The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations (CEATL) and the European Writers’ Council (EWC) in expressing strong opposition to the third Draft of the EU’s Code of Practice for the AI Act’s implementation.
On 21 March 2025, the three organisations representing European journalists, translators and writers sent a joint letter to Henna Virkkunen (Executive Vice-president of the European Commission for technological sovereignty, security and democracy) and the EU AI Board to denounce the Code’s orientation, considered as ‘simplified’, ‘toxic’ and ‘industry-friendly’. This letter follows on from another sent last February already criticising the second draft.
The AI Act Codes of Practice is a set of guidelines for compliance with the AI Act. Though they are not legally binding, compliance with these guidelines will serve as a ‘presumption of conformity’ with model provider obligations until more robust standards come into effect.
Regretfully the third draft of the Code of Practice continues to ignore the substantial feedback of the authors, as the original rightsholders, despite our active and argumentative involvement in the increasingly hectic and still non-transparent consultation process. As to the requirements of transparency and copyright enforcement measures laid down in the AI Act and the related Directives on copyright, the third draft is toxic in its entirety – not only for authors in the text sector, but for the entire cultural and creative sources, the authors, artists, and performers, and their publishing or producing partners.
Read the full letter here: https://europeanjournalists.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/EWC-CEATL-EFJ-Joint-Letter-on-3rd_-CoP-draft_25-03-21_fin-1.pdf
Source: EFJ
