Code of Conduct

Introduction
About DACS
DACS’ main activities
Governance and company information
Service levels and performance
Personal information and our data policies
Complaints
Contacting DACS
Code review

Read our Code of Conduct for licensing customers

1. Introduction

This Code of Conduct has been prepared in accordance with The Collective Management of Copyright (EU Directive) Regulations 2016 - formally known as the CRM Regulations, and the British Copyright Council’s Principles for Collective Management Organisations’ Codes of Conduct.

This Code sets out the principles governing membership of DACS, our licensing and other activities, our governance framework and the standards that can be expected from us. It also explains what to do if things go wrong, and how to complain about matters covered by this Code.

DACS may make changes to this Code in the light of feedback from members and stakeholders. The Code may also be amended in response to legislative changes, resolutions passed at DACS’ Annual General Meetings, audit or independent review.

2. About DACS

Established by artists for artists, DACS is a not-for-profit visual artists’ rights management organisation. Passionate about transforming the financial landscape for visual artists through innovative new products and services, DACS acts as trusted broker for 100,000 artists worldwide.

We collect and distribute royalties to visual artists and their estates through three rights management schemes: Payback, Artist's Resale Right and Copyright Licensing. We also operate Artimage, a digital image resource for customers seeking digital images alongside copyright licensing.

Founded over 30 years ago, DACS is a flagship organisation that has and continues to campaign for artists’ rights, championing their sustained and vital contribution to the creative economy.

DACS is a not-for-profit organisation, established in 1984 by artists for artists. We are a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and subject to the relevant laws and regulations.

DACS administers rights in artistic works as defined by section 4 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended). DACS also administers the Artist’s Resale Right pursuant to the Artist’s Resale Right Regulations which implement European Directive 2001//84/EC which created a harmonised resale right for artists in Europe.

DACS is a collective management organisation (or CMO), which is a term defined in the CRM Regulations as a body who manages copyright and related rights for the collective benefit of rightsholders. CMOs provide a valuable service both to rightsholders of copyright-protected visual works and those wishing to use them by providing an efficient system of collection and distribution of licence fees for the required uses.

DACS is part of a network of visual arts societies around the world and we hold agreements with many other societies enabling us to offer the works of over 60,000 foreign artists for copyright licensing to customers in the UK. We offer our foreign repertoire to our licensing customers on the same terms as our UK artists’ repertoires.

If you require further information about the scope of our repertoire, our existing reciprocal representation agreements, or the territorial scope of our mandate please take a look at the About Us section of our website, or contact the Chief Operating Officer at the address set out in Section 8 of this code.

3. DACS’ main activities

We currently offer four means of representation to visual artists:

Copyright Licensing

Our Copyright Licensing Membership provides you with an effective way for you to manage the licensing of your rights. We take care of everything, ensuring the terms, fees and contractual arrangements are in order, and in your best interests. We also provide advice and support if your work is used without permission.

We license works in a wide range of contexts, including publications, broadcast programmes, films, museums and galleries, merchandise and so forth.

Membership

Membership for Copyright Licensing is open to artists or heirs of a deceased artist. To join, you need to complete and sign a Membership Agreement and Term Sheet. On signing this agreement you will have the option to become a Member of DACS under company law (Voting Member) and under the CRM Regulations. Becoming a Voting Member gives you the right to vote at annual general meetings and decide on matters such as the appointment or removal of DACS’ Board of Directors, approval of financial documentation and other governance matters. Criteria for becoming a Voting Member is set out in Articles 10 and 11 of DACS’ Articles of Association.

Should you choose not to become a Voting Member you will be classified as a regular Copyright Licensing Member with the same rights and responsibilities listed in this Code of Conduct and the Membership Agreement and Term Sheet, however you will not be able to vote at DACS’ Annual General Meetings.

If you are an artist, you can register your interest in joining by completing our online form.
We will then send you a paper membership pack for you to complete. There is plenty of information on our website to help you fill in the forms, but if you need further help, you can email [email protected]
If you are applying as the heir of a deceased artist you can supply information relating to the estate you are associated with by completing our online form.

