Performers’ rights in the European directives :

At the end of the 80's, the European Union started intense legislative work in the domain of intellectual property.

In the name of the economic principles enshrined in the Treaty of the European Union and principally in order to establish a “single market” between Member States of the Union, the European Commission undertook an immense harmonisation work with regard to the protection of intellectual property.

This purely economic approach of the European Commission towards  intellectual property is not always satisfactory for the rightholders as regards principles. It constitutes, nevertheless, a remarkable initiative in this domain and has substantially increased the level of protection of performers' rights in the, at the time, 15 Member States of the European Union and now 25.

In this connection, five directives must be presented:

1. Directive 92/100 of 19 November 1992 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property (the rental and lending directive)
2. Directive 93/98 of 29 October 1993 harmonising the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights
3. Directive 93/83 of 27 September 1993 on the coordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission (the cable and satellite directive)
4. Directive 2001/29 of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights  in the information society, (the information society directive or the copyright directive)
> Conclusion: an incomplete protection
5. Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the enforcement of intellectual property right