Law Regarding Authors' Copyright and Related Rights

Published in Official Gazette no. 60 of 26 March 1996

ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT

Title I
Copyright

Part I
General Provisions

Chapter I
Introduction Provisions

            Art.1. - (1) Copyright upon a literary, artistic or scientific work, as well as upon any other similar work of intellectual creation, is recognized and guaranteed in the conditions of the present Law. This right is linked to the author and has moral and patrimonial attributes.
            (2) The intellectual creation work is recognized and protected, irrespective if it is made available to the public, by the mere fact of its creation, even unfinished.
            Art. 2. - Acknowledging the rights provided in the present Law does not prejudice or exclude the protection granted by other legal provisions.

CHAPTER II
The Subject of Copyright

            Art. 3. -  (1)Author is the physical person or persons that have created the work.
            (2) In special cases provided by the Law, by the protection granted to the author can benefit other physical or juridical persons than the author.
            (3) the feature of subject of the copyright can be transmitted in the conditions of the Law.
            Art. 4 . - (1)It is presumed to be author, until proved against, the person under whose name the work was lawfully made available to the public for the first time.
            (2) When the work was made available to the public as being anonymous or under pseudonym that does not allow identification of the author, copyright is exerted by the physical or juridical person that makes it public with the author's approval, as long as this does not disclose the identity.
            Art. 5. - (1) It is joint work the work created by many more co- authors, in contribution.
            (2) Copyright upon a joint work belongs to its co-authors, out of which one can be main author, in the conditions of the present Law.
            (3) Only when decided otherwise, the co-authors can exploit the work only on common agreement. The denial for approval of one of the co-authors must be well justified.
            (4) in case when contribution of each co-author is distinct, it can be exploited separately, with the condition that this will not prejudice exploiting of the joint work, or the rights of the other co-authors.
            (5) in case of using the work mutually created, the benefits are distributed to co-authors in the proportions established by them.
            When such convention does not exists, benefits are divided proportionally to the parts of contribution of the authors, or equally, if such parts can not be established.
            Art. 6. - (1) It is joint work the work where the personal contributions of the co-authors create a whole, without being possible, considering the nature of the work, to be granted a distinct right to one of the co-authors upon the total created work.
            (2) only when decided otherwise, the copyright upon the joint work belongs to the physical or juridical under whose initiative, responsibility and name, it was created.

CHAPTER III
The Object of Copyright

            Art.7. - Object of Copyright are the original works of intellectual creation in the literary, artistic or scientific field, no matter of the method of creation, the way or concrete form of expression and independently of their value or destination, such as:
            1. literary and publicists works, conferences, sermons, pleadings, lecturers and any other written or oral works, as well as comput er programs;
            2. scientific works, written or oral, like: communications, studies, university lecturers, school books, projects and scientific documentation;
            3. musical compositions, with or without text;
            4. dramatic works, musical dramas, choreographic operas and panto mimes;
            5. movies, as well as any other audiovisual works;
            6. photographic works, as well as any other works expressed through a process similar to photography;
            7. works of art like: sculptures, paintings, graphics, engravings, lithography, monumental arts, stage designing, tapes try, ceramics, glass and metal arts, as well as art works applied to the products destined to a practical utilization;
            8. architecture works, including the plates, models or drawings that forms architectural projects;
            9. paintings, maps and drawings from the field of topography, geography and science in general;
            Art. 8. - Without prejudicing the rights of the authors of the original works, the derived works that have been created from one or more already existing works, are also object of copyright, as follows:
            1. translations, adaptations, annotates, documentary works, musical arrangements and any other transform ations of a literary, artistic or scientific work that represents an intellectual work of creation;
            2.collections of literary, artistic or scientific works like: encyclopedias and anthologies, collections or compilations of materials or data, protected or not, including data bases which through selecting or material disposing, represents intellectual creations.
            Art. 9. - The following can not benefit of legal protection for the copyright:
            1. ideas, theories, concepts, discoveries and inventions, con tained by a work, whatever way of undertaken, writing or express ing would be;
            2. official texts of politic, legal, administrative or judiciary nature and their official translations;
            3.official symbols of the State, of public authorities and organizations, like: seal or flag, emblem, coat of arms, badge and medal;
            4. means of payment;
            5. news and press releases;
            6. simple facts and dates.

