S T A T U T O R Y  I N S T R U M E N T S  
2014 No. 898 
COPYRIGHT 
The Copyright (Regulation of Relevant Licensing Bod ies) 
Regulations 2014 
Made  - - - - 1st April 2014 
Coming into force  - - 6th April 2014 
A draft of the Regulations has been laid before and  approved by each House of Parliament under 
paragraph 7(4) of Schedule A1 to the Copyright, Des igns and Patents Act 1988( a). 
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers c onferred by section 116(5) of and paragraphs 1 
to 7 of Schedule A1 to that Act, makes the followin g Regulations: 
PART 1 
Preliminary 
Citation and commencement 
1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Copyright (R egulation of Relevant Licensing Bodies) 
Regulations 2014 and shall come into force on 6th A pril 2014. 
Interpretation 
2.  In these Regulations— 
“the Act” means the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; 
“code of practice” includes any part of a code of p ractice; 
“code reviewer” means a person who has been appoint ed by the Secretary of State under 
regulation 6; 
“Comptroller” shall have the same meaning as in the  Patents and Designs Act 1907( b); 
“Extended Collective Licensing Scheme” means a coll ective licensing scheme under which a 
relevant licensing body which is authorised by the Secretary of State may grant licences in 
respect of— 
(a)  copyright works in which copyright is owned by non- member right holders; or 
(b)  performers’ rights where the acts restricted in rel ation to the performance are owned by 
non-member right holders; 
                                                                                                                                            
(a) 1988 c.48 as amended by the Enterprise and Regula tory Reform Act 2013 c.24, s77(4), Schedule 22 Part  1, paragraph 1 
which inserted Schedule A1 into the Act. 
(b) 1907 c.29 section 62(2) as amended by the Trade M arks Act 1994 (c. 26) section 106(1) and Schedule 4  paragraph 2(2)(b).  2 “First-tier Tribunal” means the First-tier Tribunal  established by section 3(1) of the Tribunals, 
Courts and Enforcement Act 2007( a); 
“licensing code ombudsman” means a person who has b een appointed by the Secretary of 
State under regulation 7; 
“micro-business” means a business with fewer than t en employees and which has a turnover 
or balance sheet total of less than 2 million Euros  per annum; 
“non-member right holder” means a right holder who is represented by the relevant licensing 
body under an Extended Collective Licensing Scheme but who is not a member of the relevant 
licensing body and whose rights are not the subject  of an express contractual agreement with 
the relevant licensing body for the licensing of co pyright works or performers’ rights; 
“potential licensee” means any person who has commu nicated with the relevant licensing 
body and expressed an interest in being granted a l icence in respect of a copyright work or a 
performer’s right; 
“relevant licensing body” means any body that is a licensing body within the meaning of 
section 116(2) of the Act and which— 
(a)  is authorised by way of assignment, licence or any other contractual arrangement to 
manage copyright or rights related to copyright on behalf of more than one right holder, 
for the collective benefit of those right holders, as its sole or main purpose; and 
(b)  is either owned or controlled by its members or org anised on a not for profit basis; 
“relevant person” means a director, manager or simi lar officer of a relevant licensing body or, 
where the body’s affairs are managed by its members , a member; 
“right holder” means the owner of the copyright in a copyright work or of a performer’s right 
and includes an exclusive licensee of the copyright  owner; 
“specified criteria” means the criteria set out in the Schedule; 
“transparent” means that, in dealing with any of it s members, licensees or potential licensees, 
the relevant licensing body provides to that member , licensee or potential licensee any 
information it holds which may reasonably be consid ered to be relevant to that particular 
member, licensee or potential licensee; 
“working day” means any day except a Saturday or Su nday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a 
day which is a bank holiday in any part of the Unit ed Kingdom under section 1 of the Banking 
and Financial Dealings Act 1971( b). 
PART 2 
Regulation of relevant licensing bodies 
Notice of non-compliance and direction to adopt a c ode of practice 
3. —(1) If the relevant circumstances are met, the Sec retary of State may direct a relevant 
licensing body to adopt and publish a code of pract ice that complies with the specified criteria. 
(2)  For the purposes of paragraph (1), the relevant cir cumstances are— 
(a)  the relevant licensing body is not a micro-business ; 
(b)  that in the opinion of the Secretary of State the r elevant licensing body either— 
(i)  has no code of practice; or 
(ii)  has a code of practice which does not comply in mat erial respects with the specified 
criteria; and 
                                                                                                                                            
