Regarding the article published by HotNews.ro on August 26, 2025, entitled “AGDE requests the immediate application of the legal provisions regarding the compensatory remuneration for the private copy for the benefit of the press publishers”, we want to make the following details:
1. The dispute was already in the role of the court. As long as AGDE notified the court in the file no. 426/3/2025, in the role of the Bucharest Court, regarding the recognition of the right of the press publishers to the private copy and the extent of these claims, it is obvious that the Minister of Culture does not have the competence to cut this dispute, as long as he is under legality control. [ https://portal.just.ro/3/SitePages/Dosar.aspx?id_dosar=300000001169704&id_inst=3 ]
The decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal invoked by AGDE concerns exclusively the distribution of the rights between the various categories of authors – of written, musical, audiovisual and visual works, does not concern and does not establish the percentages of the publishes of press publications (https://portal.just.ro/2/sitepages/dosar.aspx?id_dosar=3000000903327&id_inst=2)
2. The moment of the establishment of AGDE is essential. AGDE was constituted as a collective management body only in February 2024, and the private copy is managed exclusively by a collective management body. However, the claims made in the AGDE court concern the period starting April 2022, which represents another aspect that must be clarified by the court, not resolved by public pressures.
3. UPFR is the unique collector of private copy. In this capacity, the UPFR has about 11–12% of the total private copy collected for their own members, and the rest of the amounts are distributed to all other rights holders: authors of written, musical, audiovisual, visual, performers and film producers, represented by 14 collective management organizations. Therefore, any modification or recognition of new rights must be discussed and accepted by the entire community of holders.
4. The AGDE claims are raised from the rights of the other holders – authors, composers, artists, producers. The requests of AGDE do not involve their own rates, but involve the direct reduction of 25% of the rights of authors, artists and producers. The natural solution would have been for the press publishers to negotiate and constitute their own right, related to the devices and supports on which the press articles can be copied, not to reduce the rights already enshrined in the other holders.
5. A unique situation in Europe. Romania is the only country in Europe where such a right of the press publishers was introduced in the copyright law, by diminishing the rights of music, film, works, artists and producers. This fact has no precedent and raises serious problems of equity and compatibility with European practice.
In conclusion, the requests made by AGDE can be cut neither by public appeals, nor by the intervention of the Ministry of Culture, but only by the court, which is the only competent to clarify the extent and application of these rights.
UPFR is a collective management body that represents the rights and interests of music producers over 25 years who have acted consistently, with transparency and good faith, respecting the legal framework in support of all rights.
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