Section 2: Management of income from the exploitation of rights

Collective management organisations draw up annual accounts comprising a balance sheet, an income statement and notes, in accordance with a regulation of the accounting standards authority and in such a way as to separate: 1° Income from the exploitation of rights and any revenue or assets resulting from the investment of such income; 2° Any of their own assets and income from these or other activities, as well as the…

Collective management organisations are not authorised to use the income mentioned in 1° of article L. 324-9 for any purpose other than its distribution to right holders. However, they may deduct certain sums from the income to be distributed, corresponding in particular to their management costs, under the conditions laid down as part of the general policy defined by the general meeting of members. These deductions must be justified in…

Collective management organisations invest income from the exploitation of rights and income resulting from the investment of such income in accordance with the general investment and risk management policy defined by the general meeting, and with the following rules: 1° If there is any risk of a conflict of interest, collective management organisations shall ensure that the investment is in the sole interest of right-holders; 2° The assets are invested…

I.-Collective management organisations pay the sums due to right holders no later than nine months from the end of the financial year in which the income from the exploitation of rights was received. This time limit may only be waived for a legitimate reason, in particular the lack of information enabling the identification or location of the beneficiary right holders. II.-Where these sums are paid to a collective management organisation…

When sums due to right holders cannot be distributed or paid within the time limits set out in article L. 324-12 for the reasons set out in the second paragraph of I of this article, these sums are managed and presented separately in the organisation’s accounts.

Collective management organisations take the necessary measures to identify and locate rightholders. In particular, no later than three months after the expiry of the deadline set in I of Article L. 324-12, they shall make easily accessible online to the rightholders they represent, to the entities representing them when they are members of the collective management organisation, and to the collective management organisations with which they have concluded representation agreements,…

If the sums due to rights holders cannot be distributed within three years of the end of the financial year in which the income from the exploitation of the rights was received, and provided that the collective management organisation has taken all the measures provided for in article L. 324-14 to identify and locate the beneficiaries, these sums are deemed to be part of the sums that cannot be distributed.

Actions for payment of royalties collected by collective management organisations are time-barred after five years from the date on which they were collected, this period being suspended during the payment periods provided for in article L. 324-12 at the most or, if earlier, until the date on which they are paid. All right holders are informed of the distribution or payment date in an easily accessible reference document.

Collective management organisations use for actions to support creation, the dissemination of live performances, the development of artistic and cultural education and training actions for artists: 1° 25% of sums from private copy levies; 2° All sums collected pursuant to Articles L. 122-10, L. 132-20-1, L. 214-1, L. 217-2 and L. 311-1 and which could not be distributed either pursuant to international conventions to which France is a party, or…

The conditions of access to the actions mentioned in Article L. 324-17 and to the benefits of the collective management bodies financed using the sums mentioned in the second paragraph of Article L. 324-10 are based on fair criteria.