(a) 2007 c.15. 
(b) 1971 c.80.  3 (c)  where sub-paragraph (b)(ii) applies, that the Secre tary of State has notified the relevant 
licensing body that its code of practice does not c omply in material respects with the 
specified criteria and the relevant licensing body has not amended, within the period of 49 
days from the date of the notification, its code of  practice to comply in material respects 
with the specified criteria. 
(3)  In deciding whether or not any code of practice of a relevant licensing body complies in 
material respects with the specified criteria under  paragraph (2)(b)(ii) or regulation 4, the 
Secretary of State may have regard to a report prod uced by a code reviewer. 
(4)  The Secretary of State may request a code reviewer to produce a report in order to assist him 
in making his decision under paragraph (3). 
(5)  A notification under paragraph (2)(c) must be given  by— 
(a)  serving a copy on the relevant licensing body; and 
(b)  publishing the notification in such manner as the S ecretary of State considers appropriate 
for the purpose of bringing the matters to which th e notification relates to the attention of 
persons likely to be affected by them. 
Effect of a direction 
4. —(1) The relevant licensing body must, within 49 da ys of the date on which a direction under 
regulation 3 is made, notify to the Secretary of St ate a code of practice that complies with the 
specified criteria and that it proposes to adopt in  accordance with the direction. 
(2)  Following receipt of a code of practice notified in  accordance with paragraph (1), the 
Secretary of State shall inform the relevant licens ing body in writing that the code of practice 
notified either— 
(a)  meets the specified criteria and is approved by the  Secretary of State; or 
(b)  does not meet the specified criteria and that the S ecretary of State intends to impose a 
code of practice on the relevant licensing body. 
(3)  Once its code of practice has been approved by the Secretary of State and the approval 
notified to the relevant licensing body, the body s hall within 7 days of notification adopt the 
approved code of practice and operate its licensing  activities in accordance with that code of 
practice. 
Imposition of code of practice 
5. —(1) The Secretary of State may impose a code of pr actice if he— 
(a)  is satisfied that the code of practice notified und er regulation 4(1) does not meet the 
specified criteria or that the relevant licensing b ody has failed to adopt an approved code 
of practice in accordance regulation 4(3); 
(b)  gives notice to the relevant licensing body of the code of practice to be imposed upon it; 
and 
(c)  has considered any representations made by the rele vant licensing body in accordance 
with the notice and not withdrawn. 
(2)  The notice must— 
(a)  state the reasons for the proposed refusal of appro val for any code of practice notified by 
the relevant licensing body; 
(b)  contain the code of practice that the Secretary of State proposes to impose on the relevant 
licensing body; and 
(c)  state the period (not less than 14 days starting wi th the date of delivery of the notice) 
within which representations may be made in relatio n to the proposed imposition of the 
code of practice. 
(3)  Where the Secretary of State decides to impose the code of practice contained in the notice, 
the Secretary of State shall notify the relevant li censing body and give it a written statement of  4 reasons for the decision together with the date fro m which the approved code of practice is to have 
effect as the code of practice adopted by the body (the “effective date”). 
(4)  The relevant licensing body shall operate its licen sing activities in accordance with the 
imposed code with effect from the effective date. 
Code reviewer 
6. —(1) The Secretary of State may appoint a suitably qualified person as code reviewer to 
review and report to the Secretary of State, when r equested to do so by the Secretary of State, on 
the codes of practice adopted by the relevant licen sing bodies, including how they relate to the 
specified criteria, and on compliance with the code s of practice. 
(2)  Before making an appointment under paragraph (1) th e Secretary of State shall consult with 
those persons whom the Secretary of State considers  to represent the interests of relevant licensing 
bodies, licensees, the persons on whose behalf a re levant licensing body is authorised to negotiate 
or grant licences and the Comptroller. 
(3)  The code reviewer may serve notice on any relevant licensing body requiring that relevant 
licensing body to provide information, documents or  assistance to the code reviewer for the 
purposes of a review or report and may copy any inf ormation or documents provided in 
accordance with the notice. 
(4)  A relevant licensing body shall provide the code re viewer with any information, documents 
or assistance requested under paragraph (3) within 14 days of receipt of the request. 
(5)  Any reference in this regulation or in regulation 7  to the provision of information or of a 
document includes a reference to the provision of a  legible and intelligible copy of information 
recorded otherwise than in legible form. 
(6)  The Secretary of State may pay the reasonable expen ses and allowances of the code reviewer 
in respect of any work which the Secretary of State  requests the code reviewer to carry out under 
these Regulations. 
Licensing code ombudsman 
7. —(1) The Secretary of State may appoint a suitably qualified person as licensing code 
ombudsman to investigate and determine disputes abo ut a relevant licensing body’s compliance 
with its code of practice. 
(2)  A relevant licensing body, licensee or a person on whose behalf a relevant licensing body is 
authorised to negotiate may refer a dispute about a  relevant licensing body’s compliance with its 