CHAPTER IV
The Content of Copyright

            Art.10.- The author of a work has the following moral rights:
            1. the right to decide if, in what way and when the work will be made available to the public;
            2. the right to claim the acknowledge of the quality of author of the work
            3. the right to decide under what name the work will be communicated to the public; the right to claim respecting of the integrity of the work and to oppose to any modification, and to any harm brought to
the work, if it prejudices the author's honor or reputation;
            4. the right to take back the work, compensating if necessary, the owners of the exploiting rights, prejudiced by this taking back.
            Art. 11.  - 1.Moral rights can not be object of a repealing or of alienating.
            2. After author's death, the rights provided in art.10 letter b) and d) are transmitted through inheritance, according to the civil legislation, on unlimited period. If no inheritants exists, this rights go to the Romanian Office for Copyrights.
            Art.12. - The author of a work has the exclusive patrimonial right to decide if, in what way and when the work will be used or exploited, including the consent of using the work by others.
            Art.13. - Using or exploiting a work gives birth to distinct and exclusive rights for the author to authorize:
            1. partial or total reproduction of the work;
            2. distribution of the work;
            3. imports in view of trading on Romanian market of work's copies done with author's consent;
            4. representing on stage, reciting or any other public way of execution or of direct presentation of the work;
            5. public exposure of fine arts, applied arts, photography or architecture;
            6. public projections of cinematographic works and of any other audiovisual works;
            7. distributing a work through any mean that uses in wireless transmission of signals, sounds or images, including through satellites;
            8. transmitting of an work towards public through wire, cable, optic fiber or any other procedure;
            9. public communication through audio and audiovisual recordings;
            10. unaltered, simultaneously and integrally retransmission of an work through any mean cited at letters g) and h), by a broadcast ing station, different of the station of origin of the radio or tv broadcasted work;
            11. secondary broadcasting;
            12. presenting in a public place, by any means, of a radio or tv broadcasted works;
            13. public access on computerized data bases, in case when they contain or constitutes protected works.
            Art.14. - By reproduction, in the sense of the present Law, it means creation of one or more copies of a work, in any material form,  including creation of any audiovisual recording of a work, as well as permanent or temporary stocking of it, by electronic means.
            By distribution, in the sense of the present Law, it means distribution to the public of the original or of the copies of a work, by trading, renting, lending, or any other way of transmission, free of charge or not.
            It is not considered distribution, transmitting a work to public, by lending, free of charge, when it is done through public libraries.
            Art.15. - (1) Using or exploiting a work as provided in Art.13.letters d) and e), as well as through any other similar way, it represents public communication.
            (2) it is considered public, any communication of a work, made in a public place, or in any other place where are gathered a number of persons that exceeds the normal group of the members of a family and its acquaintances, irrespective if the members of that public, susceptible of receiving such communications, can or can not have it in the same place or in different places in the same time, or at different moments.
            (3) Redistribution of the copies of a work does not need anymore approval of the right's holder, but only for its renting and import.
            Art.16. - The author of a work has the exclusive patrimonial right to authorize translation, publication in collections, adapting, as well as any other transforming of the work, through a derived work is obtained.
            Art.17. - 1.The author of a literary or artistic work benefits of the exclusive right of authorizing renting of the original and copies of the works, including of the audiovisual works, of audio recorded works, of a computer program, or of a work that can be used on a computer or any other technical device, even after their distribution according to the author's consent.
            2.The right to authorize renting of the work, represents the exclusive right of an author to provide the original or copies of the work to be used for a limited period of time, in exchange of a direct or indirect financial advantage.
            Art.18. - Public renting consists in offering a person, free of charge, for using, of the original or copies of a work, for a determined period of time, through an institution that allows access of the public for this purpose. Public renting does not require the preliminary authorize of the author.
            Public renting allows the right's holder to a fair remunera tion.
            Provisions of paragraph (2) does not apply to:
            1. originals or copies of written works from the public libraries;
            2. projects of architectural structures;
            3. originals or copies of works applied to products destined to a practical utilization;
            4. originals or copies of works, in view to public communication, or for whom utilization a contract exists;
            5. the works of reference for immediate utilization or for lend ing among institutions;
            6. works created by the author within the individual labour contract, if they are used by the one who has employed the author, within the normal activity.
            Provisions of the paragraph (2) do not apply in case of public renting with educational or cultural purpose, through lawfully recognized institutions, or specially organized in this respect, by the public authorities.
            (5) Public renting of works audio or audiovisual recorded, can not be done earlier than 6 months from the first spreading of the work.
            Art.19. - The right of public communication through audio or audiovisual recordings, represents the exclusive right of the author to authorize communication to public of some lectures, musical or stage interpretations, or of other forms of fixing the work in audio or audiovisual recordings.
            Art. 20. -  The right of secondary distribution represents the exclusive right of the author to authorize communication to public of the work, after the first spreading, through any mean provided at Art.13 letters g), h),i), j) and l).
            Art. 21. - In case of each resell of a work of art through public tender or through an intermediary agent, or by a trader, the author has the right at 5 5 from the selling price, as well as the right to be informed regarding the location of the work.
            The tenders, intermediary agents and traders, that participate in trade, must communicate to the author the information provided in paragraph (1) of the present article, in a period of two months from the selling date. They will be responsible of retain ing and payment to the author of the correspondingly quote of 5 % from the selling price.
            The rights provided in the present article represents are inheritance rights and can not be object of repealing and alienating.
            Art. 22. - The owner or possessor of a work is forced to allow author's access and to provide it to the author, if this thing is necessary for exerting of the right's holder and on the condition that through this will not be harmed any legitimized interest of the owner or possessor. In this case, the owner or possessor can claim the author a sufficient guarantee for the security of the work, insurance of the work for an amount that represents the value on market of the original, as well as a adequate remuneration.
            Art. 23. - The owner of the original of a work, has no right to destroy it before offering it to the author at the costing price of the material.
            If giving back the original is not possible, the owner will allow the author to make a copy of the work, in an adequate manner.
            In case of an architectural structure, the author has only the right to make photographs of the work and to ask for sending the reproductions of the projects.

