JUDr. Aleš Kout

In its policy statement of 4 August 2010 the Government of the Czech Republic pledged to continue to prepare amendments to the Copyright Act to ensure full harmonization of th Czech copyright law with European and international copyright in which the fundamental principle is balance of holders´rights and interests on one hand and users' rights on the other."

To fulfill this task the Ministry of Culture launched a public consultation, which aims to provide the widest possible scope for ideas and proposals for changes to existing copyright rules. The consultation process will involve both the general public and professional stakeholders, including the relevant professional organizations and associations, authors and other copyright holders, users of objects protected by copyright, and any others who are significantly affected by copyright issues.

The Ministry of Culture intends to prepare amendments to the Copyright Act specifically focused on the following topics:

1) introduction of a licensing system for orphan works

Orphan works (usually audio or video recordings) are works which are still protected by copyright but whose author is unknown or untraceable. The current Copyright Act does not include any rules for licensing of orphan works, which presents an obstacle to the digitization of cultural heritage. Introduction of a legally regulated licensing system will allow the public to access many works which currently lie undiscovered in the archives of libraries and museums, in line with EU practice.

2) increasing transparency on the part of collective administrators and tightening criteria for granting of permission to manage rights on a collective basis

It is proposed to significantly extend the range of information required to be published by collective administrators in order to increase transparency of their activities. In order to discourage any increase in collective administration and increase regulatory effectiveness it is planned to tighten supervision and to add new criteria that will have to be fulfilled by applicants for authorization to exercise collective administration.

3) simplification and clarification of rules for calculating fees for photocopying services

It is proposed to simplify the administration connected with the calculation of fees paid by reproduction services providers and to clarify the regulations so as to exclude any obligation to pay for copying of materials clearly not protected by copyright.