img. Portal overview from the EUIPO specifications.

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is developing a portal to record and display information on out of commerce works. The development of this portal is part of the requirements in the Copyright Directive, which creates a solution for the making available online of out of commerce works. The registration of these works in the portal will be necessary before they can be disseminated under this scheme.

Through the portal, CHIs will be able to create, modify, update, delete and search records with information on out of commerce works, access the portal statistics and logs, and enrol in system alerts. Rights holders will be able to notify CHIs if they request an opt-out.

Several cultural heritage professionals and members from the publishing and collective management sector have been engaging with the EUIPO to provide feedback throughout the development of the platform. The project has now entered the IT development phase, with the purpose of launching the portal by 7 June 2021.

Some more background information on the portal specifications is available here.

Any feedback to the EUIPO can be provided via outofcommerceworks@euipo.europa.eu.