Joint statement dated 24 January 2022
CESAER, COAR and LIBER welcome the strong focus of the European Commission towards a Europe fit for the digital age as part of its priorities from 2019 to 2024.
We are convinced that the importance of research and education needs a strong focus within these initiatives and call upon the EU institutions to (i) acknowledge the unique position of universities and other research performing organisations in the provision of digital services and infrastructure directed towards the common good and (ii) provide for an overarching legal framework excluding university and research related repositories and corresponding infrastructures from market-oriented EU legislation, in order to prevent any unintended collateral damage from current and future EU legislation aimed at commercial players.
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We call on the EU institutions to engage closely with associations representing universities and other research performing organisations, libraries, public repositories and infrastructures and the broader knowledge sector to:
- Immediately mitigate collateral damage of current market-driven legislative proposals and initiatives on the research and education sectors;
- In the longer-term, develop a legally binding framework, such as a ‘European Digital Knowledge Act’, which reflects the unique context of the public research an education sectors and protects the objectives of scientific knowledge and technology generation, sharing and preservation.