CHAPTER V
Duration of the Copyright Protection

            Art. 24. - Copyright upon a literary, artistic or scientific work is born in the moment of the work's creation, irrespective of the way or concrete form of expression.
        If the work is created in a period of time in parts, installments, volumes and any other forms of continuation, the term of protection will be calculated, according to paragraph (1), for each of this components.
            Art. 25. - Patrimonial rights provided in Art.13,16,17,18 and 21 last all the period of the author's life, and after author's death, they are transmitted by inheritance, according to the civil legislation, for a period of 70 years, irrespective of the date when the work was lawfully made available to the public. If no inheritors exist, the exert of this rights are transferred to the body of joint administration mandated by the author during his life, or when such mandate does not exists, to the body of joint administration that has the largest number of members from the respective field of creation.
            The person that, after repealing of copyright for the author, lawfully makes available to the public, for the first time, a work that has not been communicated to the public before, benefits of the protection equivalent to the one of the patrimonial rights of the author.
            Duration of the protection of this rights is of 25 years beginning from the moment it was lawfully made available to the public forthe first time.
            Art. 26. - Duration of the patrimonial rights upon the works communicated to the public in a anonymous or pseudonymous way, is of 70 years from the date of their communication to the public.
            When the identity of the author is communicated to the public before expiring of the term provided at paragraph (1), provisions of Art.25 paragraph (1) are applied.
            Art. 27. - Duration of the patrimonial rights upon the works created in joint authorship, is of 70 years from the death of the last co-author.
            In case when the co-authors contributions are identifiable, duration of the patrimonial rights for each of these, is of 70 years from the death of each co-author.
            Art. 28. - Duration of the patrimonial rights upon the joint works is of 70 years from the date of their communication to the public. In case that this is not done in a period of 70 years from creation of the works, duration of patrimonial rights expires after passing 70 years from the creation of works.
            Art. 29. - Duration of the patrimonial rights upon the work of applied arts is of 25 years from the date of their creation.
            Art.30. - Patrimonial rights upon the computer programs lasts during the whole author's life, and after his death, they are transmitted through inheritance, according to the civil legisla tion, for a period of 50 years.
            Art. 31. - Insignificant modifications, changes, adding, cuttings or adaptations brought in view of selection or arrangement, as well as correcting the content of a work or collection, that are needed for the collection's continuation of the activity in the way intended by the author of the work, will not extend the protection term of this work or collection.
            Art. 32. - The terms established in the present Chapter are calculated from the date of January 1, of the year following the death of the author or, when the case, the communication to the public.