The Membership Agreement and Term Sheet entitles DACS to the exploitation of the copyrights you own or that are within your control. We do not ask for an assignment of your copyright: we ask for an exclusive grant of rights to enable us to authorise third parties to reproduce your works on terms set by DACS.

You may have created works in the course of employment, or have assigned the rights in certain works to other parties, so we ask you to tell us which works we cannot license because you do not own the copyright in the works. We also ask you to tell us if there are any other requirements or restrictions you wish to place on DACS for licensing purposes, such as consultation over specific types of use before we grant permission in respect of a licensing request we have received.

We always consult with you in the case of proposed advertising or merchandise uses requested by our customers.

You can resign as a Copyright Licensing Member, and therefore also as a Voting Member, by providing three months’ written notice in accordance with the provisions of the membership agreement.

On signing the Membership Agreement you will also automatically be eligible to receive royalties through Payback.

The members represented by our international partners grant DACS the same authorisations by virtue of the representation agreements we have signed with them.

On the death of a Copyright Licensing Member their membership of DACS will cease, however, DACS will continue to represent the artist’s rights for licensing for seven years after their death, unless the artist’s successor chooses to resign. If there are licences for the artist’s work in force at the time of the artist’s death then DACS will continue to exploit the rights vested in the licence until the end of the licence. Payments due to the artist will be paid to their appointed representative, usually the appointed executor or administrator, until probate is settled and the artist’s successor identified, after which time royalties will be paid to the successor. At the end of the seven-year period, DACS will stop managing the rights, unless the artist’s successor signs a new membership agreement.

DACS’ Articles of Association provide that the DACS Board of Directors should be made up of an equal number of Member Directors and Non-Member Directors making up no fewer than six and no more than sixteen Directors in total.

Royalty distribution

We distribute royalties collected from our Copyright Licensing activities four times a year, in February, May, August and November.

Your payment is accompanied by a statement which includes:

the source of each royalty payment (including where we have received money from a sister society abroad)
the use for which the royalty is payable
the gross royalty
the royalty net of DACS’ deduction to cover our administration costs and any other deductions (e.g. withholding tax).

Read our Distribution Policy

Deductions to cover our administration costs

There is no fee to join DACS as a Copyright Licensing Member. We cover our operating costs by retention of percentages from royalties we collect.

Our deductions for Copyright Licensing royalties are:

25% from royalties collected from UK licensees
15% collected from overseas licensees

Figures for previous years can be found in the respective Annual Review available on the DACS website.

DACS retains any interest earned on revenues held before distribution to members which contributes to our operating costs.

DACS does not make any deductions for cultural or social funds or for any other similar purpose.

Voting Members approve the policy on deductions to cover administration costs on an annual basis at the Annual General Meetings.

Copyright licences

Details of all our Copyright Licensing licences can be found on our website.

Here you will find the following information:

What licences we offer and in which sectors
Information about prices and terms and conditions of licences
Information about the licensing process, how it works, how long it may take and other information relevant to licensing projects.

We also provide some frequently asked questions to assist you further.

We generally consult our customers directly about prices and terms and conditions, rather than through trade bodies.

Find more information online about the licences we issue, or email [email protected] or contact us by any of the means listed in Section 8: Contacting DACS.
Read more information about Copyright Licensing
Read more information about our international partners (whom we generally refer to as ‘Sister Societies’).

Artimage

We are appointed by individual artists or their heirs to manage digital images of their artworks. We also receive images from institutions and galleries to manage their image files. These images are available to customers seeking to reproduce an artwork, alongside our Copyright Licensing activities.

Membership

Membership of Artimage is open to artists, heirs of a deceased artist or Collections. However, due to the complexity of licensing rights in images, membership of Artimage goes through an internal committee for approval. Where membership is approved by the internal committee, you will need to complete an Artimage Membership application form available by emailing [email protected]. We will then send you a membership pack (available in paper or digital form) for you to complete, which will include the Artimage Membership Agreement.

