26. 11. 2012

ANEM OFFICIAL LETTER ON PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW ON COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS

Following its Statement released on November 23, 2012, in which it insisted on a public discussion on amendments to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights and the withdrawal of the proposed Law from the parliamentary procedure, ANEM sent an official letter today to all parliamentary groups in the Serbian Parliament, Culture and Information Committee, Committee for Education, Science, Technological Development and Information Society, as well as the competent Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development that prepared the draft of the said law.

In its letter, ANEM urged the members of the Parliament not to vote for proposed Law on Amendments to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights and requested from the Culture and Information Committee, as well as Committee for Education, Science, Technological Development and Information Society, to recommend to the Parliament not to adopt the proposed Law. ANEM also suggested to the competent Ministry the withdrawal of the proposed Law from the parliamentary procedure and facilitation of a public discussion and consultation with all stakeholders. ANEM emphasized that the proposed Law had not been put on public discussion and that it did not include some of its suggestions for amending the existing law, which ANEM submitted to the relevant Ministry back in July of this year and which were regarded as essential for achieving improvements in this area. The suggestions referred to the rules for determining the tariff under Article 170 of the existing Law on Copyright and Related Rights. Citing its concrete suggestions, ANEM pointed that the practice had shown that the existing rules for determining the tariff were unfavorable for broadcasters to the extent that they risked their existence. For that reason, these amendments should have been put to public discussion and included in this proposed Law, given that broadcasters are among the most important users of copyright works and objects of related rights.

In case the Parliament still decides to pass this proposed Law, ANEM will take other legal measures to protect the interests of its members and other broadcasters.

See ANEM letter addressed to the Parliament’s Culture and Information Committee here.