Article 56: Relations with Users

(1) When granting users the facility to make use of works assigned to it, a collecting society shall demand from the users payment of the percentage fee specified in Article 32(1) of this Law. The exceptions provided for in Article 32(2) of this Law with respect to the percentage fee shall not apply in these circumstances.

(2) A collecting society may not refuse to conclude a contract with a user, as referred to in Article 55(1) a), without good reason. If an aspiring user is of the opinion that the remuneration demanded by a collecting society is clearly in excess of that usually payable in similar circumstances, the aspiring user shall pay to the collecting society, in advance of any use, either the remuneration demanded or an amount determined, upon request, by a court of first instance as being equal to the remuneration usually payable in similar circumstances, pursuant to the safeguarding measures. The final judgment concerning the remuneration shall be rendered by the competent court.

(3) Organizations representing users may, together with collecting societies, decide by written agreement to appoint an arbiter, specifically by name or position, to determine the amount of remuneration to be paid by a user before disagreement arises. Before finally deciding on the remuneration due the arbiter may order the user to lodge a down payment. An arbiter thus appointed shall have exclusive competence for the settling of disagreements. The decisions of an arbiter shall be equitable. The Minister of Culture may himself decide to appoint an arbiter. In such a case, recourse to that arbiter by the parties to a dispute shall be voluntary and by agreement. Collecting societies shall draw up lists of the remuneration payable by users (remuneration tariffs) and shall promulgate the said lists in not less than three daily journals, one of which shall be a financial journal. When drawing up and implementing their remuneration tariffs, collecting societies shall refrain from inconsistency and discrimination. The collecting societies and organizations representing users may conclude agreements regulating the remuneration payable by the user in any category of beneficiaries, as well as any other matter concerning the relations of the two sides in the framework of application of the present law, as has been subsequently amended.

(4) In order to facilitate the actions referred to in circumstances a), b), c) and d) of Article 55(1), users shall without delay make available to collecting societies lists of the works of which they are producing, selling, renting or lending copies, together with the exact numbers of copies produced or distributed, and likewise lists of the works they are performing publicly, together with a statement of the frequency of such performances.

(5) Any dispute between the collecting societies and the users regarding the remuneration payable by the user to the collecting society may be referred to arbitration. The arbitrators are appointed from the list drafted every two years by the Copyright Organization. It is compulsory to take into account the opinion of the collecting societies and the users when drafting the said list. For all other matters, articles 867 et seq. of the Code of Civil Procedure are applied accordingly.

Article 57: Relations with Authors

(1) A collecting society may not without good reason refuse to undertake for any particular author the administration and/or protection of the rights deriving from the economic rights of that author and the subject of the administration of the collecting society.

(2) A collecting society shall consult annually with the authors whose rights are transferred to it in order that the authors may express their views concerning the rules used to determine levels of remuneration, the methods used for the collection and distribution of remuneration and any other matter pertinent to the administration and/or protection of their rights. The collecting societies have to take into consideration these views during the processing of administrative procedures.

(3) Authors who transfer the administration and/or protection of their rights to a collecting society, together with the societies which represent them, shall be entitled to all relevant information concerning the activities of the collecting society.

(4) Where the author transfers all of his works to a collecting society for administration and/or protection, he shall give the society full information in writing about the publication of those works and shall inform the society whenever he publishes a new work after the date of the transfer of his rights.

(5) Collecting societies shall draw up rules for the distribution of remuneration to authors. Distribution shall be effected at least once annually and shall to the highest possible extent be proportionate to the actual use made of the works.

(6) For each general category of authors and each form of exploitation, collecting societies shall fix a percentage of the remunerations collected to cover their expenditures. Authors shall be informed of the relevant percentage before they transfer or grant power of attorney over their rights. The fixed percentage may be increased only with the consent of the author or after notice, served one year in advance.

(7) An author or a collecting society shall be entitled to abrogate the agreement transferring economic rights where irrefutably good grounds exist for such action. Provided not less than three months’ notice is given, the abrogation shall take effect from the end of the calendar year in which it is notified. If less than three months’ notice is given, the abrogation shall take effect from the end of the following calendar year.

(8) The right of the author to grant or refuse authorisation to a cable operator for a cable retransmission may be exercised only through a collecting society; for all other matters the provision of article 54, paragraph 2, hereof is applicable. Where a rightholder has not transferred the management of his cable retransmission right to a collecting society, the collecting society which manages rights of the same category with the approval of the Ministry of Culture shall be mandated to manage his cable retransmission right. Where more than one collecting society manages rights of that category, the rightholder may be free to choose which of those collecting societies shall be mandated to manage his cable retransmission right. The author referred to in this paragraph shall have the same rights and obligations as the rightholders who have mandated the collecting society and he shall be able to claim those rights within a period of three (3) years from the date of cable retransmission of the broadcast.

(9) The provisions of the previous paragraph do not apply to the rights exercised by a broadcasting organization in respect of its own transmission, irrespective of whether the rights concerned are its own or have been transferred to it by other copyright owners and/or other right holders.

Article 58: Application to Related Rights