If you are applying as the heir of a deceased artist we ask you to supply information relating to the estate you are associated with.

The Artimage Membership Agreement entitles DACS to store digital copies of your images, to make copies of your images, and to grant Artimage Clients the right to make copies of the images and to rent and/or lend high resolution electronic copies of the works to Artimage Clients.

DACS charges standard fees for the use of images licensed through Artimage. DACS specifies in its licence agreements with Artimage Clients governing the supply of such images that the Artimage Client must include a credit. Members of Artimage can resign by providing three months’ written notice in accordance with the provisions of the Artimage Membership Agreement.

On the death of an Artimage Member their Membership of DACS will cease, however, DACS will continue to represent the artist’s rights for Artimage for seven years after their death, unless the artist’s successor chooses to resign. If there are Artimage licences for the artist’s work in force at the time of the artist’s death then DACS will continue to exploit the rights vested in the Artimage licence until the end of the Artimage licence. Payments due to the artist will be paid to their appointed representative, usually the appointed executor or administrator, until probate is settled and the artist’s successor identified, after which time royalties will be paid to the successor. At the end of the seven-year period, DACS will stop managing the rights, unless the artist’s successor signs a new Artimage Membership Agreement.

Royalty distribution

We distribute royalties collected through Artimage four times a year, in February, May, August and November, in the same way that we distribute Copyright Licensing royalties.

Your payment is accompanied by a statement which includes:

the source of each image fee (including where we have received money from abroad)
the use for which the fee is payable
the gross fee
the fee net of DACS’ deduction to cover our administration costs and any other deductions (e.g. withholding tax).

There is no fee to join Artimage. We cover our operating costs by retention of percentages from image fees we collect on your behalf.

Our deduction for Artimage fees is 35% for direct members and 30% for repertoire managed on a Collection's behalf.

DACS retains any interest earned on revenues held before distribution to members which contributes to our operating costs.

DACS does not make any deductions for cultural or social funds or for any other similar purpose.

Our Board reviews our deductions to cover administration costs annually and any changes are presented to the voting members for approval at the Annual General Meeting.

For more information about Artimage, please contact DACS at [email protected] or 020 7336 8811.

Artist’s Resale Right

Artist’s Resale Right entitles artists and artists’ heirs to a royalty each time their art work is resold for more than €1000 by an auction house, gallery or dealer, subject to certain conditions.

Mandate DACS

Under the UK’s Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 (updated 2012), the Artist’s Resale Right can only be exercised through a collecting society. You can mandate DACS to collect resale royalties on your behalf. If you mandate DACS for the collection of your Artist’s Resale Right royalties you become an Associate Member as defined in DACS’ Articles of Association.

When DACS is notified of a royalty arising from a sale of an artwork by an artist who is not represented by DACS, or another collecting society, we will seek to collect the royalty and find the artist, or their heirs, in order to distribute the royalty to them.

If you are an artist: to appoint DACS to manage Artist’s Resale Right on your behalf, you can complete our online form. This online form includes the terms of the mandate authorising DACS to act on your behalf. If you prefer to receive a paper form, you can request one from the same webpage.
If you are the heir or beneficiary of an artist’s estate, we will need to seek further information from you, which means that you will need to complete a paper form. You can register your interest by completing an online form or request a paper form by contacting us using the details in Section 8 below.

Members of Artist’s Resale Right can resign by providing three months’ written notice in accordance with the provisions of the Artist’s Resale Right mandate.

DACS’ Articles of Association provide that the DACS Board of Directors should be made up of an equal number of Member Directors and Non-Member Directors making up no fewer than six and no more than sixteen Directors in total.

Royalty distribution

We distribute royalties collected for Artist’s Resale Right to Artist’s Resale Right Members within 30 days of having received the royalty payment from the relevant auction house, gallery or dealer.

Find out how your Artist’s Resale Right royalty is calculated

We have developed tools on our website for everyone to use to calculate Artist’s Resale Right royalties as accurately as possible: please see our threshold calculator and royalty calculator.

