27. 01. 2012

ANEM PROTESTS OVER THE RULING OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT REJECTING ANEM's COMPLAINT AGAINST THE COMMISSION FOR COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS

Belgrade, January 27, 2012 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) hereby protests over the ruling by the Administrative Court of Serbia rejecting ANEM's complaint against the Commission for Copyright and Related Rights, in which ANEM requested from the Court to review and revoke the Opinion of the Commission based on which the new Tariff of SOKOJ's fees, which is extremely unfavorable for electronic media, came into force.

ANEM reminds that it has participated in the negotiations with SOKOJ, as the representative broadcasters' association. These negotiations were expected to result in an agreement about the Tariff. Since the negotiations were not successful, which is solely SOKOJ's fault in ANEM's opinion, SOKOJ addressed the Commission, proposing the issuance of a positive opinion about its Tariff Proposal. After having considered ANEM's objections, the Commission refused to support the first SOKOJ's Tariff Proposal and ordered renewing negotiations. After the failure of the renewed negotiations, SOKOJ tabled a new Tariff Proposal to the Commission, which remains utterly unfavorable for broadcasters and also, ANEM believes, in disagreement with the Law. The Commission decided to reject ANEM's arguments and passed an Opinion supporting new SOKOJ's Tariff Proposal.

After ANEM had requested court protection in trying to prove that the Commission's Opinion on new SOKOJ's Tariff Proposal was not based on the Law, the Chamber of the Administrative Court of Serbia, consisting of judges Jadranka Injac, Biljana Tamburkovski Bakovic and Jelena Tisma Jovanovic decided to deny such protection and reject ANEM's complaint as precluded, for reasons ANEM deems to be unacceptable.

In that way, radio and TV broadcasters in Serbia were denied protection from an utterly non-transparent and arbitrary procedure, in which ANEM was not even furnished SOKOJ's last Tariff Proposal. ANEM hence did not even have the opportunity to pronounce itself on the said proposal. On the other hand, in this procedure, the Commission failed to consider whether the Tariff was aligned with legal regulations, but instead opted to believe SOKOJ's unsupported claim that the Tariff had been passed in accordance with the standards that were explained to be "mainly generally recognized internationally and based on the principles and recommendations of the World Intellectual Property Organization and CISAC". These "generally recognized international standards" are now threatening to endanger the survival of particularly smaller and economically vulnerable local media, since the new Tariff involves a multiple increase of the minimum fee they are paying.

ANEM may not accept the decision of the Administrative Court to disallow the revision of the SOKOJ's Tariff in court proceedings and shall continue to seek for a solution that will bring about the revoking thereof and a situation in which Serbia will be ruled by Law and not by "mainly generally recognized standards", which were left unsubstantiated or undocumented and which typically lead to the suppressing the weakest and most vulnerable in the media community.

Sasa Mirkovic, ANEM President