Many media outlets are reporting that French lawmakers have given final approval to a law which forces companies to open up their digital rights management.

“Any artist’s work that is legally acquired should be playable on any digital device,” Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres told lawmakers before the vote.

Since the law was first announced in March this year, it has been through many amendments with a softened version of the law being passed.

A new regulatory authority will have the power to order companies to license their exclusive file formats to rivals on request — but only if the compatibility restrictions they impose are “additional to, or independent of, those explicitly decided by the copyright holders.”

This means that Apple could avoid opening up its FairPlay DRM system, providing they receive permission from the original artist.