Advocacy Update

One of IFRRO’s core objectives is to ‘advocate for copyright, collective management and the remunerated use of text and image-based works’ and IFRRO continues to work hard to foster collective management solutions nationally, regionally, and internationally.

In March, IFRRO Board Directors Samantha Holman, Anders Kristian Rasch, and Sandra Chastanet, along with representatives from Jamcopy / CARROSA Dianne Daley McClure and Philippa Davies, joined important discussions at the 43rd Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). IFRRO’s First Vice President, Samantha Holman, made an intervention highlighting that RROs are an important component of the copyright infrastructure in all WIPO member countries, offering licensing solutions that enable access to content, including cross border solutions, at the same time providing remuneration for authors and publishers. You can read more about the WIPO SCCR here.

In Europe, EU Member States continue to implement the EU’s Copyright in the Digital Single Market (“DSM”) Directive. Implementation of provisions concerning the licensing of out of commerce works by CMOs has been a recent focus for IFRRO, amidst concerns that there has been a lack of stakeholder dialogues in Member States to discuss key questions concerning implementation at national level, as foreseen in the Directive. IFRRO has raised concerns with both the European Commission and Member States’ representatives. Elsewhere, IFRRO has also written to Latvian law-makers to raise concerns about Latvia’s draft law implementing the DSM Directive (see details here.) 

Earlier this year in Georgia, IFRRO advocated for local member GCA in an important workshop organised by the U.S. Department of Commerce Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) and USAID Economic Security and Economic Governance Programs, together with Sakpatenti (Georgian IP Office) and the Culture Committee of the Parliament of Georgia. GCA is facing significant adversity in light of Russian aggression – IFRRO continues to monitor the situation and stands ready to assist. Also in the region, IFRRO advocated for collective management solutions at a WIPO awareness raising seminar in Tajikistan on 16th February.

IFRRO has also undertaken work in the Caribbean, where we are working closely with JAMCOPY to support licence negotiations in the university sector, and also with local RROs to develop a roadmap to kickstart the operational development of regional licensing initiative, CARROSA.

In the past few months, IFRRO has also been active on the African continent – amongst other activities, we have supported Senegal member SOADAV, through a national seminar on the management and supervision of CMOs that was organised in cooperation with the French government. In South Africa, the Council of Provinces (the parliament’s upper house) is considering the very problematic Copyright Amendment Bill. IFRRO worked closely with DALRO and PASA to make a submission to the Council of Provinces on the Bill.  IFRRO’s submission (along with members’ submissions) says the Bill is deeply flawed and should not be passed, but instead allowed to lapse.  Late last year in Uganda, IFRRO also made a submission in response to a problematic copyright issues paper.  Our submission opposed fair use and broader exceptions and limitations for education (stressing the need for a licence override for educational use), while supporting implementation of the private copy levy.

These examples highlight just some of the different ways in which IFRRO can and does interact with national governments on behalf of its members – if there is an issue you feel we might assist with, please contact us.