On 29 September 2026, the European Commission launched a targeted consultation on copyright and technological change, which will remain open until the end of 3 November. It is intended for rights holders, artificial intelligence providers and other actors in their value chain, intermediaries, collective management organisations, organisers of live events, research organisations, national authorities, consumer organisations and non-governmental organisations. An artist or author who retains rights to their work may respond as a rights holder.
The consultation addresses four areas: the use of protected content in artificial intelligence systems; online piracy of time-sensitive content, including live events; the single equitable remuneration for the use of sound recordings of third-country nationals in the European Union; and copyright in research. Each participant may respond only to the sections that concern them, omit specific questions and attach supporting documentation.
The consultation is part of a broader process. On 10 March 2026, the European Parliament adopted a non-legislative resolution on copyright and generative artificial intelligence. It deemed the current framework insufficient to address various issues of licensing, transparency, remuneration and the protection of rights holders.
The Commission has responded that it is preparing the review of Directive 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market. It will examine, among other issues, the effect and validity of text and data mining exceptions, rights reservations, licensing and the position of holders regarding unauthorised uses.
A study on the appropriateness and technical feasibility of a rights reservation registry is also being finalised. According to the Commission's response to Parliament, such a registry would use content identification technologies and would function as a complementary means of expressing a reservation, including against generative artificial intelligence.
The process began with a call for evidence published on 18 May and open until 25 June 2026. The current consultation takes up several of the questions raised then. The initiative document sets out, on an indicative basis, a report on the directive and a possible legislative proposal for the first quarter of 2027. That timetable may change, and the Commission warns that the initiative and its final content have not yet been decided.
Directive 2019/790 incorporated two mandatory exceptions or limitations for text and data mining. Article 4 allows for certain reproductions and extractions of lawfully accessible works, provided the holder has not expressly reserved those uses in an appropriate manner. When content is publicly available online, the directive refers to machine-readable means.
The Commission considers this mechanism relevant for model training and links it to the obligations of the Artificial Intelligence Act. Providers of general-purpose models placed on the Union market must adopt a policy to comply with copyright law and identify and respect reservations made in accordance with Article 4. The exact interpretation of the scope of the exception and those reservations is not settled: the Commission itself notes that it will be for the Court of Justice to rule, among other matters, in case C-250/25.
In the guide How to reserve your rights against data mining: a practical guide for artists you can see the available means and their limits.
In practice, reserving rights raises questions familiar to those who have attempted to do so: which signal to use, which systems read it, how to preserve evidence, what happens to works published previously and what scope a reservation located on a website has when copies circulate outside of it. The Commission acknowledges that having effective means to express reservations is an important piece of the balance designed by the directive. The registry under study attempts to address part of that problem, but it does not yet exist, nor has a decision been made to implement it.
The consultation is not aimed solely at large companies or collective management organisations. It includes rights holders and non-governmental organisations. A person who creates and publishes their work can provide facts that rarely appear in an institutional response: how they tried to reserve their rights, what technical difficulties they met, what information they were able to obtain about the use of their work or what conditions they would need in order to consider a licence.
You do not have to answer the whole questionnaire. You can select the relevant sections, skip questions and attach a document with data, examples or technical explanations. It helps to distinguish direct experience from general opinion and to provide, where possible, verifiable dates, screenshots, files, communications or costs.
The questionnaire is available on EUSurvey. The deadline ends at the end of 3 November 2026.
On the open conversation
This text continues the Public Notebook's line of work on copyright and artificial intelligence. It draws on the Commission's opening announcement, the questionnaire, the European Parliament's resolution, the Commission's reply and the initiative document. It does not recommend a particular response or assume that a reform will be adopted.
If you have taken part in the consultation, or work in artistic creation, collective management, research or copyright law and can provide documentation on the process, write to me.
Sources
European Commission, targeted consultation on EUSurvey.
European Commission, follow-up to European Parliament resolution P10_TA(2026)0066.
European Parliament, Resolution of 10 March 2026 on copyright and generative artificial intelligence.
European Commission, "Commission seeks views on the review of EU copyright rules", 18 May 2026.