The RightsWatch Project, a research project funded under the European Commission's Information Society Technology programme, produced a white paper on notice and take-down of websites.

During a 2 year project RightsWatch tried to develop consensus between providers, right holders and internet users about self-regulatory notice and takedown (NTD) procedures. The attempts miserably failed, since self-regulation requires at least some willingness to achieve consensus. While right holders insisted on immediate take-down after any (unsubstantiated) complaint, internet users objected against private censorship by internet providers and internet providers dreaded their position in the middle. European commission and parliament refused to solve this problem in the directive on electronic commerce (2000/31/EC), leaving it up to market forces to guarantee freedom of speech online, in stead of referring these complex issues to independent courts.

White Paper (October 2003)
http://www.rightswatch.com