Moves in the European Parliament which could mean iconic views such as
the Angel of the North could no longer be photographed without permission have
been slated by local MEP Jonathan Arnott.
The EU is threatening to restrict the long-established principle of
“freedom of panorama” which would mean major landmarks being blocked from videos
and photographs for fear of copyright infringement.
A French ally of the Lib Dems has suggested amendments to legislation
involving introducing rules, which would force photographers, artists and
filmmakers to seek permission and even pay to be able to film, paint and
photograph some of Europe’s most famous landmarks.
The original proposals were submitted by Germany’s Pirate Party MEP Julia
Reda in a report earlier this month to protect Freedom of Panorama. But the
European Parliament’s legal committee, while approving most of the report,
implemented several amendments.
One of these says – “The commercial use of photographs, video footage or
other images of works which are permanently located in physical public places
should always be subject to prior authorisation from the authors or any proxy
acting for them.”
UKIP Euro-MP Mr Arnott said, “This would end up being another example of
unintended consequences which so often happens when the EU passes
laws.
“It is idiotic and would mean that visitors would not be able to snap
views of the Angel of the North and other famous works and use them commercially
if they so wanted.
“This attempt to restrict the Freedom of Panorama, by allies of the
Lib-Dems in Brussels, strikes at the root of our liberties. It will destroy an
explicit British freedom guaranteed in our copyright legislation for over 100
years.
“Art and photography are valuable because of their intrinsic freedom.
Freedom is constantly undermined by the European Union as we have seen time and
time again,” said Mr Arnott.
The full European Parliament will be voting on the controversial measure
on July 9.
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