The Culture Ministry has placed on the agenda of Friday's government meeting the draft emergency ordinance that will align national legislation on copyright and related rights with European norms and practices by removing extended collective management (ECM) for the public communication of musical works.
According to a Ministry of Culture release sent to AGERPRES on Friday, the measure puts the author's and rights holders' wishes first, as the fundamental principle for exercising exclusive rights, and opens the market to a modern competitive environment fully in line with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and with the practices of the member states.
'In the European music industry individual licensing is standard practice and authors must be able to choose freely between individual management, whether directly or through agents, collective management organisations and independent management entities. Removing ECM encourages fair competition and efficiency in the market. The appearance and operation of entities such as Soundreef in Ireland or Jamendo S.A. in Luxembourg offer genuine licensing alternatives while also encouraging an improvement in the quality of services provided by collective management organisations,' the ministry says.
Authors who feel that individual solutions or those offered by independent management entities do not meet their needs may mandate a collective management organisation at any time, which leads to an increase in the association's membership.
The drop in collected remuneration mentioned by collective management organisations in the public arena concerns their own administrative commission rather than authors' actual income, who continue to receive payments according to their freely expressed choice, whether individual management or independent management entities. Foreign authors' rights remain protected through reciprocal representation agreements between Romanian and foreign organisations, including when certain rights are managed collectively on a voluntary basis.
To simplify the authorisation procedure and increase transparency in the collection and distribution activities of collective management organisations, the Ministry of Culture supports establishing a single methodology and creating a joint collection body for the public communication of works for ambient purposes.
At present there are several joint collectors and four methodologies with similar content but different licensing procedures and distinct categories and subcategories, which over time have generated bureaucracy, inconsistencies and a payer base below potential, the Ministry of Culture also reports.
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