Abstract

The article focuses on selected key regulations of EU Directive 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market: text and data mining, the right of press publishers to their publications, and requirements for internet access providers. These issues (especially the latter) still raise a lot of controversy, and they are sometimes perceived as a threat to the fundamental human right to freedom of expression. I argue that, although the Directive lays down some principles which may interfere with the existing possibilities of disseminating data via internet, it is mostly up to state legislators to introduce specific rules which will safeguard (or endanger) freedom of expression. The Directive does not contain a lot of model provisions which could be implemented literally into Member States’ legal systems, and local legislators have been given room to find adequate solutions. This may be a real challenge because the Directive – while preferring general guidelines to model provisions – provide for many exclusions and reservations with respect to these guidelines which should be observed by Member States.