Your payment is accompanied by a statement which includes:

the date of the sale of the work
whether the sale was made by an auction house or a gallery
the title of the work
the resale price
the resale royalty
DACS’ deduction to cover our administration costs any other deductions (e.g. withholding tax)
the net royalty.

Read our Distribution Policy

Undistributed royalties

DACS has six years from the time it collects an Artist’s Resale Right royalty to find and pay the royalty to the artist or heir. If we are unable to find the rightful owner of the royalty within this time the royalty is returned to the person who paid it, less deductions to cover DACS’ administration costs.

Deductions to cover our administration costs

There is no fee to become an Artist’s Resale Right Member. We cover our operating costs by retention of percentages from royalties we collect.

Our deductions for Artist’s Resale Right royalties are:

15% from royalties collected from UK sales.
5% from royalties collected from overseas sales.

Figures for previous years can be found in the respective Annual Review available on the DACS website.

DACS retains any interest earned on revenues held before distribution to members which contributes to our operating costs.

DACS does not make any deductions for cultural or social funds or for any other similar purpose.

Voting Members approve the policy on deductions to cover administration costs on an annual basis at the Annual General Meetings.

Read more information about our Artist’s Resale Right activities

Payback

Payback is an annual distribution scheme run by DACS. We negotiate a share of collective licensing revenue for works by visual artists which are reproduced in publications like books and magazines but also in TV programmes. We distribute to thousands of artists every year.

Collective licensing schemes cover situations where it would be impractical for you to license your rights on an individual basis, for example, when a student in a library wants to photocopy pages from a book which features your work. As the creator of the work being photocopied, you are entitled to a royalty, but rather than ask the student to contact you every time they photocopy your work, the library pays an annual licence fee that covers their students photocopying copyright protected works.

It’s not just libraries and universities that do this. Different types of businesses and organisations buy a similar licence too.

The money comes from a variety of sources, whether for printed publications or broadcast. The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) distributes money to DACS for printed and select digital publications: every year the CLA sells photocopying licences to schools, universities, local councils, central government and business organisations. Authors and publishers also receive a share of this money through Authors' Licensing Collecting Society (ALCS) and Publishers Licensing Society (PLS) respectively. As a visual artist you can then claim royalties through DACS’ Payback scheme. If you mandate DACS for the collection of Payback royalties, you become an Associate Member as defined in DACS’ Articles of Association.

The other collective licensing schemes cover the following:

The repeat of UK terrestrial and digital TV broadcasts on cable TV
The Educational Recording Agency (ERA) licensing scheme for off-air recording of television programmes by schools, colleges and universities
Artistic works included in simultaneous retransmissions of UK broadcasts to licensed cable and satellite operators in the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Other similar limited uses licensed by Sister Societies which are for example governed by levy systems.

Making a claim

You will need to be a Payback Member in order to make a Payback claim. DACS invites all artists (or their heirs) to become a Payback Member and to claim a share of the royalties we receive for collective licensing of artistic works. The important thing is that you own the copyright in the work you are claiming for and that you can grant DACS a licence on the basis of which DACS can negotiate agreements with third parties like the CLA and others.

When submitting a Payback claim to DACS you will need to become a Payback Member by ticking the relevant box when prompted. The Terms and Conditions of Payback Membership are available online. You can resign as a Payback Member by written notice sent to DACS. You can either resign as a Payback Member completely or alternatively only for certain elements under the Payback claim, i.e. for publications or for TV. Terminating or withdrawing rights will take effect at the end of the calendar year from which you give notice, following a one-month notice period. This means that all written notices for termination or withdrawal of rights must be received by 30 November in any calendar year, otherwise DACS will continue to represent you for Payback for the following year within the mandate received from you previously.

If you terminate your Payback Membership, you are still entitled to claim Payback the following year for royalties that were collected whilst you were a Payback Member.

If you wish to retain part of your Payback Membership, it is important that you set out clearly in your termination notice in respect of which rights and subject matter you wish to terminate your Payback Membership. Please note that terminating your Payback Membership does not necessarily mean that your works are no longer included in a collective licensing scheme. For the CLA scheme you would need to inform the CLA directly that you wish to opt out of the licensing scheme, whilst in the case of ERA your works would fall under a statutory exception and could be used for free.

