Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

[**Avis juridique important**](../../../editorial/legal_notice.htm)

*|*

# 92002E3787

**WRITTEN QUESTION E-3787/02 by Bill Miller (PSE) to the Commission. Artists' rights.** 
  
*Official Journal 155 E , 03/07/2003 P. 0188 - 0188*

  

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3787/02

by Bill Miller (PSE) to the Commission

(6 January 2003)

Subject: Artists' rights

In the case of the United Kingdom artists' equitable remuneration for their broadcast recordings are negotiated and collected by the record labels' collecting society, the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL). What European Union countries allow artists to participate in the negotiation process for their remuneration?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(18 February 2003)

The equitable remuneration paid by the user if a phonogram is used for broadcasting by wireless means has been harmonised at Community level under Article 8 of Council Directive 92/100/EEC of 19 November 1992 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property.

The Directive also stipulates that this remuneration is to be shared between performers and the producers of phonograms. However, the Directive has not directly harmonised the negotiating methods or the distribution formulae for this remuneration. It merely states that in the absence of agreement between the beneficiaries, Member States may themselves lay down the conditions for the sharing of this remuneration. Thus the Directive does not stipulate how the remuneration is to be collected and negotiated.

Generally speaking, performers participate in negotiations on the amount of the equitable remuneration. However, many Member States have stipulated that such negotiations can only take place in the context of mandatory collective management. According to the Commission's sources, this is specifically the case in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Finland, France and Ireland.

On the other hand, the vast majority of performers prefer to leave the negotiating to collecting societies, even where national laws do not provide for mandatory collective management. Indeed, this form of centralised management is often more practical, both for performers and for the users of licences to exploit rights. Lastly, the Commission would draw the Honourable Member's attention to the fact that in response to a request for a preliminary ruling, the Court of Justice of the European Communities is to decide in the coming weeks what exactly is to be understood by equitable remuneration and the amount of discretion left to Member States in applying this concept (see Case C-245/00 SENA v NOS).

[Top](#document1)