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Law No. 78 Of 8 April 1998

Original Language Title:  LEGE nr. 78 din 8 aprilie 1998

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LEGE no. 78 78 of 8 April 1998 for the accession of Romania to the Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against Unauthorized Reproduction of their Phonograms, adopted in Geneva on 29 October 1971
ISSUER Parliament
Published in OFFICIAL MONITOR no. 156 156 of 17 April 1998



The Romanian Parliament adopts this law + Article UNIC Romania accedes to the Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against Unauthorized Reproduction of their Phonograms, adopted in Geneva on 29 October 1971. This law was adopted by the Senate at the meeting of February 10, 1998, in compliance with the provisions of art 74 74 para. (2) of the Romanian Constitution. p. SENATE PRESIDENT RADU VASILE This law was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies at its meeting on March 9, 1998, in compliance with the provisions of 74 74 para. (2) of the Romanian Constitution. p. CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES PRESIDENT ANDREI IOAN CHILIMAN + CONVENTION for the protection of phonogram producers against unauthorised reproduction of their phonograms *) ((29 October 1971) * * Translation Contracting States, concerned with the increasing extent of unauthorised reproduction of phonograms and the resulting concern for the interests of authors, performers and phonogram producers, convinced that the protection of producers of phonograms against such acts will equally serve the interests of performers and authors, whose executions and works are recorded on those phonograms, recognising the value of the efforts made in this area by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization. concerned not to prejudice in any way the international conventions in force and, in particular, to prevent a wider acceptance of the Rome Convention of 26 October 1961, which grants protection to performers or executors and broadcasters, as well as phonogram producers, agreed the following: + Article 1 Definitions For the purposes of this Convention: a) the phonogram shall mean any sound-only fixation of sounds originating from an execution or other sound; b) producer of phonograms means the natural or legal person who fixes the first sounds from an execution or other sound; c) copy shall mean a support containing directly or indirectly resumed sound from a phonogram and incorporating all or a substantial part of the sounds fixed in this phonogram; d) distribution to the public means any act whose object is to provide children, directly or indirectly, to the public, in general, or to any part of it. + Article 2 Commitment of Contracting States. Protection criterion; subject to protection Each Contracting State shall undertake to protect the producers of phonograms nationals of other Contracting States against the production of copies made without the consent of the manufacturer and against the import of such copies, if its production or the import is made for the purpose of distribution to the public, as against the distribution of these copies to the public. + Article 3 Application of the Convention by Contracting States The national legislation of each Contracting State is reserved for the means by which this Convention will be applied and which will include one or more of the following means: protection by granting an copyright or another specific law; protection by means of unfair competition law; protection by criminal sanctions. + Article 4 Protection duration The duration of the protection granted is reserved for the national legislation of each contracting However, if the national law provides for a specific duration of protection, this duration will not be less than 20 years calculated from the end of either the year during which the sounds incorporated in the phonogram were first fixed, or the year during which the phonogram was first published. + Article 5 Formalities When a Contracting State requires, on the basis of its national law, the fulfilment of formalities as a condition for the protection of phonogram producers, these requirements shall be deemed to be fulfilled, if all copies authorised from the phonogram, which is distributed to the public, or the shell containing it bears a statement made up of the symbol "P", accompanied by the indication of the year of the first publication, applied in a way that shows in a clear manner that the protection is reserved; if the copies or their shell does not allow the manufacturer to be identified, the holder of the right or the holder of the exclusive licence (by means of the name, mark or any appropriate designation), the entry will also have to contain the name of the manufacturer, the holder of his right of the exclusive licence holder. + Article 6 Protection limits Any Contracting State which provides protection by means of copyright or other specific right, or even by means of criminal sanctions, may, in its national law, provide for limitations of the protection of manufacturers of phonograms, of the same nature as those that are admitted to the protection of authors of literary and artistic works. However, no compulsory licence may be provided, unless the following conditions are met: a) reproduction is intended for use exclusively in education and scientific research; b) the license will only be valid for reproduction on the territory of the contracting state whose competent authority has granted the license and will not extend to the export of children; c) the reproduction made on the basis of the licence entitles to a fair remuneration, which is fixed by that authority, taking into account, among other elements, the number of copies to be made. + Article 7 Protecting certain situations 1. Protecting copyright and related rights. 2. Protecting performers. 3. Neretroactivity of convention. 