About a year ago we reported that Europe had finally approved the fiercely fought Copyright directive. Member States have until the 7^th of June 2021 to transpose this directive into their national legislation. PlayRight closely follows that implementation process and also actively participates in the preparatory discussions in Belgium.

Transposing such a directive into 26 different national laws is not an easy job. The directive aims to harmonize European legislation on copyright and neighbouring rights and it is therefore the intention to ensure that current legislations will be more closely aligned.

The European Commission attaches great importance to an implementation that leads to effective harmonization and not to even more deviating national rules. It therefore provides for regular consultations between Member States and also organizes so-called “stakeholder dialogues“.

Nevertheless, the implementation in each country takes place in its own way and with a separate timing. France has already partially implemented the Directive. Concrete proposals are already on the table in the Netherlands and Germany. And the first discussions within the Intellectual Property Council have started in Belgium.

As a member of that Council, PlayRight will keep watch to ensure that the Copyright directive does not remain a dead letter for performers and that the ‘appropriate and proportionate remuneration‘ required by Article 18 is translated into better remuneration for performing artists as regards online exploitation of their music and film recordings. We do this in collaboration with the professional federations of musicians and actors in both parts of the country and follow closely the process in other countries with the help of our sister CMO’s.

To be continued.