Copyright owners and singers call on President Maia Sandu to intervene and solve the difficult situation in which they found themselves. They said their interests are affected by the new Law on Copyright and Related Rights. As of January 1, 2023, when the law took effect, they cannot collect the compensatory payment that is paid on the import of equipment used to reproduce original works of authorship.
In a news conference staged by IPN, “Copyright” association head Liviu Știrbu said the negative impact of the law is felt not only by Moldovan copyright owners, but also by foreign artists. The situation is unprecedented. “We call on President Maia Sandu to intervene and defend the rights of copyright owners that are now affected by the new law,” stated Liviu Știrbu.
Author Eugen Turuta, doctor habilitate of technical sciences, said the new Law on Copyright contains a concrete list of equipment on whose import compensatory payments can be collected. But in 2018 the Constitutional Court ruled that the provisions of the law that was in force at that time were constitutional and a concrete list of equipment wasn’t mentioned then. Moreover, compensatory payments cannot be collected even for the positions included in the list because the law stipulates outdated customs code that are no longer used.
The authors do not believe that it goes to a technical error. They suspect a bad intention. “This payment will not be collected for at least eight more months as from January 1. The question is, how does the new law help the copyright owners and singers of the Republic of Moldova? The key question is actually, how could we reach such a situation? Our position and firm belief are that the Government of the Republic of Moldova and Parliament were simply misled,” stated Eugen Turuta.
He also said that the diminution of the percentage rate of the compensatory payment tenfold – from 3% to 0.3% - cannot be in the interest of authors. “We consider that the author of the bill and the person who, knowing that the Ministry of Economy on June 8, 2022 proposed a new nomenclature, on June 21 suggested including a nomenclature with equipment that was to be abrogated in that bill, are to blame for such a disaster. This way, a very serious precedent will be set in the case of copyright owners and singers,” said the author.
Note: IPN News Agency gives the right of reply to persons who consider they were touched by the news items produced based on statements of the organizers of the given news conference, including by facilitating the organization of another news conference in similar conditions.