4. Unique criterion of fixation. (1) The present Convention could not, in any way, be construed as limiting or affecting the protection afforded to the authors, performers, producers of phonograms or broadcasting organisations, under the laws of the national or international conventions. (2) The national legislation of each contracting state will determine, as the case may be, the extent of the protection granted to performers whose execution is fixed on a phonogram, as well as the conditions under which they will enjoy such protection. (3) No Contracting State shall be obliged to apply the provisions of this Convention, as regards phonograms fixed before it enters into force, as regards that State. ((4) Any State whose national legislation, in force on 29 October 1971, provides to the producers of phonograms a protection established solely by the place of the first fixation may, by a notification lodged with the Director-General of the The World Intellectual Property Organization, to declare that it will apply this criterion instead of that of the manufacturer's nationality. + Article 8 Convention administration (1) The International Office of the World Intellectual Property Organization collects and publishes information on the protection of phonograms. Each Contracting State shall communicate to the International Bureau, as soon as possible, the text of any new law, as well as all official texts on this matter. (. The International Bureau shall provide any Contracting State, at its request, with information on matters concerning this Convention; it shall also conduct studies and provide services intended to facilitate the protection provided for by the Convention. (3) The international office shall exercise the functions listed in paragraph ((1) and (2) above in collaboration, as regards the matters pertaining to their respective competences, with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Labour Organization. + Article 9 Ways of accepting the convention 1. Signing and submitting the convention. 2 2 and 3. Access to the convention. 4. Compliance of the national law with the convention. (. This Convention shall be submitted to the General Secretariat of the United Nations. It shall remain open for signature, until 30 April 1972, to any Member State of the United Nations, of one of the specialised institutions of the United Nations or of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Or part of the Statute of the International Court (. This Convention shall be subject to ratification or acceptance of the signatory States. It is open to the accession of any state concerned in paragraph ((1) of this Article. ((. The instruments of ratification, acceptance or accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. (4) It is understood that, when a State becomes party to this Convention, it must be able, in accordance with its domestic law, to apply the provisions of the Convention. + Article 10 Reserves No reservation shall be admitted to this Convention. + Article 11 Entry into force and application of the Convention 1 and 2. Entry into force of the convention. 3 3 and 4. Applicability of the Convention to certain territories ((. This Convention shall enter into force 3 months after the deposit of the fifth instrument of ratification, acceptance or accession. ((. As regards the State which ratifies or accepts the present Convention or which accedes to it after the deposit of the fifth instrument of ratification, acceptance or accession, this Convention shall enter into force 3 months after the date on which the the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization informs the states, according to art. 13 13 para. ((4), about the deposit of its instrument. ((3) Any State may, at the time of ratification, acceptance or accession, or at any time thereafter, declare, by written notice to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, that this Convention is applicable the ensemble or one of the territories to which international relations are ensured. This notification shall become applicable 3 months after the date of receipt thereof. (4) However, the preceding paragraph cannot be interpreted in any event as involving the tacit recognition or acceptance, by any of the Contracting States, of the factual situation in any territory to which this Convention is applicable, thanks to another Contracting State on the basis of the above-named paragraph. + Article 12 Whistleblowing (1) Any Contracting State has the right to denounce the present Convention either on its own behalf or on behalf of one or the ensemble of the territories in art. 11 11 para. ((3), by written notification, addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. ((. Denunciation shall become applicable 12 months after the date on which the Secretary-General of the United Nations received the notification. + Article 13 Languages of the Convention and of notifications (. The present Convention shall be signed in a single copy, in English, Spanish, French and Russian, the four texts having equal validity. (2) Official texts are established by the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, after consulting the interested governments, in German, Arabic, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese. (. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall notify the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Director-General of UNESCO and the Director-General of the International Labour Office: a) signatures of this Convention; b) deposit of instruments of ratification, acceptance or accession; c) the date of entry into force of this Convention; d) any statement notified under art. 11 11 para. ((3); e) receipt of denunciation notices. (4) The Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization informs the states concerned in art. 9 9 para. ((1) on the notifications received on the application of the previous paragraph and on the statements made on the basis of art. 7 7 para. ((4). He also notifies those statements to the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Director-General of the International Labour Office. (. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall transmit two copies, certified, in accordance with this Convention, to the States concerned in Article 9 9 para. ((1). -----------------