site.btaFilmautor to Alert EU Institutions of Delayed Transposition of European Directives

The Filmautor society, an organization managing copyright and related rights in audiovisual works, will alert the competent authorities in the European Union of failure to implement European legislation in Bulgaria and will file a lawsuit against the state for damages. This became clear Thursday at a press conference held by the association at the BTA National Press Club. 

Members of the Filmautor management board took part in the conference, including: the company's executive director, Maria Palaurova-Cholakova, directors Iglika Trifonova and Stanislav Todorov-Rogi, screenwriter and producer Lilo Petrov, producer Galina Toneva, and Georgi Cholakov from the board.

The representatives of Filmautor stated that the reason for the press conference was the recent sanction imposed on Bulgaria by the European Commission, amounting to approximately BGN 4 million. “In May, Bulgaria was fined nearly 4 million leva by the European Commission for the delayed transposition of European Directives 2019/789 and 2019/790. The two directives are part of the Copyright and Related Rights Act of 2023,” Lilo Petrov explained.

According to him, this creates a paradox in which Bulgarian artists will contribute to the payment of this fine as taxpayers. “The other problem is that we will also pay in terms of reputation, because Bulgaria is becoming the only country in the European Union where audiovisual authors do not receive the remuneration guaranteed to them by law. Authors and producers of films from all over the world do not receive remuneration from retransmission in our country. These damages on an annual basis are greater than the fine imposed if we calculate a minimum percentage for other companies in EU member states," Petrov added.

“The two million euro fine will be paid from the money allocated for culture - for theatre, films and music. This means fewer projects, fewer opportunities, less future for young artists and fewer cultural products for the public,” Iglika Trifonova explained.

The society said that more than a year and a half after the adoption of the latest amendments to the Copyright and Related Rights Act, they are not working and the organisation cannot approve the retransmission tariff. According to representatives, this situation leads to direct financial losses.

“In Bulgaria, there are no functioning rules that allow organisations such as Filmautor to effectively protect the rights of creators. What we want are clear rules and a normal environment so that we can do our job. We will seek our rights before the European institutions,” said Maria Palaurova.

“We do not want money from the state. We want clear rules that allow us to function. Filmautor is the worst performing association in the field of audiovisual media in the EU. We receive income for Bulgarian authors from abroad and do not send a single lev abroad,” Lilo Petrov added.

The association insists that those responsible bear the consequences of their inaction, which has led to the humiliating situation in which the creators find themselves. Representatives of Filmautor emphasised that they are ready to demand the resignation of the head of the Copyright Directorate of the Culture Ministry, Mehti Melikov.

In addition, the society will demand that the Ministry of Culture take immediate action to control and sanction operators who do not comply with the law, as well as to create guarantees for the functioning of collective rights management organisations in this country. The representatives stated that they would take action against the state, which is causing harm to film authors and producers by failing to create conditions for the functioning of collective rights management organisations, even though it is obliged to do so under EU directives.

Filmautor is a collective rights management organisation in the field of audiovisual works, established in 1993. It represents over 1,500 Bulgarian directors, screenwriters, cinematographers and producers, as well as more than 180,000 authors from 29 related foreign associations. Filmautor also represents producers from around the world, including more than 800 American producers such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Sony Pictures, and Paramount.

Filmautor is part of the international copyright community and is a member of CISAC, SSA and AGICOA.