Does ProLitteris know what to expect from this postulate? What improvements are the collecting societies proposing, those that know the practice of collection and distribution of these royalties best?
For the professional and sector associations in the fields of culture, literature and art, reforms must be designed to benefit the rights holders. Thanks to smartphones and software, digital copying has become part of everyday life. With the use of AI systems, the use of protected works and performances in professional activities and collaboration has increased massively.
ProLitteris is in contact with the associations Suisseculture, Verband Schweizer Medien (VSM), Schweizer Buchhandels- und Verlags-Verband (SBVV), A*dS Autorinnen und Autoren der Schweiz, Médias Suisses, LivreSuisse, ALESI, Impressum, Syndicom and visarte. These organizations welcome the fact that SECC-N, as the competent committee in the National Council, rejects the abolition of copying levies.
The fact that at the same time a postulate for reforms of copying levies is to be adopted raises questions. This also applies to the political process, because SECC-N had before it a study by the consulting firm Polynomics from a related matter, which had been prepared on behalf of the Federal Council and implemented by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. The committee’s postulate appears to be based on this study.
The managing collecting society is ProLitteris. ProLitteris regularly conducts the negotiations, on behalf of all collecting societies in Switzerland and abroad, within the framework of the legally regulated and supervised tariff procedure, and it handles data collection and invoicing for the royalties of all companies and other organizations, all administrative authorities, all copying service providers (Common Tariff 8, CT 8) and, in addition, all schools (CT 7) and libraries (CT 5).
As cooperatives (ProLitteris, SUISA, Suissimage, SSA) or as an association (SWISSPERFORM), the collecting societies bring together all rights holders in Switzerland and operate within an international network of collective management organizations (CMOs). The members of the professional and sector associations in all areas of culture, journalism and music and film production, as well as the broadcasting organizations, are therefore practically without exception members of ProLitteris or another collecting society.
Out of concern for copying levies and other copyright claims, the professional and sector associations have addressed numerous questions to ProLitteris, whereupon ProLitteris prepared a comprehensive report.
Our conclusions and expectations towards the collecting societies and towards politics result from this report and can be summarized as follows:
First, the associations named expect that the parliamentary deliberations will not lead to any deterioration for rights holders. Copying levies are an existing statutory claim and an important component of the funding of creative and journalistic services. They must neither be abolished nor reduced.
Second, on the contrary, possibilities should be examined to simplify and complete collection. The annual royalty amount of around CHF 12 million seems low for the entire economy and administration of Switzerland, considering that for this amount almost all content, analog and digital, can be reproduced and distributed internally for information purposes. Correspondingly, the royalty per workplace is low, namely CHF 3.20, 5.20 or 8.20 per year, with a low minimum royalty of CHF 32. Improvements should aim at an appropriate, and from the point of view of many rights holders at a higher, royalty. These ideas should be addressed, with the involvement of ProLitteris, in the tariff procedure provided for this purpose. ProLitteris has, for example, pointed out thresholds in the tariff that result in the royalties of entire sectors of the economy being waived for up to 14 positions (industry, trade, commerce, certain services). Already in the past, ProLitteris has proposed using existing AHV data on companies and their numbers of positions as a basis for assessment. This could relieve companies from submitting their own declarations and at the same time reduce gaps in data collection. Further simplifications are conceivable.
Third, the proven advantages are to be preserved: The flat-rate system relieves companies from having to measure and declare specific copies and volumes. The inclusion of all organizations corresponds to the statutory purpose and to equal treatment, which is important in collective management. An opt-out system, which was mentioned as a keyword in SECC-N, would be disproportionately burdensome in administrative terms and disadvantageous for honest companies and other organizations. Statistical studies show that practically every organization and every professionally active person obtains information from public sources and forwards such information internally.
Fourth, if Parliament continues to deal with the postulate, it should hear ProLitteris as the managing collecting society and competence center for copyright and should disclose the study that has so far been internal to the administration and forms the basis of the deliberations. The affected associations and collecting societies must also be given the opportunity to examine and comment on the assumptions, data and conclusions of the study.
Fifth, rights holders expect their collecting societies to continue to consistently represent their interests in future tariff procedures. The goal must be an appropriate royalty volume and an appropriate royalty for every workplace in Switzerland that benefits from the statutory freedom for internal copying. Common Tariff 8 was completely revised for the tariff period from 2023 onwards, reduced from more than 100 pages of text at the time to 10, with only five questions remaining in the annual form for each company. This was a broadly welcomed simplification and clarification in the interest of all parties involved. This should be maintained. It remains to be examined how gaps can be closed in favor of rights holders and how administrative relief can be achieved for the collecting society.
Read the full ProLitteris report on copying levies (PDF).