The Ministry of Culture has started an inspection at ZASP. They will check expenses, assets and the distribution of royalties

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage began an inspection at the Association of Polish Stage Artists. The scope of inspection includes, among others: repartition, spending of funds for social, cultural and educational activities and the effectiveness of property management – it was announced on the website of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The inspection at the Association of Polish Stage Artists (ZASP) is a response to signals reaching the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage about possible irregularities in the organization. “It concerns the Association's activities in the years 2022-2025 and covers the following areas: enforcement of membership fees, effectiveness of ZASP property management, spending of funds intended for social, cultural or educational activities and ZASP's activities in the field of division and payment of rights revenues in the years 2022-2025,” we read on the website of the Ministry of Culture.

As noted, “the shape of the regulation on collective management of rights is of fundamental importance for the professional use of works in Poland – both from the point of view of Polish creators, performers, producers and publishers, and users of rights. It determines the conditions for licensing a significant part of the trade and dissemination of cultural content in domestic and foreign conditions,” it was explained.

It was recalled that there are currently 9 collective management organizations in Poland. “The largest ones include: the Association of Authors ZAiKS, the Association of Polish Filmmakers, the Association of Performing Artists STOART, the Association of Polish Stage Artists, the Association of Audio Video Producers ZPAV. They decide on the distribution of funds from the use of copyright and related rights and collected by them as part of collective management. They also decide on the funds resulting from last year's amendment to the Act on Copyright and Related Rights, which grants creators and performers a wide a range of royalties for the exploitation of their works on the Internet.

As noted, the condition for the proper operation of these mechanisms is to tighten the collective management system by ensuring its greater transparency and effectiveness in terms of the division of royalties between authorized entities.

It was recalled that in order to verify the transparency of management and the readiness of collective management organizations to pay funds to artists, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in March this year. conducted an inspection at the Polish Filmmakers Association. The audit revealed a number of irregularities in the use of funds and called on the entity to introduce corrective mechanisms.

It was explained that “the inspection at the Association of Polish Stage Artists is another step towards tightening the system of collective management of copyright and related rights in Poland.” (PAP)

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