You may know that on 1 July, Slovenia took over the Presidency of the Council of the EU. However, did you know that Slovenia is the home of 90,000 beekeepers, the oldest known musical instrument (a 60,000 years old ‘Neanderthal Flute’) and AIPA, the collective management organisation of authors, performers, and producers of audiovisual works of Slovenia.

Be bold, look at the success stories of statutory rights to remuneration to ensure fair remuneration to audiovisual authors, was the message of three legal experts at SAA’s seminar to national legislators ahead of today’s deadline to implement the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market.

Experts' top advice on fair remuneration for screenwriters and directors: implementing Article 18 of the EU Copyright Directive

7 June 2021 is the last day to implement the directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market into national law, but few EU Member States will meet the deadline. EU countries have the opportunity to carefully, while still urgently, implement the directive and present a recovery plan to actively support the creative and cultural sector. In return, the sector will be able to nurture European’s wellbeing and recovery.

On 25 November, the SAA organised the event “The new Copyright legislation: Making the most for next generation authors” with the participation of filmmakers, policymakers and experts to discuss the authors’ right to remuneration in the new EU legislation.

Some of the world’s biggest consumer device manufacturers are aggressively targeting the Visegrad Four countries in an effort to weaken national legislation or application of the existing legal framework on private copying.

The 19 September 2020 is the final day for EU Member States to transpose the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive into their national law, a legislation they agreed on two years ago (on 6 November 2018). This ‘upgraded’ directive further harmonises national legislation, not only on traditional TV broadcast but also on-demand services and video-sharing platforms.

SAA contribution to the consultation of the European Commission on Article 17: Supporting licensing agreements between CMOs and OCSSPs

A revision of the E-Commerce Directive as the horizontal instrument that regulates digital services is necessary to reflect the rapid transformation and expansion of e-commerce in all its forms and address the current challenges. The E-Commerce Directive is indeed outdated. It does not address today’s market realities: a much wider diversity of services than in 2000 and the massive turnover generated by and around these digital services.

COVID-19 has taken us through emotions of grief, denial, anger and sadness. Hit by the second wave of the pandemic, the virus has demonstrated its force and resulted in the final stage: acceptance. We are slowly learning how to live with and adapt to our new reality. However, the symptoms of a fragile audiovisual sector were there long before the pandemic and the virus is not the only cause.

The SAA sent a message to the Ministers responsible for Copyright, asking them to ensure that the implementation of the EU Directive provides for remuneration to audiovisual authors for the on-demand exploitation of their works.