One of the author’s fundamental and exclusive property rights is his authority to permit and prohibit the public performance of his work. According to the law (art. 3 para. 2 of Law 2121/1993), any use performance or presentation of the work is considered to be public, if it makes the work available to a number of people wider than close family members and the immediate social environment, regardless of whether the people forming the audience are in the same or different locations.
In this context, as public areas are considered mostly theatres, cinemas, cafeterias, clubs, restaurants, streets, squares, hotel rooms, airport waiting areas, underground and train platforms and public and private means of transport.
The interested users conclude agreements with the competent Collecting Societies and pay the fee provided in the Collecting societies' price list in order to obtain the license of public performance. The amount of the fee payable usually depends on the way or the means employed for the public performance, the capacity of the facility, whether it is located in an urban or rural area, the prices of the beverages, the value of the artistic program, and so on.
It should also be noted that the performers or performing artists and the producers of phonograms are entitled to an equitable remuneration, when sound recordings that have been legally recorded are used for a radio or television broadcast purposes by any means or for a communication to the public in the sense of public performance. Payment of the remuneration to related rights Collecting Societies is mandatory. Collecting Societies must negotiate, and agree fees, raise the relevant claims for payment and collect the relevant fees from users (art. 49).
For a list of the Collecting Societies and Collective Protection Societies, click here.
