French collecting societies criticise EC proposals

French collecting societies SACD and SCAM, which represent the rights of different groups of content creators in the country, have hailed two reports commissioned by the country’s Conseil supérieur de la propriété littéraire et artistique (CSPLA) criticising the European Commission’s proposed directive on collective management of rights and proposing alternative measures.

Key findings include that the text of the proposed directive fails to respect EC principles of proportionality and subsidiarity and would see the imposition of regulations that should be left to individual member states. The report argues that the organisation, their governance and powers of collecting societies should be left to individual member states.

It points out that in France collecting societies are already subject to regulation by a body composed of independent magistrates. The report also alleges that the proposed rules are based on an analysis of the music market only and take no account of the specificities of the audiovisual market.