Following an extensive public consultation process in December of 2013, the Italian Media Authority (AGCOM) approved and published its Regulation for online copyright enforcement. The Regulation, which doesn’t apply to alleged copyright infringements on P2P file-sharing sites, contains a detailed "notice and takedown" procedure. The main targets of the Regulation are not the subscribers, but rather the ISPs as the hosting providers. ISPs will have only three days from the receipt of AGCOM’s order to comply with it. In the case of non-compliance, AGCOM has the right to order administrative fines which can be anywhere between €10,000 and €258,000. The new online copyright enforcement for digital media went into effect on March 31st, after receiving the go ahead from the European Commission.

With this Regulation in effect, copyright holders in Italy feel that they are now able to benefit from the new and rather fast “notice and takedown” proceedings to stop infringements of their IPR (Intellectual property rights). The intention of the expedited notices to the ISPs is what AGCOM sees as an effective legal means to fight digital piracy. The new Regulation focuses only on copyright violations through the ISPs who are required to respond to the takedown notices from AGCOM.

The wording of the Regulation is as follows:

Italian Communications Authority Publishes a New Regulation For Online Copyright Protection

On December 12, 2013, the Italian Communications Authority published on its website the long-awaited regulation concerning copyright protection on electronic communication networks. Two years ago, a similar regulation was issued, but the heated debate that took place in Italy relating to internet freedom and the scope of the powers of the Authority prompted the latter to withdraw the regulation. The new regulation, which entered into force on March 31, 2014, is aimed at suppressing for-profit infringements by information society services and media service providers and promotes the legal offering of content online. Under the regulation, copyright holders (or their representatives) may file a petition with the Authority if they believe that their digital work has been made available on an internet website in violation of Italian copyright laws (unless there is a pending Court proceeding). If the petition is accepted, the Authority must issue a decision within 35 days from receiving the petition, and the recipient of the decision must comply within 3 days (these terms are shortened to respectively 12 days and 2 days in case of a serious or massive violation). A similar procedure is provided for copyright violations on audiovisual media services.

The procedure begins by a rightsholder notifying the AGCOM of the alleged infringement by means of an online form. AGCOM then initiates the start of the proceedings to the applicable ISP, as well as if traceable, to the uploader and to the webpage and website manager(s), requesting them to either comply with the rightsholder’s request or object to the request. In case of objection or failure to react to the infringement notice, the matter is then referred to AGCOM’s judicial body, which is a panel of four commissioners chaired by the President of the Authority, within five days. As a rule, the panel should issue its decision within thirty-five working days from the initial request, and if the result is in favor of the rightsholder, then order the Italian ISP to either remove the infringing content, or in the case of massive infringement, disable access to the website when the server is on the Italian territory. If the server is located in another country, the ISP must provide a way through their service to disable access to the website that hosts infringing content. In the event this happens, users trying to access the website may possibly be automatically redirected to an AGCOM’s webpage which would have an explanation informing a user why the site has been disabled. ISPs only have three days in which to comply. AGCOM has been granted full powers to close down sites if illegal content is not taken down.

While the rightsholders welcome this fast track option, it needs to be carefully used and applied appropriately by AGCOM in order to avoid what many feel would be excessive and unjustified restrictions of distribution rights.

According to Telecompaper, the Italian consumer associations Altroconsumo, Assoprovider and Assintel have already filed appeals with the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio, the main Italian administrative court of first instance, by issuing a joint statement which calls for the cancellation of the new Regulation on the grounds that the procedure is unfair. They feel it amounts to “an exercise in repression that fails to provide for any appeal to courts, as required by the Constitution.” The National Online Press Association (Anso) and the Federation of Independent Digital Media (Femi) also stated that only a judicial authority should be granted the powers to limit the right of users to publish content online and to access the corresponding websites.

As different countries begin to implement new rules and legislation in order to deal with digital media copyright infringements where there were no previous laws or regulations, many are finding that there is strong opposition, as is the case in Italy, and this is only the beginning for them.