code of practice or other matter to the licensing c ode ombudsman. 
(3)  The licensing code ombudsman may serve notice on an y relevant licensing body requiring it 
to provide to the licensing code ombudsman any info rmation, documents or assistance for the 
purposes of investigating a dispute referred to in paragraph (1) and copy any document or 
information provided in accordance with the notice.  
(4)  A relevant licensing body shall provide the licensi ng code ombudsman with any information, 
documents or assistance requested under paragraph ( 3) within 14 days of receipt of the request. 
(5)  A relevant licensing body shall comply with a deter mination of the licensing code 
ombudsman. 
(6)  The Secretary of State may pay the reasonable expen ses and allowances of the licensing 
code ombudsman in respect of any work which the lic ensing code ombudsman carries out under 
these Regulations. 
Recovery of fees by the Secretary of State 
8. —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary of Sta te may require a relevant licensing body to 
pay to the Secretary of State a fee to reimburse th e Secretary of State the cost of administering the 
operation of these Regulations.  5 (2)  The aggregate amount of fees recovered from the rel evant licensing bodies under paragraph 
(1) must not be more than the cost to the Secretary  of State of administering the operation of these 
Regulations. 
(3)  The relevant licensing body shall pay the fee withi n 24 days of the date on which the 
relevant licensing body is notified of the fee. 
PART 3 
Information and financial penalties 
Secretary of State’s powers to request information 
9. —(1) The Secretary of State may serve notice on any  relevant licensing body requiring it to 
supply to the Secretary of State for any purpose re lated to its licensing activity such information as  
may be specified or described in the notice, and to  supply it at a time and place and in a form and 
manner so specified. 
(2)  A relevant licensing body shall supply the Secretar y of State with information requested 
under paragraph (1) within 14 days of receipt of th e request. 
(3)  The Secretary of State may, for a purpose described  in paragraph (1), copy any document or 
information provided. 
(4)  Any reference in this regulation to the production of a document includes a reference to the 
production of a legible and intelligible copy of in formation recorded otherwise than in legible 
form. 
Financial penalties 
10. —(1) The Secretary of State may impose a financial penalty on a relevant licensing body or a 
relevant person if the Secretary of State is satisf ied that the relevant licensing body has failed to 
comply with its obligations under— 
(a)  regulation 4(3) (adoption of an approved code of pr actice), 5(4) (compliance with an 
imposed code of practice) or 7(5) (compliance with determination of the licensing code 
ombudsman); or 
(b)  regulation 4(1) (notification of code of practice),  6(4) (supply of information to code 
reviewer), 7(4) (supply of information to licensing  code ombudsman) or 9(2) (supply of 
information in accordance with a requirement impose d by the Secretary of State). 
(2)  Any financial penalty imposed under paragraph (1)(a ) shall not exceed £50,000. 
(3)  Any financial penalty imposed under paragraphs (1)( b) or (2), may comprise— 
(a)  a sum equivalent to level 5 on the standard scale; together with 
(b)  a daily default fine equivalent to one tenth of lev el 5 on the standard scale for each day 
until the required action is taken, 
but the financial penalty shall not exceed £50,000 in total. 
Imposition of a financial penalty: main procedural requirements 
11. —(1) As soon as practicable after imposing a financ ial penalty, the Secretary of State must 
give notice of the financial penalty. 
(2)  The notice of the financial penalty must state — 
(a)  that the Secretary of State has imposed a financial  penalty on the relevant licensing body 
or a relevant person, 
(b)  the amount of the financial penalty, 
(c)  the acts or omissions which the Secretary of State considers constitute the contravention,  6 (d)  any other facts which the Secretary of State consid ers justify the imposition of a financial 
penalty; and 
(e)  the period (not less than 28 days from the date of service of the notice on the relevant 
licensing body or relevant person) within which the  financial penalty is to be paid. 
(3)  A notice under this regulation must be given by— 
(a)  serving a copy of the notice on the relevant licens ing body and any relevant person upon 
whom a financial penalty is imposed, and 
(b)  publishing the notice in such manner as the Secreta ry of State considers appropriate for 
the purpose of bringing the matters to which the no tice relates to the attention of persons 
likely to be affected by them. 
Appeals 
12. —(1) If a relevant licensing body is aggrieved by t he imposition of a code of practice or by 
the imposition or amount of a financial penalty, th e relevant licensing body may appeal to the 
First-tier Tribunal. 
(2)  If a relevant person is aggrieved by the imposition  or amount of a financial penalty, the 
relevant person may appeal to the First-tier Tribun al. 
(3)  On an appeal under this regulation, the First-tier Tribunal may make such order as it 
considers appropriate. 
(4)  Where the appeal is against the imposition of a cod e of practice, the code shall continue in 
force until the First-tier Tribunal has determined the appeal. 
(5)  Where an appeal has been made under this regulation , the financial penalty may not be 
required to be paid until the appeal has been deter mined, withdrawn or otherwise dealt with. 
Calculating time 
13.  If the time specified in these Regulations for doi ng any act ends on a day other than a 
working day, the act is done in time if it is done on the next working day. 
 
