UCMR-ADA Hosts Annual Legal Committee Meeting in Bucharest
Legal experts from around the world gathered in Bucharest, Romania on 21-22 June for the annual Legal Committee (CJL) meeting. Hosted by the Romanian Composers Society (UCMR-ADA), the event unites the committee in charge of providing expertise on authors' rights/copyright issues for member societies. The CJL serves as a forum for CISAC member societies to share information and developments as well as legislative updates on copyright and collective management.
This meeting saw the re-election of ARTISJUS Outside Counsel Gabor Faludi as CJL Chair and LIRA Legal Counsel Marije Van der Jagt as Vice Chair.
The hosting society UCMR-ADA’s Alexandru Roata-Palade opened the meeting and brought everyone up to speed on the Romanian collective management system, how collective management organisations (CMOs) are formed, the Romanian government authority’s control of this activity, tariffs and rights. Current issues were also raised, such as the Globus Circus Case on the use of musical works within shows and the Theaters Case on revenues obtained through the sale of tickets.
CISAC’s Secretariat took the time to summarise numerous impactful legal activities, including lobbying WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright (SCCR); EU consultations; local-level monitoring and lobbying efforts to support its members; and the visual artist's resale right, safe harbour and Transfer of Value campaigns. The Secretariat also detailed successes in increasing cooperation with pivotal international organisations, including UNESCO, the International Organisation of Francophonie (OIF) and WIPO.
High priority agenda items also included an analysis of the ECJ Reprobel decision on private copying delivered by SACEM Legal Department Director Caroline Bonin. Additionally, the CJL Chairman Gabor Faludi gave a very thorough overview of European Court of Justice (ECJ) developments on the interpretation of the “communication to the public right”. The presentation on the introduction of an Extended Collective License in Switzerland followed, presented by SUISA Vice-President in Charge of Users and Licensing Vincent Salvade.
The meeting also gave Legal Committee members an opportunity to discuss the setting-up of a CISAC award for academic research, as well as of the publication of a practical guide for CISAC member societies, and in particular those outside of the EU, which aims at explaining the main principles set up by the EU “CRM Directive” in regards to collective management in terms of governance, transparency and licensing. At the kind invitation of ZAiKS, the next CJL meeting will be held in Poland.