The European Commission on Monday opened infringement proceedings against a majority of the European Union member states, including Croatia, for not having communicated how they have enacted the new EU legislation on copyright.

The European Commission asked Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia and Slovakia to communicate information on how the rules included in the Digital Single Market Copyright Directive were being enacted in their national legislation.

At the same time, the European Commission asked of all the above mentioned EU members with the exception of Denmark to communicate information on how the directive on copyright in online television and radio programs is being enacted in their national legislation.

These countries now have two months to respond to letters from the European Commission and take the necessary measures, as, without a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue reasoned opinions, the next step in the infringement procedures, after which it can file a lawsuit before the Court of the EU.

The two directives aim to modernize the EU’s copyright rules.