Konferences sekcijas

This session will explore energy production, environmental protection, and sustainability from a comparative legal perspective. It will cover areas of convergence (such as climate change mitigation and renewable energy promotion) and divergence (such as resource management, regulatory enforcement, and environmental liability). The aim is to foster broader legal cooperation in energy and environmental law and address the challenges of balancing national interests with global sustainability goals.” 

The presentation is a follow-up of the previous presentation (later published as an article) 'The Principle of Appropriate and Proportionate Remuneration in Copyright Contracts and its Implementation in the Baltic States', by the same authors, conducted in 2021, which addressed the issue of the implementation in the Baltic States of the legal provisions of the Digital Single Market Directive 2019/790 (the DSM Directive) on the appropriate and proportionate remuneration for authors when they license or transfer their rights. 

Whereas the previous research was devoted to the more formal legal analysis of the implementation of the provisions of the DSM Directive into national legislation, in this contribution a more empirical approach is taken, relying on the findings of the previous research, but also including the experience gathered by the practical application of the newly implemented norms for the more than three-year period. In particular, the presentation addresses the question of how the regulation on remuneration works in real contractual practices (and whether it works at all) between authors, publishers, and other users, as well as the main problems and obstacles that have emerged. Studies, already conducted in other European countries, show that despite the DSM Directive regulation, tendencies are not favourable to authors. For example, the buyout practice is ever-increasing, and the lump sum remains the most common form of remuneration, opposite to the expectations of the DSM Directive. 

To achieve the goals of the proposed research, the questionnaires will be prepared for the authors and producers, and individual interviews will be conducted, thus gathering the empirical information. Existing scholarship and studies from other European countries will also be considered, such as the European Commission's Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology Study on contractual practices affecting the transfer of copyright and related rights and the creators and producers’ ability to exploit their rights (2023). This will enable a comparison with the findings from the research conducted in the Baltic States. 

Certain common patterns of circumvention or dilution of the appropriate and proportionate remuneration principle, such as through contractual waivers, choice of applicable law or lack of enforcement infrastructure, can be presupposed. Particular attention is paid to the imbalance of bargaining power in creative sectors and how it continues to undermine the DSM Directive's goals.  

There is one more factor in the field that, on its part, may complicate the already difficult remuneration situation for authors, that is, a rapid proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems in the creative sectors. One of the direct consequences is that authors should compete not only with their peers, but with increasingly cheaper AI systems' output. The opportunity for producers to turn to the AI systems may weaken the already weak position of authors even further. 

The research is not restricted to the online copyright uses, but includes the traditional, offline uses as well.  

The conference section would consist of national reports presenting the findings for each particular country. 

The section will cover procedural aspects and court practice of the national constitutional review institutions (Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court) in climate and environmental protection. Locus standi issues, namely, the cycle of persons and procedural requirements of those who may turn to the constitutional review institution to raise the appropriate issue, namely, the role of the NGO sector, will be pointed out.  National reports shall analyse appropriate court practices where climate change issues and environmental protection are explored. Presentations will focus on the central question: can or cannot; if can, how constitutional review institutions may influence environmental protection and the achievement of climate targets.