Belarus representatives took part in the 3rd session of CRSEA Committee

The 3rd session of the Committee on Copyright, Related Rights and Private Copying of the Confederation of Rightholders' Societies of Europe and Asia was held.

The Republic of Belarus was represented by the Head of the Copyright and Related Rights Department of the National Center of Intellectual Property Aliaksandr Dzianisman and Deputy Director of the Belarusian Society of Authors, Performers and Other Right Holders Alexei Bichurin.

Belarus representatives made an overview of the national copyright management system. In particular, the speakers highlighted a number of changes that have occurred in this area in recent years.

These include an increase in the retention rates to cover administrative expenses, as well as expenses for sociocultural and educational purposes; changing the term of notification of the collective management organization when refusing to manage the rights; a tenfold decline in the amount of compensation for the unlawful use of intellectual property rights.

Special attention was paid to the issue of compensation for private copying. Thus, the Republic of Belarus switched from the position of complete cancellation of contributions for private copying in 2017 to the procedure under which the funds of this sector (25% of the whole income) are now transmitted to the State Fund to support culture and art.

At the end of the session, all the participants expressed the desire to continue discussing the issues of regulating copyright, related rights and private copying in the CRSEA member states, and also emphasized the need to jointly find decisions aimed at protecting intellectual property in the digital environment.

According to the CRSEA materials.