If you are an artist or heir who is a DACS Copyright Licensing Member you do not have to become a Payback Member or make a Payback claim as we do this for you as we have direct access to the licensing activities regarding your works.

We have agreements with a number of trade unions and professional associations whose members create artistic works in which they retain the copyright. These agreements mandate DACS as the representative body for managing the collectively licensed rights of their members.

DACS will consult Payback Members on our activities and decisions that materially affect you and your rights.

DACS’ Articles of Association provide that the DACS Board of Directors should be made up of an equal number of Member Directors and Non-Member Directors making up no fewer than six and no more than sixteen Directors in total.

Royalty distribution

Payback Members who make a valid Payback claim receive their share of Payback royalties once a year, with royalties currently distributed at the end of September.

Individuals (or their representatives) are invited to tell us about how they have exercised the reproduction rights in their works in circumstances relevant to the collective licensing schemes in which DACS participates. DACS completes a claim for its Copyright Licensing Members on the same basis, whose claims are then treated in exactly the same way as those by Payback Members. Claims are made online or by completing a printed Payback form.

Read our Distribution Policy

Every payment is accompanied by a statement which includes:

the gross royalty
any VAT or withholding tax deductions
the net royalty

There is no fee to become a Payback Member. We cover our operating costs by retention of percentages from royalties we collect.

DACS’ deduction for Payback royalties is 15%.

Figures for previous years can be found in the respective Annual Review available on the DACS website.

DACS retains any interest earned on revenues held before distribution to members which contributes to our operating costs.

DACS does not make any deductions for cultural or social funds or for any other similar purpose.

Our Board reviews our deductions to cover administration costs on at least an annual basis.

Read more information about collective licensing and Payback

4. Governance and company information

Copyright Licensing Members have the option to have voting rights under company law. Copyright Licensing Members with voting rights (Voting Members) will be invited to attend Annual General Meetings (‘AGM’) and vote on resolutions such as voting in members of the Board of Directors.

DACS is governed by a Board of Directors appointed in accordance with a published role description and person specification, which we advertise widely and among Copyright Licensing, Payback and Artist’s Resale Right Members. We conduct a rigorous shortlisting process in accordance with good equal opportunities and diversity practice, and interview selected candidates in a competitive process.

Each Director appointed to the Board is appointed to serve a term of four years. At the end of such term, a Director is eligible to stand for re-appointment to the Board for a further term of four years. There is no limit on the number of terms that a Director may serve.

The Articles of Association provide that the Board should be made up of not less than six nor more than sixteen Directors and DACS strives to ensure that Directors shall be made up of an equal number of Member Directors and Non-Member Directors, so that visual artists are suitably represented on the Board. Vacant positions shall be filled by vote at the AGM.

Board Committees

Under DACS’ Articles of Association, the Board can also delegate any of its duties to committees comprising Board members and executive staff (and if appropriate external parties).

Currently DACS has the following Board sub-committees:

Finance and Audit Committee

Monitors financial performance and advises the Board on strategic implications or significance of financial matters.

Remuneration Committee

Oversees DACS’ HR policies and practices; reviews Board and staff remuneration and makes recommendations to the Board in this respect.

Business Development Committee

Oversees business development as well as artists’ recruitment, licensing, research and development activities.

Legal Committee

Provides general strategic advice to the Board on legal issues arising in the course of DACS’ business.

The extent of delegation is reflected in individual procedural rules for each committee which are reviewed periodically to ensure the best connection between Board and committees.

General Meetings

Copyright Licensing Members who have elected to become Voting Members have voting rights.

Notice of the AGM will be accompanied by an agenda of the meeting, copies of resolutions and a form of proxy.

