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Concerning the reward for the right to copy for personal purposes

As stated in item 1, Article 1245 of RF Civil Code, the authors, performers, phonogram and audio-video record producers are entitled to the reward for free reproduction of phonograms and audiovisual compositions solely for personal purposes (hereinafter “the reward”). Such reward bears the compensation character and must be paid to IP (intellectual property) right holders by manufacturers and importers of the equipment and material media used to reproduce the above compositions.

The list of the equipment and material media as well as amount and procedure of collecting relevant funds has been stipulated in the RF Government regulation No. 829 “The reward for free reproduction of phonograms and audiovisual compositions solely for personal purposes” enacted on the 14th of October, 2010.

The approved list of the equipment and material media includes magnetic, optical and semi-conductor media as well as the equipment that uses the above-mentioned appliances for audio or video recording process.

The funds collected from the importers amount to 1% levy on the equipment and material media imported to Russian Federation.

It shall be noted that No. 829 regulation enacted by RF Government on the 14th of October, 2010 practically put in action the legislative act of copyright and allied rights that has been adopted in 1993 in RF thus letting RF join a number of jural states, protecting the copyrights of authors, performers and phonogram producers.

Worldwide such rewards have been paid long before for more than one decade and the authors, creators, performers and producers of video and audio compositions are entitled to reward amounting to 2% to 6 % release price of any medium (retail price of the product) or depending on the fixed reproduced time and memory capacity as it is done in majority of European countries.
Germany was the first country that changed its copyright statute in 1965 amending the reward rights for free reproduction for the private use only; then Austria joined in 1980 and then Hungary in 1982. Afterwards within a short period of time the relevant amendments had been introduced in the laws of the countries all over the world. Russia and USA were the last ones that have joined this coalition.

There’s no need to say that nowadays this rule practically is “in action” and efficiently compensates the material damage that authors, performers, phonogram, video and audio record producers suffered if the law about the copyright and allied rights for the free reproduction for personal use only has been infringed without the right holder approval.

It shall be noted that the fund collection, distribution and reward repayment to the right holders for free reproduction of their compositions for personal use is supervised by collective rights management organizations

In conformity with item 2, Article 1245 of RF Civil Code the specially accredited (licensed) organizations bear the responsibilities for the funds collection used for reward repayment to the authors, performers, and phonogram, audiovisual composition producers for the free reproduction of such compositions for personal purposes.

As stated in the relevant decree of the Federal Services responsible for the compliance of Law No. 167 in the field of the cultural heritage protection that has been enacted on the 24th of September, 2010, All-Russia Public Organization “Russian Union of Right Holders” was granted the state accreditation to perform the joint management. This Union is considered the sole organization responsible for the collection of such funds.

Russian Union of Right Holders has been founded by cultural and arts workers to observe and protect IP rights.

The principal activities of Russian Union of Right Holders are the collective rights management and the protection of the copyright and IP rights of authors, performers, phonogram, audio and video compositions producers from the use of the latter solely for personal use purposes. Russian Union of Right Holders is represented by such well-known people as National Artists of the USSR: Juriy Bashmet, Vladislav Piavko; National Artists of RSFSR: Nikita Mikhalkov, Sergey Nikonenko, Irina Miroshnichenko, National Artists of Russia: Sergey Makovetsky, Juriy Stoyanov, Alexey Uchitelj, Vladimir Khotinenko, Sergey Bezrukov, Nikolay Rastorguev (delegate of State Duma of RF Federal Council); Honored Cultural Workers of Russia: Boris Berezovsky, Nikolay Denisov, Alexander Klevitsky, Honoured Artist of Russia Vladimir Presniakov and other prominent cultural workers.

As stated in RF Government regulation No. 829 “The reward for free reproduction of phonograms and audiovisual compositions solely for personal purposes” enacted on the 14th of October, 2010 the payment of rewards shall be done according to the relevant agreements to be concluded between the importer and accredited organization.

Consequently in due time, but not exceeding 10 (ten) days since the day the equipment and material media crossed the Russian border and were subjected to customs inspection for further domestic release, the importer shall submit the information in writing to the licensed organization listing the equipment and material media.

If your company is the importer of the equipment and material media used for reproduction of phonograms, audio and visual compositions for personal use only you must conclude the agreement for reward repayment by the importer of equipment and material media.

It shall be noted in this connection that RF Government regulation No. 829 “The reward for free reproduction of phonograms and audiovisual compositions solely for personal purposes” enacted on the 14th of October, 2010 has come eventually into force on the 26th of October, 2010.

The reward repayment obligations concern the manufactures and importers of the equipment and/or material media regardless of the agreement with Russian Union of Right Holders. Thus the absence of the agreement or deliberate evasion from agreement conclusion can’t be considered the grounds for exemption of the payer from the reward repayment starting from the day above the relevant RF Law has been enacted.

You can find more detailed information about Russian Union of Right Holders and normative documents on RSP site: www.rp-union.ru.

Our contacts: Tel.: +7 (495) 720-16-96 or e-mail address: office@rp-union.ru