Representatives of the organizations for collective management of performers’ rights in Romania, Hungary, Slovenia and the Republic of Moldova, performers and representatives of the national public authorities with responsibilities in the field gathered, on June 14, 2016, in a seminar entitled “Collective Management of Performers’ Rights in the European Union and the Republic of Moldova”.

The event was organized by the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI), Romanian Center for Performers’ Rights Management (CREDIDAM) in cooperation with the Societies’ Council for the Collective Management of Performers’ Rights (SCAPR).

In opening the seminar, AGEPI Director General, Octavian Apostol thanked CREDIDAM and SCAPR for the assistance rendered in the organization of this event in Chisinau.

Also, Octavian Apostol said that by holding this seminar is intended that the takeover of European best practices in the field of collective management of copyright and related rights and in the field of cooperation between public authorities with the collective management organizations in the field.

The primary objective of AGEPI in this area is to ensure transparency in the collection and distribution of remunerations to all right holders, stressed the Director General of AGEPI.

Attending the event, Romanian Ambassador to Moldova Marius Lazurca stressed that Moldova is a creative country, a country that produces talents, especially in the music industry. Therefore, the Republic of Moldova needs the assistance of more experienced ones in the field of management of intellectual property rights to reward this creativity as it should be, said Marius Lazurca.

The seminar was moderated by Deputy Director General of AGEPI, Andrei Popa. The event continued with a string of reports on collective management of copyright; the interdependence between the public authority and the collective management organizations, as well as achievements and challenges from the perspective of public authorities in Moldova and Romania.

About achievements and challenges in this field also spoke representatives of CMOs in the Republic of Moldova.

The participants in the seminar were actively involved in the discussions. The performers have shown special interest in the modes of involvement of performers in the decision making process and practical issues concerning the collection and distribution of royalties – which should be undertaken at national and international level.

Also, performers have noted that lately there is an improvement in terms of unlocking the collective management system in the Republic of Moldova, and these changes are primarily due to measures taken by AGEPI. However, there remains the need to strengthen this area by implementing an automated system for recording the remunerations collected by all CMOs in order to ensure transparency.

Finally, European experts said it is necessary to do everything possible to reduce the period of detention of remunerations and that they be transferred to right holders in terms as shortest as possible. The legal way must be found to pay the royalties of all categories of copyright and related rights without prejudice to the economic interests of performers. The parties involved in this process should be aware that no competition between CMOs brings money but cooperation, added European experts. They recommended AGEPI to organize such an event to share the accumulated experience and to punctuate the progress made as a result of this seminar.

On the other hand, the participants expressed their hope that the European practices presented in the seminar to be implemented in Moldova so as to exist a functional system in the field of collective management of copyright and related rights.