In 2025 the Europeana Initiative published an updated Public Domain Charter (first released in 2010) that reaffirms the public domain’s central role in education, creativity, research and cultural memory. The Charter sets out core principles and recommended actions to keep public-domain materials freely accessible and reusable in the digital age.
Key principles
- Copyright is temporary: works enter the public domain after the protection period ends and should then be free for all to use.
- The public domain is permanent: digitisation or reproduction must not create new exclusive rights over public-domain works.
- Free access is essential: users should be able to copy, reuse and adapt public-domain materials without facing false copyright claims or technical/contractual barriers.
- Cultural institutions as stewards: museums, libraries and archives must preserve, accurately mark and make public-domain materials available with high-quality, reusable reproductions and metadata.
Challenges and calls to action
The Charter warns against copyright extensions, restrictive contracts, and technological measures that limit reuse. It calls for coordinated sectoral action to: oppose expansions of copyright scope or duration; prevent re-establishing exclusive control over public-domain materials; avoid contractual restrictions tied to digitisation funding; and ensure sustainable preservation and open metadata.
About Europeana
Funded by the European Union, the Europeana Initiative stewards the common European data space for cultural heritage, supporting institutions to digitise, share and enable lawful reuse of cultural materials.
Learn more
Read the full Europeana Public Domain Charter (2025) on Europeana’s website:
https://pro.europeana.eu/post/the-europeana-public-domain-charter