Pursuant to Article 137(2) of the Act on the collective management of copyright and related rights, the Minister of Culture is required to carry out proceedings to determine that a collective management organization is representative. Article 10(2) of the above Act defines a representative organization as an organization that represents the highest number of right holders (screenwriters in this case) on the basis of collective management agreements and representation agreements.

The parties to the proceeding were the Polish Filmmakers Association and the ZAiKS Authors Association. On the basis of the information gathered in the proceedings, the Minister concluded that the SFP-ZAPA represents significantly more holders of rights to screenplays than ZAiKS does, and if the foreign right holders are included, the difference is multifold. Therefore, the decision issued in the proceedings seems to be obvious. The Minister also emphasized that the decision would not create any new legal status and was only of a declaratory nature.

“This is a very good decision of the Minister of Culture. It has been long awaited by both collective management organizations and right holders and it should put the market in order. The SFP-ZAPA has its 25th anniversary this year. We are convinced that with a very high ratio of identification of the works under management, achieved over those many years of activity, the Polish Filmmakers Association will effectively transfer royalties to those screenwriters who have not decided yet to entrust their rights to any organization,” said Jacek BROMSKI, President of the SFP-ZAPA.

The decision of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage was also commended by Dominik SKOCZEK, Managing Director of the SFP-ZAPA : “In practice, this decision confirms the rights of the Polish Filmmakers Association as representative organization entitled to manage the rights of screenwriters who have not put their rights under management by any organization. The number of authors protected by the SFP is rising and as a natural consequence of this our organization will be striving to collect remuneration due to this new group of right holders from right users, such as broadcasters, hotel operators or cinema operators. This next significant enlargement of the right holders supported by the SFP-ZAPA reflects the trend we have been watching for a long time. Year to year, more and more authors join the SFP-ZAPA, including screenwriters transferring their rights from ZAiKS. We have a good reason for satisfaction as we can see that our organization has been becoming more and more trusted in the filmmaking community”.