Greece

[GR] New law on collective rights management

IRIS 2017-9:1/20

Eva Kokkinou

Hellenic Copyright Organization

A new act on collective rights management (Law 4481/2017) was passed by the Greek Parliament and published on 20 July 2017. It incorporates Directive 2014/26/EU into national legislation, amends certain provisions of Law 2121/1993 (Copyright, Related Rights and Cultural Matters) (see IRIS 1995-1:Extra), and introduces provisions for combatting copyright infringements on the Internet.

The new legislation regulates collective rights management in Greece and, among other issues, covers the organisation of collective management organisations (CMOs), the representation and membership of rightsholders, the collection and use of rights revenue and its distribution to rightsholders, the CMOs’ relations with users, as well as licensing terms and the setting of tariffs.

In addition, Act 4481/2017 determines that CMOs have the obligation to be transparent and to publish annual reports. The information is made public through the CMOs’ websites.

Special provisions have been laid down for the Independent Management Organisations (IMOs), while the practice of appointing a Commissioner has been introduced when a CMO or an IMO is faced with financial or managerial problems. The Commissioner is appointed by the Ministry of Culture and has the power to intervene in certain issues affecting the organisation.

The multi-territorial licensing of the online rights to musical works is granted by CMOs, while in the case of the equitable remuneration for private copying, a percentage (2%).has been introduced on the value of personal computers.

A “notice and take down” service has been introduced, controlled by a committee composed of the Hellenic Copyright Organization, the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Committee, and the Hellenic Data Protection Authority.

Finally, the Hellenic Copyright Organization has been given the competence to provide “time-stamping” services for works protected by copyright.