DACS adopts voluntary code of conduct

DACS has been closely involved with the British Copyright Council's development of voluntary codes of conduct for collecting societies.

This has culminated in the publication in November 2012 of a set of principles for collecting societies to incorporate into their own codes. 

Download the British Copyright Council's Principles for Collective Management Organisations’ Codes of Conduct.

We have therefore developed our own code: DACS Voluntary Code of Conduct.

In a fast-changing world we anticipate that we will be making changes to our code in the course of 2013, and we will provide updates on our homepage. In particular, we will be developing a code of conduct which faces our copyright licensing customers.

Meanwhile, we would welcome any comments you may have about our Code at any time. Please email us with your feedback.

In addition, the Government also published its Minimum Standards for UK collecting societies in October 2012.

According to the Intellectual Property Office, these Minimum Standards, which were developed in consultation with collecting societies, are intended “…to underpin the self-regulatory framework for collecting societies. The minimum standards, which cover fairness, transparency, and good governance, are intended to form the basis of collecting societies’ individual codes of practice. An initial review of these codes will be undertaken by an independent code reviewer in November 2013, one year after launch.”
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For more information:

- Visit the IPO's website where you can also download a copy of the minimum standards.

- View DACS' Copyright Licensing terms and conditions  

- Download our current Articles of Association. 

Photo: Martin Parr © Brian Benson 2013.