CISAC notes progress, seeks public performance and private copying improvements at Office of the Prime Minister of Serbia meeting
A CISAC delegation was met with officials at the Serbian Office of the Prime Minister on April 3rd, discussing the legal environment for public performance and private copying.
Serbia has a strong collective management history. CISAC member SOKOJ has progressed significantly in the recent years despite a challenging economic environment and enforcement concerns. SOKOJ’s progress led to Belgrade being chosen as the host city for the 2018 European Committee.
CISAC Director General Gadi Oron, CISAC Board Vice-Chair Javier Gutierrez, European Committee President José Jorge Letria, Regional Director Mitko Chatalbashev, and SOKOJ Director General Aleksandar Kovacevic and Board Member Prof Hoffman met with Advisor to the Prime Minister for Digital and Creative Industries, Film and Tourism Ana Ilic and Director of the Team for IT and Entrepreneurship Nenad Paunović.
CISAC praised the progress that the Serbian government has made on intellectual property protections, particularly as the country seeks to join the European Union. The confederation also pointed out areas needing improvement. First, a small number of user categories are excluded from copyright payments for the public performance of works within their premises. This is inconsistent with international law. Second, the private copying system needs to be updated to take into account the new digital realities where the act of reproduction is done primarily via digital devices and include them in the list of levied devices.
