Emma McClarkin MEP welcomes vote on photography freedoms

East Midlands Conservative MEP Emma McClarkin has welcomed yesterday’s vote in the European Parliament, when MEPs overwhelmingly voted to keep ‘Freedom of Panorama’ – the right to freely take photos of public buildings and landmarks without needing permission.

Campaigners – from photographers to websites such as Wikipedia – had raised fears that the proposals would have banned people from taking and using photos of famous landmarks such as the London Eye or Lincoln Cathedral, without getting specific permission from the architect.

Wikipedia said that it may have been forced to remove approximately 40,000 photos from the site, if the rule change had passed.

The proposal, tabled by French MEP Jean-Marie Cavada, was backed by only 40 of the 751 MEPs, with the result that the controversial clause was removed from the report.

Miss McClarkin said:

“Numerous constituents have contacted me about this ridiculous proposal, which I was very pleased to see was rejected by a large margin. It was a case of a French MEP wanting to impose their restrictive photography laws on the rest of the EU, and the rest of the EU quite rightly said ‘non!’

“The EU should not be dictating how member states manage their photographic freedoms, and I’m very glad that we have protected the rights of people to share their photos and videos.”