 
 
 
 Younger of Leckie  
 Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Busines s, Innovation and Skills 
1st April 2014 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 
 
 
  7  SCHEDULE Regulation 2 
SPECIFIED CRITERIA 
 
1.  The specified criteria are set out in paragraphs 2  – 9 of this Schedule. 
Obligations to rights holders, members and licensee s 
2.  The code of practice shall require the relevant li censing body to— 
(a)  offer membership to all relevant right holders in t he sector it manages; 
(b)  have rules or a constitution that enables members a nd non-member right holders to 
withdraw their rights on reasonable notice; 
(c)  offer fair and balanced representation of those rig ht holders who are members of the 
relevant licensing body in the internal decision ma king process of the relevant licensing 
body; 
(d)  provide a copy of the rules or constitution to memb ers and to those potential members 
who have identified themselves and requested a copy ; 
(e)  act in the best interests of its members as a whole ; 
(f)  treat all members and non-member right holders fair ly, honestly, reasonably, impartially, 
courteously and in accordance with its rules and me mbership agreement; 
(g)  ensure that its dealings with all members are trans parent; 
(h)  treat its licensees and potential licensees fairly,  honestly, impartially, courteously and in 
accordance with its rules and any licence agreement ; 
(i)  ensure that its dealings with licensees or potentia l licensees are transparent; 
(j)  consult and negotiate fairly, reasonably and propor tionately in relation to the terms and 
conditions of a new or significantly amended licens ing scheme; 
(k)  provide to licensees, and to any potential licensee s who have requested it, information 
about its licensing schemes, their terms and condit ions and how it collects royalties; 
(l)  ensure that all licences and licensing schemes are drafted in plain English and are 
accompanied by suitable explanatory material. 
Requirements imposed on licensees 
3.  The code of practice shall set out the requirement s that the relevant licensing body must 
impose on licensees including— 
(a)  to respect the rights of creators and right holders  including their right to receive fair 
payment when their works are used; and 
(b)  that copyright material is to be used only in accor dance with the terms and conditions of a 
licence. 
Conduct of employees, agents and representatives 
4.  The code of practice shall require the relevant li censing body to ensure that— 
(a)  its staff training procedures for employees, agents  and representatives include training 
about conduct that complies with the obligations to  members and licensees set out in this 
Schedule; 
(b)  its staff provide licensees and potential licensees  with clear information, including 
information about cooling off periods which may app ly to new licences; and  8 (c)  its employees and agents are aware of procedures fo r handling complaints and resolving 
disputes and are able to explain those procedures t o members, non-member right holders, 
licensees and the general public in plain English. 
Information and transparency – monitoring and repor ting requirements 
5.  The code of practice shall state that the relevant  licensing body shall— 
(a)  inform members, licensees and potential licensees, on request, about the scope of its 
repertoire, any existing reciprocal representation and the territorial scope of its mandate; 
(b)  maintain, and make available to members on request,  a clear distribution policy that 
includes the basis for calculating remuneration and  the frequency of payments, together 
with clear information about deductions and what th ey are for; 
(c)  provide details of tariffs in a uniform format on i ts website; 
(d)  provide details of its code of practice and complai nts procedure, accessible via a link on 
the website homepage; 
(e)  undertake that all information provided is kept up to date, is readily accessible and written 
in clear language that can be easily understood by licensees, potential licensees and 
members. 
Reporting requirements 
6.  The code of practice shall require the relevant li censing body to publish an annual report 