Consultation

DACS regularly consults with a wide range of stakeholders on issues materially affecting them, including:

How DACS should respond to changes in copyright legislation
Changes to DACS’ governance
Changes to licensing terms and conditions

With regards to DACS’ participation or running of potential Extended Collective Licence Schemes, DACS undertakes to consult with rights holders that would be affected by the proposed Extended Collective Licensing Scheme and acknowledges that DACS requires informed consent of a substantial proportion of Members to apply for the authorisation of any such Scheme.

DACS consults via post, email and, where appropriate, by meeting with groups of stakeholders. Consultations may be promoted via our website and on social media platforms.

Company information

We publish an Annual Review which includes a summary of activities during the period in question, a list of Board Directors and staff, and a summary of the accounts for the year in question as well as other matters of interest to our stakeholders. We also publish our Annual Audited Accounts separately. A copy of the full set of accounts can be found on the About Us section of our website or you can request a copy from the Chief Operating Officer via [email protected].

The following documents are also available on our website:

Please see the About Us section on our website for more information.

5. Service levels and performance

These standards set out our service commitment to right holders, other collective management organisations and users.

DACS – our people

We promise to:

treat you fairly, honestly, reasonably and impartially regardless of whether or not you are a Member
be courteous and friendly whenever we speak to you
give our name whenever we are communicating with you
treat your enquiry strictly in confidence

General enquiries

We always aim to answer your enquiry the first time you contact us. Where this is not possible, we will give you a time frame within which you can expect a full response from us.

When you contact DACS by phone, we will:

aim to answer all telephone calls within five rings
confirm you have got through to DACS by giving you our name and asking how we can help you
respond within one working day to requests for a telephone call back

When forwarding your call or taking a message we will:

take your name, phone number and your reason for calling to pass on to the DACS team member best placed to assist with your query
tell you who you are being transferred to, or who will call you back

When you write to us by post or email, we will:

respond to all letters within 5 working days
respond to all emails and faxes within 1 working day

When we contact you, we will:

give our name, job and reason for contacting you
use plain English
give you clear contact information for you to reply to us
and where applicable we will provide suitable explanatory materials

Specific requests, enquiries and concern

Joining DACS:

We will respond to your enquiry about joining DACS within one working day.

Artists’ Services:

We will respond to your enquiry about the Artists’ Resale Right, Copyright Licensing or Payback within one working day.

Licensing an artwork:

We will respond to your initial licensing enquiry within one working day. Please allow up to ten working days to obtain your licence from us. Some copyright owners ask that we consult them whenever a licence is requested and this means that the process may take time. Where we are unable to issue a licence within ten working days we will keep you updated on the progress of your application.

Royalties:

We will respond to your enquiry about royalty payments within one working day.

Complaints

Please see our complaints procedure.

DACS runs a free Copyright Advice Service for Copyright Licensing and Artist’s Resale Right Members. Queries can be submitted via our online form. We will respond to your query within two working days.

Data request

Please see the section Personal information and our data policies

Our commitments

DACS will ensure that we:

comply with the terms of our Articles of Association, Membership Agreements, the Code of Conduct and any applicable legislation or other relevant legal regulations such as the CRM Regulations.
review and update our offers and strive for continuous improvement in quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness.
be diligent in the collection and management of rights revenue.
provide a fair and simple procedure for you to use in order to express dissatisfaction about any aspect of our activities.
train staff in relation to their obligations and commitments set out in this Code of Conduct.
ensure our building is wheelchair accessible.
ensure our website is accessible and complies with guidelines set out in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
treat all Members and non-member rightsholders fairly, honestly, reasonably, impartially and courteously.

6. Personal information and our data policies

In order to carry out our activities we need to gather personal data about individuals, including addresses, bank details, telephone numbers, email addresses and information about artists’ works.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner as a Data Controller for the purposes of the relevant legislation, primarily the Data Protection Act 2018, which implements the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

We have set out the reasons why we obtain personal data, how we use it and what rights you have as a data subject in our Privacy Policy.

Read our full Privacy Policy on our website

Your rights as a data subject include the right to access the personal data we hold about you.

