It is interesting to read that the Netherlands Government has passed a law which obliges publishers to have a Green Open Access route available to authors of “short works of science” whose research has been even partly funded by public money. Authors now have the right to publish in an open access repository “after a reasonable time”. Presumably “short works of science” will cover articles in scholarly journal across all disciplines (“Science” in the broader European sense rather than the narrower English meaning). See for example: Kluwer Copyright Blog

The new Dutch measure is very similar to Article 38(4) of the German Copyright Act which specifies a period of 12 months before publishers are required to allow re-publication in an OA repository. Would a UK equivalent assist the Open Access publishing movement in this country or do the relevant publishers generally provide an Green OA route?