C4C is proud to welcome two new signatories, putting the total number of declaration supporters at 39 – representing hundreds of organisations worldwide. In April, the Flemish Partnership Copyright & Society (SA&S – Samenwerkingsverband Auteursrecht en Samenleving) and OpenForum Europe (OFE) signed on to our mission of sensible copyright policy in service of creativity, innovation, education, competitiveness and access to culture.

Flemish cultural, scientific and educational organisations and their users are concerned about the imbalance and gaps in the actual copyright legislation. They urgently appeal to all stakeholders to keep information accessible and available for everybody. They strive for a ‘balanced copyright’ which guarantees the balance of interest between users and copyright holders. To achieve this goal they joined forces in the Partnership for Copyright & Society (SA&S), a partnership of Flemish organisations in the field of culture, heritage, education and science.

OFE is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, supported by major IT suppliers, as well as SMEs, user and consumer organisations, and national partners across Europe. It maintains a vision to facilitate ‘open, competitive choice for IT users’, as a means of achieving full openness and interoperability of computer systems throughout Europe. Maël Brunet, Director, European Policy & Government Relations, considers that “copyright law needs to be adapted to the digital age to ensure that it maximises Europe’s creativity, innovation, access to information and culture, and competitiveness” and believes that “C4C can encourage constructive policy debates for a progressive copyright reform”.

C4C welcomes its new signatories and looks forward to a strong collaboration at the national and European level. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Caroline De Cock, Coordinator of the C4C Coalition, at +32 (474) 840515, or Mr Jan Braeckman, Managing Director at Bibnet (SA&S), at jan.braeckman@bibnet.be and Ms Diana Cocoru, Senior Policy Analyst at OFE, at diana@openforumeurope.org.