Case C-575/23, ONB and Others: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 6 March 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État – Belgium) – FT, AL, ON v Belgian State (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Approximation of laws – Intellectual property – Copyright and related rights – Performers engaged under an administrative law statute – Assignment of related rights by means of a regulatory act – Directive 2001/29/EC – Article 2(b) and Article 3(2) – Rights of reproduction and of making available to the public – Directive 2006/115/EC – Articles 7 to 9 – Rights of fixation, broadcasting, communication to the public and distribution – Directive (EU) 2019/790 – Articles 18 to 23 – Fair remuneration in exploitation contracts – Article 26 – Application in time – Concepts of acts concluded and rights acquired)
Date: 2025-03-06
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: access to information, artistic profession, copyright, digital single market, employer, labour relations, remuneration of work, staff regulations, wage earner








C_202502344EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/2344


28.4.2025






Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 6 March 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État – Belgium) – FT, AL, ON v Belgian State


(Case C-575/23,
                (1)
ONB and Others)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Approximation of laws - Intellectual property - Copyright and related rights - Performers engaged under an administrative law statute - Assignment of related rights by means of a regulatory act - Directive 2001/29/EC - Article 2(b) and Article 3(2) - Rights of reproduction and of making available to the public - Directive 2006/115/EC - Articles 7 to 9 - Rights of fixation, broadcasting, communication to the public and distribution - Directive (EU) 2019/790 - Articles 18 to 23 - Fair remuneration in exploitation contracts - Article 26 - Application in time - Concepts of ‘acts concluded’ and ‘rights acquired’)
(C/2025/2344)
Language of the case: French

Referring court

Conseil d’État

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: FT, AL, ON

Defendant: Belgian State

Intervener: Orchestre national de Belgique (ONB)

Operative part of the judgment

Article 2(b) and Article 3(2)(a) of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society, as well as Article 3(1)(b), Article 7(1), Article 8(1) and Article 9(1)(a) of Directive 2006/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property,
must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which provides for the assignment, by means of a regulatory act, for the purpose of exploitation by the employer, of the related rights of performers engaged under an administrative law statute, in respect of the performances carried out in the context of their service to that employer, without the prior consent of those performers.


(1)  OJ C C/2023/1290.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/2344/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)