DACS has made some key changes in response to the Collective Rights Management (CRM) Regulations, introduced into UK law in April 2016. These include greater transparency and improvements to our processes to increase members’ involvement in our decision-making.
Background to the CRM Regulations
The Collective Rights Management (CRM) Regulations - formally known as
The Collective Management of Copyright (EU Directive) Regulations 2016 - are based on an EU law which intends to level the playing field for collective management organisations across Europe, making their operations and governance structures more transparent and consistent.
DACS is committed to providing the best service to our members and licensing clients. As such, we have been preparing for the CRM Regulations over the past three years and have made a series of changes to meet the standards required by the law.
These build on the changes we implemented as part of
our governance review in 2013, which put decision-making back into the hands of our members through the reintroduction of Annual General Meetings (AGMs).
What changes are being made?
From 2016 onwards, we will be publishing an Annual Transparency Report to meet new standards for financial reporting. This will be available to download from our website
here, together with our Annual Review and Audited Accounts.
By updating
our Articles of Association, we have introduced new digital processes to make it even easier for
Voting members to participate in Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs) and AGMs, and vote on changes in the organisation. We have also introduced safeguards to ensure that the decision-making abilities of our Board of Directors are maintained when one of the Directors retires or completes their term of service.
We now provide more information on our website about how we are run and what it means to be a member of DACS - see our new sections:
Our network,
Corporate Resources and
Governance. We have also updated
our Complaints Procedure to provide more information on how to escalate a complaint.
Ongoing developments
We continue to liaise closely with the
Intellectual Property Office to ensure that the law is managed with the best possible outcome for artists, by taking part in
consultations and contributing to ongoing working groups.
More information about the CRM Regulations, including the law itself, can be found on the
Intellectual Property Office’s website.
Image: Golden Morning, 2014, Trevor Sutton © Trevor Sutton. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2016. Photo: Paul Tucker. License this image on Artimage.