Implementing the database directive

On 11 March 1996, almost six years after the first proposal was presented to the Council , the European Database Directive was finally adopted. The Directive has created a unique two-tier protection scheme of electronic and non-electronic databases. Member States are to protect databases by copyright as intellectual creations. More importantly, the Directive provides for a novel sui generis right to prevent unauthorized extraction or reutilization of the contents of a database. Member States were to implement the provisions of the Directive by 1 January 1998. Only a handful states have met this deadline. In many states implementation bills are still pending in national parliaments; in some countries no legislative activities have occurred at all. In the first part of this article (§§ 2-3) the main provisions of the Directive will be critically reviewed. The second part (§ 4) comprises a status report on the implementation of the Directive in the Member States.