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European Commission Vice President Andrus Ansip has responded to Members of the European Parliament who expressed concern with the Commission’s consideration of ancillary copyright for press publishers as part of its upcoming copyright harmonization proposal. The so-called “Google tax”would allow press publishers to charge fees to search engines that include snippets of news stories in their search results. Vice President Ansip indicated that the Commission is undecided on whether to include the provision:

it is the intention of the Commission to assess whether the benefits of the online use of copyright protected works is fairly shared. The Commission continues dialogue in a transparent way with all stakeholders, including press publishers and news aggregators. Let me stress that no decisions have been taken yet in this context. We will in particular consider the results of the public consultation on platforms and online intermediaries. The Commission is closely following the discussions in the European Parliament concerning the copyright modernisation, including on the so-called ancillary right for press publishers, and will take them into account in our current work.

[Full Letter (PDF)]

At the national level, Germany and Spain have included ancillary copyright for press publishers in their laws, which could become models for a regional rule.  As reported by EurActiv, “EU Digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger told MEPs last July that he is “open to” an EU ancillary copyright law and would prefer a version closer to the Spanish model.