Recommendation from the European Commission on collective cross-border management of copyright and related rights for legitimate online music servives (2005/737/EC)

In October 2005, The European Commission adopted the recommendation on collective cross-border management of copyright and related rights for legitimate online music services.
=> Download PDF file ...

The recommendation is currently studied by the European Parliament. The possibility for the European Commission to propose a more legale binding text remains open.

The document was the result of the following previous documents:

On 16 April 2004, the Commission adopted a Communication on the Management of Copyright and Related Rights in the Internal Market.
=> Download PDF file ...

In this document, the Commission first describes the field of collective management of rights within the European Union.

The Commission stresses the need for Community-wide licensing and considers that this can be reached essentially through the establishment of common ground on the rules of operation of collecting societies. These rules would apply to good governance principles, relations with users and rightholders and supervision by public authorities.

The following conclusions to the Communication can be quoted:

"In order to achieve a genuine Internal Market for both the off-line and on-line exploitation of intellectual property, more common ground on several features of collective management is required. This would safeguard its functioning throughout the Community and permit it to continue to represent a valuable option for the management of rights benefiting for rightholders and users alike. Achieving more common ground on collective management should be guided by copyright principles and the needs of the Internal Market. It should result in more efficiency and transparency and a level playing field on certain features of collective management. Abstaining from any legislative action does not seem to be an option anymore.
To rely on soft law, such as codes of conduct agreed upon by the market place appears to be no appropriate option. The conclusions of the consultation process have confirmed the need for complementary action on those aspects of collective management which affect cross-border trade and have been identified as impeding the full potential of the internal market. (...)
In order to achieve the objectives outlined in this communication, the Commission intends to propose a legislative instrument on certain aspects of collective management and good governance of the collecting societies..."

The Commission has given interested circles the opportunity to submit their additional comments on Chapter III of the Communication. This chapter deals with collective rights management in particular.

AEPO and ARTIS addressed a joint statement of position to the Commission.
=> Download PDF file ...

Other stakeholders and organisations have submitted contributions which can be found on the website of the European Union.
=> Web page