be available for
future generations. Thus, many digitisation initiatives are
currently being undertaken in the Member States, but
efforts
the
Member States to digitise their cultural heritage would
lend greater coherence to the selection of material and
would avoid overlap in digitisation. It would also lead to
a more secure climate for companies investing in digiti-
sation technologies. Overviews of current and planned
digitisation activities and quantitative targets for digiti-
those
sation would contribute to the achievement of
objectives.

action by

(7)

Private sector sponsoring of digitisation or partnerships
between the public and private sectors can involve
private entities in digitisation efforts and should be
further encouraged.

(1) COM(2005) 465 final.

(2) OJ L 323, 9.12.2005, p. 57.

31.8.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 236/29

(8)

(9)

Investments in new technologies and large scale digiti-
sation facilities can bring down costs of digitisation while
maintaining or improving quality and should therefore
be recommended.

A common multilingual access point would make it
possible to search Europe's distributed — that is to say,
held in different places by different organisations —
digital cultural heritage online. Such an access point
would increase its visibility and underline common
features. The access point
should build on existing
initiatives such as The European Library (TEL), in which
Europe’s libraries already collaborate.
It should where
possible closely associate private holders of rights in
cultural material and all
interested stakeholders. A
strong commitment by the Member States and cultural
institutions to arrive at such an access point should be
encouraged.

(13)

and comprehensive policies exist in the Member States
on the preservation of digital content. The absence of
such policies poses a threat to the survival of digitised
material and may result in the loss of material produced
in digital format. The development of effective means of
digital preservation has far-reaching implications, not
only for the preservation of material in public institutions
but also for any organisation which is obliged or which
wishes to preserve digital material.

or

have

States

introduced

are
Several Member
requiring producers of
considering legal obligations
digital material to make one or more copies of their
material available to a mandated deposit body. Effective
collaboration between Member States is necessary to
avoid a wide variety in the rules governing the deposit
of digital material and should be encouraged.

the

rest

tool

available

to stimulate

creativity, Europe's

should be digitised, made

(10) Only part of the material held by libraries, archives and
museums is in the public domain, in the sense that it is
not or is no longer covered by intellectual property
is protected by intellectual
rights, while
property rights. Since intellectual property rights are a
cultural
key
material
and
preserved in full respect of copyright and related rights.
Particularly relevant in this context are Articles 5(2)c,
recital 40 of Directive
5(3)n, and 5(5), as well as
2001/29/EC of
the
Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of
certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the
information society (1). Licensing mechanisms in areas
such as orphan works — that is to say, copyrighted
works whose owners are difficult or even impossible to
locate — and works that are out of print or distribution
(audiovisual) can facilitate rights clearance and conse-
quently digitisation efforts and subsequent online acces-
sibility.
be
therefore
encouraged in close cooperation with rightholders.

the European Parliament and of

Such mechanisms

should

(14) Web-harvesting is a new technique for collecting material
from the Internet for preservation purposes. It involves
mandated institutions actively collecting material instead
of waiting for it to be deposited, thus minimising the
administrative burden on producers of digital material,
therefore make
and
provision for it,

legislation

national

should

HEREBY RECOMMENDS THAT MEMBER STATES:

Digitisation and online accessibility

1. gather information about current and planned digitisation
journals, newspapers, photographs, museum
of books,
objects, archival documents, audiovisual material
(here-
inafter ‘cultural material’) and create overviews of such digi-
tisation in order to prevent duplication of efforts and
promote collaboration and synergies at European level;

(11)

(12)

Provisions in national legislation may contain barriers to
the use of works which are in the public domain, for
for each
example by requiring an administrative act
reproduction of the work. Any such barriers should be
identified and steps taken to remove them.

2. develop quantitative targets for the digitisation of analogue
material in archives, libraries and museums, indicating the
expected increase in digitised material which could form
library and the budgets
the European digital
part of
allocated by public authorities;

Council Resolution C/162/02 of 25 June 2002 on
preserving tomorrow's memory — preserving digital
future generations (2) proposes objectives
content
and indicative measures for preserving digital content
for future generations. However, at present no clear

for

3. encourage partnerships between cultural

institutions and
the private sector in order to create new ways of funding
digitisation of cultural material;

(1) OJ L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10.
(2) OJ C 162, 6.7.2002. p. 4.

4. set-up and sustain large scale digitisation facilities, as part
of, or in close collaboration with, competence centres for
digitisation in Europe;

L 236/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

31.8.2006

5. promote a European digital library, in the form of a multi-
lingual common access point to Europe's distributed —
that is to say, held in different places by different organi-
sations — digital cultural material, by:

(a) describe the organisational approach,

indicating the
roles and responsibilities of the parties involved and
the allocated resources,

(a) encouraging cultural institutions, as well as publishers
and other rightholders to make their digitised material
searchable through the European digital library,

(b) ensuring that cultural
companies,

institutions, and where relevant
private
digitisation
apply
standards in order to achieve interoperability of the
digitised material at European level and to facilitate
cross-language searchability;

common

6.

improve conditions for digitisation of, and online accessi-
bility to, cultural material by:

(a) creating mechanisms to facilitate the use of orphan
works, following consultation of interested parties,

(b) establishing or promoting mechanisms, on a voluntary
basis, to facilitate the use of works that are out of print
following consultation of
or out of distribution,
interested parties,

(b) contain specific action plans outlining the objectives
and a time-table for the specific targets to be met;

8. exchange information with each other on the strategies and

action plans;

9. make provision in their legislation so as to allow multiple
copying and migration of digital cultural material by public
in full respect of
institutions for preservation purposes,
Community and international
legislation on intellectual
property rights;

10. when establishing policies and procedures for the deposit
of material originally created in digital format take into
account developments in other Member States in order to
prevent a wide divergence in depositing arrangements;

11. make provision in their legislation for the preservation of
web-content by mandated institutions using techniques for
collecting material
such as web
harvesting, in full respect of Community and international
legislation on intellectual property rights;

from the

Internet

(c) promoting the availability of lists of known orphan

works and works in the public domain,

Follow-up to this Recommendation

(d) identifying barriers in their legislation to the online
accessibility and subsequent use of cultural material
is in the public domain and taking steps to
that
remove them;

Digital preservation

7. establish national strategies for the long-term preservation
of and access to digital material, in full respect of copyright
law, which:

12.

inform the Commission 18 months from the publication of
this Recommendation in the Official Journal of the European
Union, and every two years thereafter, of action taken in
response to this Recommendation.

Done at Brussels, 24 August 2006.

For the Commission

Viviane REDING
Member of the Commission