Cablegate: French Moving Forward On New Copyright Regulatory

VZCZCXRO0581
PP RUEHAST
DE RUEHFR #6811 2891330
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161330Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY 1763
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2509
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2219
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS PARIS 006811

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

GENEVA PASS USTR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR PGOV PREL WTO FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH MOVING FORWARD ON NEW COPYRIGHT REGULATORY
AUTHORITY

REF: A) STATE 160668 B) PARIS 5242

1. (SBU) Embassy officers have completed a series of
meetings with Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Commerce and
Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials regarding France,s
Copyright law (ref A). French officials reiterated that they
welcomed U.S. government and industry input regarding the
implementation of the new technical regulatory Authority as
called for in the law (ref B). We understand the French
government plans on establishing the new Authority by the end
of 2006, though some local observers doubt this timetable is
achievable.

2. (SBU) Culture Ministry officials Martin Rogard and Marc
Herubel
(Herubel is a member of Minister de Vabre,s cabinet and has
the lead on this issue for the French government) stated that
following inter-ministerial consultations, a decree will be
finalized by mid-November defining the powers and scope of
the proposed "Regulatory Authority for Technical Measures" as
required by the law. The Culture Ministry plans on having
the new Authority up and running by the end of the year. It
will reportedly be modeled largely on France,s existing
Competition Authority, an independent agency which was
created in 1986. The Competition Authority, which has
sanctions powers, has been particularly active in
liberalizing France,s telecommunications market.

3. (SBU) Ministry of Foreign Trade Deputy Chief of Staff
Etienne Oudot de Dainville was less certain about the
proposed timetable and noted that the Trade Ministry had not
yet contributed to inter-ministerial discussions on the
proposed Authority. Outside of government, copyright lawyers
active on behalf of U.S. industry believe the Authority will
favor protection of copyrights and Digital Rights Management
technologies, to the extent permitted by the new law. These
lawyers doubt however that the Authority will be in place by
the end of the year. If the timetable slips, upcoming
Presidential elections in 2007 may have a considerable impact
on implementation of the law.

4. (SBU) Comment: All of our interlocutors welcomed U.S.
comments and input (particularly from U.S. industry)
concerning the new Authority during the short time remaining
prior to issuance of the planned decree. Commerce U/S
Lavin,s visit to Paris October 18-20 will provide an
opportunity to underscore U.S. concerns with copyright law
implementation.
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm
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