25. 11. 2010

Report on ANEM PRESS CONFERENCE

Why the Commission for Copyright and Related Rights has not yet been established?

Advocating for the improvement of broadcasters' position on the media scene, ANEM has organized, as a part of its advocacy activities, the press conference dedicated to the issue of (non)constitution of the Commission for Copyright and Related Rights, on November 25, 2010 at the Belgrade Media Centre. The ill-effects of the failure of the Government to appoint members of the said Commission, in spite of its legal obligation to do so no later than May 2010, were the main topic discussed at this event.  Namely, the new Law on Copyright and Related Rights, which came into force on December 24, 2009, stipulates the establishment of the Commission as a professional body authorized for giving opinions on the tariffs' proposals of the collective organizations for copyright and related rights, in cases when negotiations between the organizations and the representative associations of the users of objects of their protection do not result in a written agreement on tariffs. Since the negotiations were finished long ago in accordance with the new Law, and the agreements with many users, broadcasters being among them, have not yet been reached, the entire process of determining the tariffs has been blocked, because the Government has not yet formed the Commission. Due to that, after almost a year since it came into force, the Law could not be implemented fully, causing negative consequences for both the broadcasters and collective organizations. By organizing this conference, ANEM wanted to send the public request to the Serbian Government once more, this time together with other conference participants, to fulfill its legal obligation and appoint without further delay the Commission's members, thus enabling unhindered implementation of the Law. The conference speakers were: Slobodan Kremenjak, ANEM legal department; Sasa Mirkovic, ANEM President; Petar Djuric, Director of OFPS (Organization of Serbian Phonogram Producers); Aleksandar Kovacevic, Director of SOKOJ (Organization of Serbian Music Authors) and Zivorad Ajdacic, Chairman of the PI Managing Board (Organization for Collective Administration of Performing Rights).

Sasa Mirkovic, ANEM President, explained in his introduction the importance of this conference for Serbian broadcasters, who had expected the new Law to bring improvements and order into the field of charging the collective organizations' tariffs, which has not been realized yet due to the non-appointment of the Commission. However, it was not expected that the Government would be the one not to respect the Law and deadlines. Mirkovic stressed that in the procedure of determining the tariffs by the new Law, ANEM had been recognized as the representative association of broadcasters, as one of the users and that negotiations with neither SOKOJ, nor OFPS and PI, had resulted in the agreement, and as the Commission had not been appointed yet, it was impossible to definitely determine new tariffs. Consequently today, after almost a year after this Law came into force, the old tariffs are being applied, the same tariffs that were brought by the organizations independently in accordance with the old Law and which were the point for contention between broadcasters and the collective organizations. He reminded that ANEM had requested from the Government, on August 12, 2010, to appoint the members of the Commission without further delay, which the Government had not done till present. One of the reasons for passing the new Law was the users' dissatisfaction with the arbitrary of the procedure of the tariffs' determining, which should have solved the problem, and since its implementation has been blocked, the problem still remains unsolved in practice. That is why we request from the Government to fulfill its obligation without delay and appoint the Commission for Copyright and Related Rights, said Mirkovic.

Slobodan Kremenjak, ANEM lawyer, spoke about the role of the Commission for Copyright and Related Rights, why it is important both for the collective organizations and the users of objects of their protection and what the consequences of its non-appointment are. The Law stipulates that, if the collective organizations and broadcasters do not reach the agreement on the tariffs, the proposals on the tariffs are determined by the Managing Boards of the collective organizations and submitted for the opinion to the Commission, which estimates whether the tariff has been brought in accordance with the rules stipulated by the Law. If its opinion is positive, the tariff becomes valid after its publishing in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, and if not, the negotiations are repeated. Kremenjak stressed that the way the Commission would bring the decision for the first time was especially important, because such decision would be a model for further negotiations and would make them easier. He said that both collective organizations and ANEM, as the representative association of broadcasters as users, had fulfilled their obligations stipulated by the new Law. Besides, according to the available information, the Intellectual Property Office has submitted its proposal on the Commission's members to the Government by the envisaged date, while the Government is the one that is prolonging the process of the Commission's forming.

Petar Djuric, Director of the collective organization OFPS, said that the current situation was absurd, as all parties were suffering damages. Everybody is waiting for a new tariff, and the process is blocked by the Government's failure to appoint the Commission. OFPS is not able to help out broadcasters as before, bearing in mind the economic crisis, since it is now required to define all with the unique tariff with PI, which, due to this situation, has not yet been finally determined. He pointed out that OFPS, together with PI, had fulfilled all its legal obligations, but that it had not reached agreements with many users, including broadcasters, and that therefore it was very important that the Commission be established as soon as possible. He expressed concern that the prolongation of this situation would affect the business of both broadcasters and organizations that ought to plan ahead their income as well as their expenses, which was made impossible due to this obstruction. He joined the request to the Government to immediately appoint the Commission.

Aleksandar Kovacevic, director of SOKOJ, stated that the absence of the Commission created unnecessary legal vacuum and inflicted damage to authors of music, because the collection rate was decreasing, while the debts kept rising. He stressed that SOKOJ was committed to implementing the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, which had clearly defined the parameters by which the tariff should be determined, and that the current situation, where no one knew how high should be the tariff in accordance with those parameters, was not suitable for the users or owners of musical works. He warned that particular attention should be paid to the composition and structure of the Commission, which should have relevant experts as members, not representatives of organizations or broadcasters. He stressed that, should any representative of the Public service broadcaster or any other user be elected as member to the Commission, SOKOJ would strongly oppose that decision and challenge the credibility of such a Commission.

Zivorad Ajdacic, Chairman of the PI Managing Board, considered that this press conference should have been a big boost to resolving the issue of tariff collection, which was also a part of requirements in Serbia's meeting the international obligations in respect of intellectual property. He said that the collective organization PI had sent a week ago the request to the Government, Ministry of Science and the Intellectual Property Office, to promptly pass a decision on the appointment of the Commission, which should fulfill its obligations so that the collective organizations could operate in accordance with the Law. He also agreed that the Commission should not include persons in its membership who are representatives of users or organizations, but only qualified persons.

All participants of the conference, ANEM, SOKOJ, OFPS and PI, sent a joint public request to the Government to immediately appoint the Commission for Copyright and Related Rights, and thus ensure the unhindered application of the Law, and to elect competent professionals as members to this body, who do not have interest in any of collective organizations, users or their associations. Representatives of attending organizations have agreed to release the joint statement with the same request, in order to further influence the Government to fulfill its legal obligation and thus prevent further damage to both users and the collective organization.