SPA welcomes the results of the CULT and ITRE Committees who adopted on 21 June their opinion on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules on the exercise of copyright and rights related to certain online transmissions of broadcasters and the retransmission of radio programs and television.
This vote proves to be of great importance to the authors of the various creative areas as well as to the collective management bodies representing them, and not least for the whole European cultural and creative sector in a Europe increasingly dependent on the success of the Digital Single Market project.
The votes included the introduction, in the Commission’s proposal, of references
to the issue of Direct Injection, which has so much concerned the authors and the entities that represent them, and where there is a transfer of value in favor of broadcasters and retransmitters, to the detriment of the owners of the creations. The approved amendments, if to appear in the final version, as we hope to happen, are very important to clarify that the payment to authors is and will always be due for the use of their works.
SPA also stresses the importance of positive voting in the country of Origin matter, and its limitation to specific cases, as well as the voting on a mandatory collective management system for closed network retransmissions (OTT services), provided that they are linked to a specific infrastructure or have the capacity to ensure an environment of a controled group of users.
Of greater importance was the vote on the introduction of a Right to the remuneration for Authors of Audiovisual Works for the successive dissemination / use of their works, a subject for which SPA has been struggling incessantly, both in the European bodies and in the National bodies. SPA work with the MEPs of the respective committees over the last few months has been important, since the Commission presented its proposals in September 2016, and included, among many other events, meetings with MEPs in Brussels as well as the continuous submission of SPA’s positions in relation to the Proposals forwarded to policy-makers.
