Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF), Dublin South-Central

I am trying not to delay. As the Act is currently structured, a producers' CMO is put in control of the collection of licence fees to be shared with performers, not all of whom will be represented. In circumstances where the Act does not give performers' CMOs an ability to carry out extended collective licensing, and in the absence of an arrangement between the producers' CMO and the performers' CMO, the producers' CMO conducts extended collective licensing of the rights of unrepresented performers without authorisation and without being in a position to satisfy any or most of the preconditions laid down in the directive for extended collective licensing. This situation contravenes the directive and the Act does not currently facilitate a performers' CMO to step in to cure the contravention unless the producers' CMO makes a contractual arrangement to that effect. That breach of EU law must be brought to an end by the Bill. That is why the amendments were set down.
A performers' CMO can satisfy the safeguards conditioning the grant of extended licensing rights for performers. The amendment provides for the grant of registration of a licensing body in respect of a scheme providing for extended licensing rights on the basis of evidence demonstrating compliance with the required safeguards. The controller remains in the role of supervisor of a CMO’s compliance with its statutory requirements under Article 33 of the CRM regulations.
Insofar as a concern has been expressed by the Department as to the right of dissociation correlative with the constitutional right of association, no such concern can arise in circumstances where exercise of extended collective licensing obtains unless and until such a performer grants explicit authorisation to the CMO, to a different CMO or opts out of collective management altogether. It is an entirely protective, non-coercive power which is necessary to properly protect and administer performers' rights to equitable remuneration.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21