Ljubljana - Parliament modernised copyright legislation on Thursday, adopting changes to the copyright and related rights act and to the act on collective management of these rights in line with EU directives whose transposition deadline has already expired. MPs agreed the novelties are a change for the better, although some want to see further improvements.

Economic Development and Technology Minister Matjaž Han told parliament that these were complex pieces of legislation, as strongly opposing opinions and interests existed in the field.

They transpose the EU directive on cross-border online transmissions by broadcasters and the directive on copyrights in the digital single market, adopted in 2019 to modernise the EU's system of copyrights in the digital era.

Elaborating on the content, Han highlighted the promotion of cross-border transfer of online services through easier rights regulation for new ancillary online services, as broadcasting organisations will be able to regulate them in one member state for the whole of the EU.

Further, the copyright and related rights directive allows authors to be compensated for some of the most widespread forms of use of their works online, the transfer of rights notwithstanding.

Han said the changes will benefit performers such as film actors, who have been losing out so far, as they will be on an equal footing with musical performers, who are already compensated for their work.

The minister moreover spoke of better licensing and wider access to content, as well as of new rights for publishers of media content, as a newspaper will for instance be paid when its article is published on the website of a news aggregation service provider.

Han also mentioned new ways of using copyrighted works, including without the author's permission and without royalties, for instance for scientific research purposes, which, he said, would contribute to the development of data analytics and artificial intelligence.

All parties bar the opposition Democrats (SDS) backed the changes in a 56:0 vote. The SDS's MPs abstained with the announcement they would monitor the follow-up changes announced by the ministry.

Economy Ministry State Secretary Dejan Židan announced that a special strategy should be adopted for this field, which he said was vital for both authors and the Slovenian language and culture.