Should you wish to access the personal data we may hold about you then you can request this from us in writing. Upon written request we will provide you with a readable copy of the personal data which we keep about you. We will respond to you within the time frame specified within the Data Protection Act 2018, which is generally within one month of receipt of the written request. We will provide the information without charge, but we may charge a reasonable fee for the administrative cost of providing the information where the request for information is unfounded, repetitive or excessive.

To request a copy of your personal data or if you require us to update any information we hold about you please inform us in writing, addressing your request to the Data Department using the contact details set out in Section 8 of this Code.

If you do not wish to receive direct marketing material from DACS you can inform us via the contact details in Section 8 of this Code.

7. Complaints

Anyone who is dissatisfied with the activities that DACS undertakes can make a complaint. General complaints should follow this complaints procedure if you believe:

DACS has not complied with its service standards, privacy policies, terms and conditions or any obligation in this Code of Conduct
DACS has not complied with a provision in your membership agreement
DACS has not complied with its obligations under the CRM Regulations
You have received discourteous or unprofessional behaviour from DACS staff
You have faced unreasonable delays or DACS has failed to take action in dealing with you

We encourage staff to listen actively for opportunities to tell you about how you can complain formally as a means of expressing your dissatisfaction.

Internal Complaints Procedure

Step 1:   Address your communication to the Head of Legal, who will respond to your complaint within ten working days.

Step 2:   If you remain dissatisfied with our response to your complaint, let us know so that we can refer the matter to our Chief Executive.

Step 3:   In the event that you continue to remain dissatisfied with our response to your complaint, please let us know so that we can refer the matter to our Board of Directors, who will investigate the matter further.

You can make your complaint by telephone, email, or letter:

Head of Legal
DACS
33 Old Bethnal Green Road
London E2 6AA

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 020 7336 8811

At each stage of the complaints procedure, we will investigate the complaint thoroughly and objectively. We will respond to you comprehensively in writing within ten working days of receiving the complaint. Where any such complaint is rejected we will set out the reasons for this in writing to you.

We will strive to maintain the standards set out in the complaints procedure. However, in the event that we are unable to respond within the timescales we will let you know without delay.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal complaints procedure, or if you consider that your complaint has not been correctly handled, you can use the complaints procedures offered by the following bodies:

The Intellectual Property Office for complaints relating to copyright licensing or the CRM Regulations; or
The Information Commissioners Office for complaints relating to DACS’ use of your personal data

Intellectual Property Office

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is a governmental department that monitors compliance with the CRM Regulations. The IPO have published guidance on the requirements of the CRM Regulations.

If you wish to progress a complaint beyond the internal complaints procedure that relates to DACS’ obligations under the CRM Regulations, you should provide the following to the IPO:

a clear, detailed description of what your concern is about, including what aspects of the CRM Regulations you believe may have been breached
copies of any correspondence with DACS related to the issue
contracts, terms and conditions or agreements, if applicable
any other supporting evidence

You can submit your information by email to [email protected] or by post to:

Collective Rights
Intellectual Property Office
3rd Floor
10 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0NB

Information Commissioner’s Office

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights. If you have lodged a complaint with DACS about your privacy or personal data and you are not satisfied with the outcome of our internal complaints procedure or consider your complaint was incorrectly handed, you may lodge a complaint with the ICO.

You can contact the ICO by email to [email protected], using their helpline on 0303 123 1133 or by post to:

Customer Contact
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF

8. Contacting DACS

You can contact DACS by email, telephone, fax and post:

T: +44 (0)20 7336 8811
E: [email protected]
F: +44 (020) 7336 8822

Postal address: DACS, 33 Old Bethnal Green Road, London, E2 6AA

Our website is at www.dacs.org.uk

Our office hours are 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday, when our reception staff are available on our main switchboard number.

Our website also lists all our staff and their direct telephone numbers and email addresses.

9. Code review

DACS reviews its compliance in respect of the obligations under this Code regularly. DACS strives to review this Code of Conduct at least annually in line with relevant regulations. We will publish a report in our Annual Review which is publicly available. We will work with any other third parties appointed to oversee, review and report on the application and operation of our Code of Conduct.

Last updated: 23 May 2022

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