Magazine publishers lobby for EU libel law changes

The Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) is continuing to battle for amendments to proposed European Union (EU) legislation that, it says, will have a significant impact on defamation cases involving UK publishers.

The proposal - known as Rome II - is designed to clarify which country's law should be applied when damage has been caused in another country.

The current draft of the proposal would allow foreign defamation laws to be applied in UK courts, and defamation claimants would chose which law should apply to their claim.

The PPA, which represents the UK's magazine and business-to-business print media, says that the wording of the proposal is ambiguous and is concerned that the law would leave publishers open to huge financial cost should cases be brought against them.

The proposal has also caused alarm among press freedom groups such as Article 19, which argues that publishers will be deterred from publishing investigative material.

The EU is being over-efficient in trying to tidy this complex area of non-contractual obligations, said Clare Hoban, head of legal affairs at the PPA.

"This law is really designed to cover defective products. A broken toy is a broken toy and that's the same around the world - but defamation is not.

"We just don't need this rule. The US has the same cross-border issues and they haven't needed harmonisation."

The costs involved in defamation cases would rocket, says the PPA, because in a case where, for example, damage was claimed in three other countries, the court would have to present the case in the law of all three countries.

"There is a rule called the double actionability rule in the UK that prevents foreign laws being applied by a UK court unless there would also be grounds to bring an action under the laws of England and Wales," said Ms Hoban.

"Under the new proposals the UK would lose the certainty and protection of this rule."

Most publishers use pre-publication advice, said Ms Hoban, and will publish around the world according to UK law. The PPA is lobbying for defamation and privacy to be excluded from the Rome II proposal. Failing that, it wants the proposal amended so that the applicable law is that of the country of origin of the publisher.

"The situation is not hopeless as the UK rapporteur [the Minister of the European Parliament responsible for drafting the Rome II report] has not discounted the PPA’s suggestions.

"But we've got a big fight on our hands."

Having given evidence earlier this month to the European Select Committee at the House of Lords, the PPA is now awaiting publication of the new draft of the proposal later this Spring. It will continue to lobby through the European Federation of Magazine publishers (FAEP).

Though untested, an EU directive theoretically protects web publishers. The eCommerce directive states that web publications are subject to the law of the country where the publication is based, recognising the basic 'country of origin' principle that the PPA wants to see applied to Rome II.

See also:
http://www.ppa.co.uk
http://www.ppa.co.uk/search/search_results_legal.asp?legal_id=41
http://www.ppa.co.uk/pr/pr.asp?pr_id=16
http://www.ppa.co.uk/search/search_results_news.asp?news_id=1126
http://www.faep.org

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