Copyright Review Commission Report - ICT Law and Regulation ...

6.2. STRUCTURE OF COLLECTING SOCIETIESIn Switzerland, there are five collecting societies. These societies were established as additional repertoires. ProLitteris andSUISSIMAGE were first authorised to administer rights in 1982. In 1992, SSA (Swiss Society of Authors) were authorised tomanage the rights pertaining to, inter alia, dramatic and choreographic works. SWISSPERFORM was established in 1993.There is one society per repertoire according to the artistic field (literary, music, etc.), with the exception of neighbouringrights (where there is one collecting society). SUISA is the collecting society for authors’ rights and SWISSPERFORM is thecollecting society for neighbouring rights. If more than one collecting society manages the invoicing under a tariff for all, theuser will only have to deal with one collecting society. Collecting societies may consist of cooperatives (SUISA) or anassociation (SWISSPERFORM). Swiss collecting societies have reciprocal agreements with collecting societies from otherjurisdictions, for example, SWISSIMAGE has entered into 65 reciprocal agreements with producers and authors of audiovisualworks from other jurisdictions, with the notable exception of South Africa.The Federal Act on Copyright and Related Rights of 9 October 1992 (the Copyright Act) provides for the compulsorycollective management of various rights, including the retransmission rights, remuneration for private copying (‘blank tape’levy) and business photocopying.6.3. THE TARIFFS6.3.1. THE PROCESSTariffs are approved through negotiations between groups of users and the collecting societies. Article 55 of the Federal Acton Copyright and Related Rights of 9 October 1992 (the Copyright Act) provides that the tariffs must be approved by theFederal Board of Arbitration for the Exploitation of Copyright and Related Rights (the Arbitration Commission)(http://www.eschk.admin.ch/eschk/de/home.html). The Arbitration Commission fulfils its functions in accordance with theprocedures prescribed in the Administrative Procedure Act of 20 December 1968. The collecting societies and the relevantassociations of users nominate members to the Federal Arbitration Board, and the members of the Board are appointed bythe Federal Council.Article 60 of the Copyright Act provides for principles of equitableness to be taken into account in approving the tariffs. Ingeneral, the licensing fee shall normally amount to a maximum of 10% of the proceeds from or cost of utilisation for authors'rights and a maximum of 3% for related rights; however, it shall be determined in such a way that the entitled persons receiveequitable remuneration for administration carried out efficiently. Preferential tariffs are prescribed for the use of a work by ateacher for teaching in class.Article 59(2) provides that the Arbitration Council may modify the proposed tariff after hearing the collecting society and theassociations of users (such as DUN, SWICO, Swissstream, swisscable, Gastrosuisse and Hotelleriesuisse) involved in theprocedure. The Federal Arbitration Board investigates the fairness of the tariffs and obtains the opinion of the Office of PriceControl for this purpose. Federal Arbitration Board decisions on the approval of tariffs may be appealed to the Federal- 150 -