which includes— 
(a)  the number of right holders represented, whether as  members or through representative 
arrangements including, where possible and if appli cable, an estimate of the number of 
non-member right holders represented by any Extende d Collective Licensing Scheme; 
(b)  the distribution policy; 
(c)  total revenue from licences granted for its reperto ire during the reporting period; 
(d)  total costs incurred in administering licences and licensing schemes; 
(e)  itemised costs incurred in administering licences a nd licensing schemes; 
(f)  allocation and distribution of payments of revenues  received and extent to which these are 
compliant with its distribution policy; 
(g)  procedures for the appointment of directors of or, where appropriate, managers or similar 
officers in the relevant licensing body and details  of any appointment during the course of 
the reporting period; 
(h)  details of remuneration of each director of or, whe re appropriate, managers or similar 
officers in the relevant licensing body during the reporting period; and 
(i)  a report regarding compliance with its code of prac tice over the past year, including data 
on total level of complaints and how they were deal t with. 
Resolution of complaints and disputes 
7.  The code of practice shall provide that the releva nt licensing body shall adopt and publicise 
procedures for dealing with complaints from members , non-member right holders, licensees and 
potential licensees together with arrangements for the submission of any disputes, including 
complaints which cannot be resolved by the complain ts procedure, to the licensing code 
ombudsman. 
8.  The complaints procedure shall— 
(a)  define the categories of complaints and explain how  each will be dealt with; 
(b)  ensure information on how to make complaints is rea dily accessible to members, 
licensees and potential licensees;  9 (c)  provide reasonable assistance to a complainant when  forming and lodging a complaint; 
(d)  specify who will handle a complaint on behalf of th e relevant licensing body; 
(e)  indicate the timeframe for the handling of a compla int; 
(f)  provide that the relevant licensing body must give a written response to each complaint 
made in writing; 
(g)  provide that the relevant licensing body must give a written decision where appropriate 
for each complaint and give reasons for that decisi on; 
(h)  ensure that the relevant licensing body makes adequ ate resources available for the 
purpose of responding to complaints; and 
(i)  provide that the relevant licensing body must regul arly review its complaint handling 
procedure and dispute resolution procedures to ensu re they comply with the specified 
criteria. 
Ombudsman Scheme 
9.  The code of practice shall provide that the licens ing code ombudsman shall be the final arbiter 
on disputes between the relevant licensing body and  its members or licensees in relation to those 
provisions of the relevant licensing body’s code of  practice the inclusion of which is required by 
these specified criteria. 
 
 
 
 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
(This note is not part of the Regulations) 
Part 2 of the Regulations sets out the circumstance s in which the Secretary of State can direct a 
relevant licensing body to adopt a code of practice , which satisfies the specified criteria set out in  
the Schedule, or impose such a code of practice on a relevant licensing body. 
Part 3 of the Regulations sets out the powers of th e Secretary of State concerning information 
and financial penalties. 
A full impact assessment of the effect that this in strument will have on the costs of business and 
the voluntary sector is available from the Intellec tual Property Office, Concept House, Cardiff 
Road, Newport NP10 8QQ and is annexed to the Explan atory Memorandum which is available 
alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.  Copies have also been placed in the libraries 
of both Houses of Parliament. 
  
  
© Crown copyright 2014 
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UK2014040220   04/2014   19585 
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2014/898