PARLIAMENT REJECTED THE REGULATIONS ON THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AUTHORITY - Filenews 16/4
The Plenary Session of the Parliament on Thursday rejected the Regulations on the Copyright and Related Rights Authority, as well as the Regulations on the Collective Management of Intellectual Property Rights and Related Rights.
The regulations were voted down by 22 votes against and 16 votes in favour.
The purpose of the Regulations was to regulate issues related to the operation and procedures of the Copyright and Related Rights Authority and to determine, on the one hand, the forms for the processing of the procedures before the Authority and, on the other hand, the fees to be paid provided for in the said Law and the Regulations on the Intellectual Property and Related Rights Authority.
The Chairman of the Trade Committee, DISY MP, Kyriakos Hatzigiannis, referred to the history of the case, noting that the Committee had processed a relevant law proposal, which was referred back by the President of the Republic. After the referral of the draft law, the Committee discussed with the Minister of Commerce and co-decided on the formulation of the text. However, the President referred the proposal to the Supreme Constitutional Court, which ruled against her.
Since then, he said, the Government's claim has been that the Parliament is responsible for the non-payment of copyrights to the rightholders, because it obstructs and does not vote on the Regulations, "leaving the impression that the Parliament is preventing the collection of copyrights".
Mr. Hatzigiannis noted that with these Regulations, the copyright management side will be able to collect and users will be charged, but the method of collection and the amount remain untouched.
The DISY MP said that the Anti-Corruption Authority needs to intervene, as it is not possible for there to be such an industry that collects for the creation of some others and the money is not given.
He also noted that the behaviour of the Legal Service raises questions, talking about "manipulation of things and procedures that does not satisfy us".
AKEL MP, Costas Costa, said that today anyone enters, anywhere and asks for whatever they want without anyone controlling. He noted that the harmonizing legislation on copyright was passed in 2017 and the law stated that the executive power had to bring Regulations for the operation of the Intellectual Property Authority.
"The Regulations were submitted on 22/9/2022, five years later," he said, noting that during the discussion in the Committee "we discovered that the Ministry of Commerce sent three Regulations to the Legal Service, but only two came to Parliament. " The 3rd and most important, with the criteria for who is allowed to enter and where and how much to collect, was lost. The response of the representative of the Legal Service was that she decided that it should stay in the drawer," he said.
In addition, he noted that the Police since 2019 have been waiting for the position of the Legal Service regarding a European directive that related and copyright rights should only be collected from businesses that benefit from music (e.g. music centers).
He also referred to Directive 115/2006 which says that only one entity can enter and ask for relatives and one spiritually and then distribute them to others. "Today one comes in for every one he represents and everyone is asking for money," he said.
He added that the Parliament, because the executive power did not bring a relevant Regulation, prepared a proposal for a law, with criteria, which, while passed, was referred back and referred to the Court.
He noted that today without the Regulations, if someone asks for money, the case will go to Court. If the Regulations are passed, "they will establish the Authority, they will start stealing the people, without the third Regulation coming. They will have the right afterwards, whoever wants to enter wherever they want and collect what they want," he said, noting that AKEL will vote against the Regulations.
The independent MP, Irene Charalambidou, said that Cypriot artists tried to join forces and found against them an incredible establishment from the companies. "When concerts are held, when artists come to Cyprus, the one who organizes the concert pays these companies copyrights. These never go to the artists. A well-known composer in Cyprus who was supposed to get €50,000, got €800. The same with many others," he said.
He asked who oversees the management of these companies and how much of the money paid to these companies actually ends up with the artist. "Since there is an inability to control, it is a hole in the water. I will vote against and support the artists," he said.
DIKO MP, Chrysis Pantelidis, said that his party will vote in favor of the Regulations, "precisely so that there is supervision and control". He said that the first to seek the correct application of the law are and should be the artists and creators. He noted that the existence and operation of the Rights Management Authority is a fundamental condition of the law. "This Authority has the competence to control the landscape, the market, the environment that will operate in terms of competition and trade, for the benefit of those who exploit their creations and for the benefit of artists," he said.
He added that "we must ensure the existence of Regulations, and remove any alibi from the competent Ministry and the executive power. Without the Regulations and the Authority, nothing can be done," he said, noting the government's stated political intention to discuss improvements in the legislation, after the adoption of the Regulations and the launch of the Authority.
The independent socialist MP, Kostis Efstathiou, said that it is a big problem who controls those who appear as "the protectors of artists", noting that judicial control is very slow and insufficient. "There is no foreseen accountability for abuse, there is no reason to vote on the Regulations," he said.
The President of the Ecologists' Movement, Stavros Papadouris, said that the members of the Committee have come to receive threats. "We knew the background, who is pushing the Presidential Palace," he said, noting that the way the text was drafted will either not work or will create the exact same issues that existed in Greece. He added that the MPs of the Movement will vote against them.
