DTI Releases Draft Regulations on the Establishment of Collecting Societies for the Collection of Ne

On 19 March 2004 the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) published draft regulations on the Establishment of Collecting Societies for the Collection of Needletime levies, for public comment. These regulations were published in terms of the Copyright Act (1978), as amended and the Performers Protection Act (1967), as amended and aims to execute the requirements of these two pieces of legislation by determining a framework for the establishment of collecting societies to collect Needletime levies. Interested parties had until 19 April 2004 to make written submissions to the DTI and the NAB duly submitted its representation.



The NAB’s submission expressed the view that the DTI should undertake an impact study to determine the impact of raising such levies. Furthermore, the NAB was concerned that the regulations would not have the intended outcome and that the levies would not reach the intended beneficiaries such as performers and artists but would instead mostly benefit record companies