French Intellectual Property Code
In forceI. - When a book is registered in the database mentioned in article L. 134-2 for more than six months, the right to authorise its reproduction and performance in digital form is exercised on behalf of the rightholders by a collective management organisation governed by Title II of Book III of this Part, approved for this purpose by the Minister responsible for culture. The collective management organisation thus approved is deemed to have a mandate to issue this authorisation.
Except in the case provided for in the third paragraph of article L. 134-5, the reproduction and representation of the book in digital form, on national territory, are authorised, in return for remuneration, on a non-exclusive basis and for a limited period of five years, renewable.
II. - Approved organisations are entitled to take legal action to defend the rights for which they are responsible.
III. - The approval provided for in I is issued in consideration :
1° The representativeness of the organisation with regard to the number of right holders who have mandated the organisation for the type of works and the type of rights concerned by management under this chapter, as well as the diversity of the organisation's members;
2° The equal representation of authors and publishers among the members and within the governing bodies;
3° The professional qualifications of the organisation's directors;
4° Of the means that the organisation proposes to implement to ensure the collection of rights and their distribution;
5° Of the means that the organisation proposes to implement to guarantee equal treatment for all right holders, including with regard to the terms of the licence, and the fairness of the rules for distributing the sums collected between right holders, whether or not they are parties to the publishing contract. The amount of the sums collected by the author(s) of the book may not be less than the amount of the sums collected by the publisher;
6° Evidentiary means that the organisation proposes to implement in order to identify and trace the rightholders for the purpose of distributing the sums collected;
7° The means that the organisation proposes to implement to develop contractual relations to ensure the greatest possible availability of works;
8° The means that the organisation proposes to implement to ensure the defence of the legitimate interests of rightsholders not party to the publishing contract.
IV. - Each year, approved organisations submit a report to the commission de contrôle des organismes de gestion mentioned in Article L. 327-1, giving an account of the means implemented and the results obtained in the search for right holders, whether or not they are parties to the publishing contract, and whether or not they are members of an approved organisation.
The commission may make any observation or recommendation to improve the means implemented to identify and locate rights holders.
The commission is kept informed, within the timeframe it sets, of the action taken on its observations and recommendations.
The commission reports annually to Parliament, the Government and the general assembly of recognised organisations, in accordance with the procedures it determines, on the observations and recommendations it has made and the action taken on them.
V. - When it is granted approval under the conditions mentioned in III, the collective management organisation immediately implements appropriate publicity measures to ensure that authors and publishers are informed that it is deemed to have a mandate to authorise the reproduction and representation in digital form of unavailable books, as well as the procedures for exercising the right of opposition mentioned in article L. 134-4.
