5.4.3. Copyrighted elements used in a publication (full revision)

Elements belonging to the European Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies

The copyright of the elements created by European Union staff members is owned by the European Union or the respective body with legal personality (see Article 18 of the Staff Regulations). The same goes for elements procured via a standard contract. In these cases, the copyright notice covers the whole publication, as the copyright in both the text and the additional elements is held by the European Union.

It is recommended, however, that the copyright notice provide information on the specific elements present in the publication. The following wordings may be used:

Elements belonging to third parties

It is crucial to identify, clear the rights in and credit elements whose copyright is owned by third parties (including those from a stock image bank) when they are used in European Union publications.

For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not under the copyright of the European Union or the respective body with legal personality, permission must be sought from the respective copyright holder for each element, save where an exception or limitation to copyright applies (such as the exception for quotation). Those elements must be credited in the copyright notice. Unless the permission obtained or the licence granted by the copyright holder imposes a particular way of crediting, the following wording can be used:

Although it is advisable to mention all third-party elements individually, if this is technically impractical, and provided that all such elements have been marked throughout the publication, the following general clause can be used in the copyright notice:

Creative Commons licences covering third-party elements

Third-party elements licensed under Creative Commons licences, or that have been dedicated to the public domain, may be used in European Union publications. When using these elements, it is essential to comply with the conditions imposed by the various Creative Commons licences.

As indicated in Section 5.4.2, the Commission and the Court of Auditors have opted for CC BY 4.0 for publishing their own works.

Image and personality rights and other rights

The use of an image in which identifiable people appear may require the clearance of privacy or other similar personality rights. These are distinct from and should not be confused with copyright or other intellectual property rights. This means that, irrespective of the copyright ownership of an image (European Union or a third party), it is necessary to confirm that the individual(s) depicted in it gave their authorisation for each intended use of their image. For example, Creative Commons licences, being copyright licences, do not include privacy or personality rights among the rights granted.

Furthermore, in some countries, it may be necessary to seek additional permission to use the image of a work of art (e.g. a painting, a sculpture or an original building).