Transposition of the ‘DSM’ Directive into Belgian law: the Constitutional Court has not (yet) ruled on the offending provisions and has referred questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling
October 8 2024
PlayRight has taken note of the Constitutional Court’s decision of September 26, 2024 to submit preliminary questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union to determine whether the new provisions of the Copyright and Rights Act comply with European law. The collecting society for performing artists’ neighboring rights will be following this procedure closely, and maintains that Belgian law complies with the European directive by allowing more equitable remuneration and a fairer distribution of income from digital exploitation.
As a reminder, on June 19th 2022, Belgium adopted a law transposing European Directive 2019/790 (known as the “DSM”), which finally recognized a fair, untransferable remuneration right subjected to mandatory collective management for the use of authors’ and, in particular, performing artists’ content on streaming and online content-sharing platforms.
In March 2023, this essential step forward for performers was challenged by various opponents before the Constitutional Court. Indeed, 4 appeals were lodged by Google (YouTube), Spotify, Streamz, and the major Belgian labels (Sony Music, Universal Belgium, Warner Music, PIAS, N.E.W.S, CNR with BRMA (Belgian Recorded Music Association)), and later followed by Deezer and the gaming industry, against certain elements of the new law, notably this non-transferable right to remuneration on streaming and online content sharing platforms.
On Thursday September 26, the Constitutional Court therefore decided to postpone its decision until a later date, and to submit questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling, with a view in particular to verifying whether this non-transferable right to remuneration complies with European law.
As a collective management company, PlayRight will be analyzing the Constitutional Court’s decision and the questions posed for preliminary rulings in the coming days, and is at the disposal of the European Court to defend the conformity of Belgian law with the DSM Directive and the validity of the necessary protection of performing artists in the view of the negotiation of tariff agreements and the management of their remuneration rights and their fair distribution.
The full text of the ruling can be consulted here (FR) or here (NL)
