Brussels, 06/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 6 June, ten major European organisations active in the culture, media and telecommunications sector, together with the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) presented a cross-sector agreement on a detailed set of principles which should, they believe, be included in a new copyright management framework planned by the European Commission (Common CUP Principles on the Upcoming Collective Rights Management Directive). In addition to the BEUC, the following organisations participated in this agreement: Etno, GSMA, Hotrec, UER-EBU, Cable Europe, Digital Europe, Pearle, Ecta and the AER.
The organisations emphasise that collective rights management is crucial for enabling content to be circulated, accessed and used freely and legally. The organisations responsible for this management, however, currently lack transparency and efficiency. The signatories to this agreement therefore welcome Commission's decision to reform the collective rights management system in Europe, which ought to lead to more transparency and efficiency and include protection mechanisms in the event of conflict. However, if the directive is to prove effective, it is crucial the Commission sets out principles to be respected. The principles are as follows: 1) collective rights management organisations should have a duty to contract with every interested rightholder and every interested user; 2) transparent information about the provided service and price criteria should be given, so that the users know precisely what the mandate entrusted to the collective rights management organisation consists of, and how payments to the rightholders are calculated; 3) a common framework for rules on accounting and bookkeeping, as well as independent authorisation and supervision in each member state, should also guarantee quality and efficiency in the management of creators' rights; and 4) the CUP principles also suggest a number of practical tools to solve possible disputes over rights clearance while avoiding lengthy, overly costly and sometimes ill-fitted dispute resolution procedures. (IL/transl.fl)