L 167/10 Official Journal of the European Communities 22.6.2001 DIRECTIVE 2001/29/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 47(2), 55 and 95 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (%), Whereas: (1) The Treaty provides for the establishment of an internal market and the institution of a system ensuring that competition in the internal market is not distorted. Harmonisation of the laws of the Member States on copyright and related rights contributes to the achieve- ment of these objectives. (2)  The European Council, meeting at Corfu on 24 and 25 June 1994, stressed the need to create a general and flexible legal framework at Community level in order to foster the development of the information society in Europe. This requires, inter alia, the existence of an internal market for new products and services. Impor- tant Community legislation to ensure such a regulatory framework is already in place or its adoption is well under way. Copyright and related rights play an impor- tant role in this context as they protect and stimulate the development and marketing of new products and services and the creation and exploitation of their crea- tive content. (3)  The proposed harmonisation will help to implement the four freedoms of the internal market and relates to compliance with the fundamental principles of law and especially of property, including intellectual property, and freedom of expression and the public interest. (4) A harmonised legal framework on copyright and related rights, through increased legal certainty and while providing for a high level of protection of intellectual property, will foster substantial investment in creativity and innovation, including network infrastructure, and lead in turn to growth and increased competitiveness of () O] C 108, 7.4.1998, p. 6 and OJ C 180, 25.6.1999, p. 6. () O] C 407, 28.12.1998, p. 30. (’) Opinion of the European Parliament of 10 February 1999 (O] C 150, 28.5.1999, p. 171), Council Common Position of 28 September 2000 (O] C 344, 1.12.2000, p. 1) and Decision of the European Parliament of 14 February 2001 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Council Decision of 9 April 2001. European industry, both in the area of content provision and information technology and more generally across a wide range of industrial and cultural sectors. This will safeguard employment and encourage new job creation. Technological development has multiplied and diversi- fied the vectors for creation, production and exploita- tion. While no new concepts for the protection of intel- lectual property are needed, the current law on copy- right and related rights should be adapted and supple- mented to respond adequately to economic realities such as new forms of exploitation. Without harmonisation at Community level, legislative activities at national level which have already been initiated in a number of Member States in order to respond to the technological challenges might result in significant differences in protection and thereby in restrictions on the free movement of services and prod- ucts incorporating, or based on, intellectual property, leading to a refragmentation of the internal market and legislative inconsistency. The impact of such legislative differences and uncertainties will become more signifi- cant with the further development of the information society, which has already greatly increased transborder exploitation of intellectual property. This development will and should further increase. Significant legal differ- ences and uncertainties in protection may hinder econo- mies of scale for new products and services containing copyright and related rights. The Community legal framework for the protection of copyright and related rights must, therefore, also be adapted and supplemented as far as is necessary for the smooth functioning of the internal market. To that end, those national provisions on copyright and related rights which vary considerably from one Member State to another or which cause legal uncertainties hindering the smooth functioning of the internal market and the proper development of the information society in Europe should be adjusted, and inconsistent national responses to the technological developments should be avoided, whilst differences not adversely affecting the functioning of the internal market need not be removed or prevented. The various social, societal and cultural implications of the information society require that account be taken of the specific features of the content of products and services.