CHAPTER VI
Limits of Exerting Copyrights

            Art. 33. - There are permitted, without author's consent and without paying any remuneration, the following utilizations of a work, previously made available to the public, on the condition that they will be according to the good practices, not to run counter to normal exploiting of the work and not to prejudice the author or the exploiting right's holders:
            1. reproduction of a work within the judiciary or administrative procedures, in the sense justified by their aimed
purpose;
            2. utilizing short quotations from a work, in order to analyze, comment or criticize, or for offering an example, as long  as their utilize justifies the length of the quotation;
            3. utilizing isolated articles or short excerpts from works in publications, radio or television shows, or in audio or audiovis ual recordings, exclusively destined for education, as well as public educational institutions or social protection, of isolated articles or short excerpts from works, in the sense justified by the aimed purpose;
            4.reproduction for informing and research, of short excerpts from works, within the libraries, museums, film libraries, phonotecs, archives of public cultural or scientific institutions, that function without having a lucrative goal; total reproduction of a work is permitted for its replacement, in case of destroying, of serious damaging, or of losing the only copy of the permanent collection of the respective library or archive;
            5.reproduction, distribution or communication to the public, in order to inform about the actual problems, of short press excerpts and radio or television shows;
            6.reproduction, distribution or communication to the public in short fragments of conferences, lecturers, pleadings and  any other similar works, that have been expressed orally in public, on the condition that this utilizations to have the only purpose of informing about actuality;
            7.reproduction, distribution or communication to the public of the works within the information regarding actual events,  but only in the sense justified by the aim of the information;
            8. reproduction, excluding any means that come in direct contact with the work, distribution or communicating to the public of the image of an architecture work, work of art, photographic work or applied work, permanently located in public places, excepting the cases when the image of the work is the main subject of such a reproduction, distribution or communication and if it is utilized in commercial purposes;
            9. representing and creating a work within the activities of the education institutions, exclusively for specific aims, and on condition that both representing and creating, as well as public access to be free of charge.
In cases provided at paragraphs b),c),e),f) and h), the source and authors' name must be mentioned, if it appears on
the used work, and in case of work of painting or architecture arts, also the place where the original is.
            Art. 34. - It is not a violation of authors' copyright, in the sense of the present Law, reproduction of a work without authors' consent, for personal utilization, or for a normal circle of a family, on the condition that the work to have previously been made available to the public , and the reproduction not to be against normal exploiting of the work and not to prejudice the author or the exploiting right's holder.
            For supports on which audio and audiovisual recordings can be made, as well as for apparatus that can allow their reproduction, in the situation provided in paragraph (1), it will be paid a remuneration established according to the
provisions of the present Law.
            Art. 35. - Transforming of a work, without the authors' consent and without paying a remuneration, is allowed only in the following cases:
            1. if it is a private transformation, that is not destined and is not made available to the public;
            2. if the result of the transformation is a parody, or a comics, on the condition that the result will not create confusion regarding the original work and its author;
            3. if the transformation is imposed by the aim of the utilization allowed by the author;
            Art. 36. - Works presented in exhibitions accessible to public, tenders, fairs or collections can be reproduced in catalogs issued  and distributed in this respect, by the organizers of such activities.
            In cases mentioned in paragraph (1) it must be mentioned the source and the fatherhood of the work, if they are  mentioned on the utilized work.
            Art. 37. - In order to test the functioning of the products in the fabrication and selling moment, commercial companies that  produce or sell audio or audiovisual recordings, equipment for their reproduction or public communication, as well as the equipment  for receiving radio or television broadcasting, can reproduce and present excerpts form works, on the condition that such operations will be reduced at the dimensions necessary for testing.
            Art. 38. - Authorization for transmitting of a work by wireless means includes also the authorization for transmitting that work by  wire, cable, or any other similar way, without paying a sepa rate remuneration, on the condition that the transmission will be made unaltered, simultaneous and integrally by the original emitting body, and not to exceed geographical area for which the  emission right was granted.
            Provisions of paragraph (1) of the present article does not apply in case of digital transmission, by any means, of a work.
            Ceding the right of communicating to the public by radio or television of a work, gives the right to the emitting body to record the work for the needs of its own wireless emissions, in order to realize, only once of the authorized communication to the public. In case of a new emission of the work such recorded, a new authorizing is needed. If in a period of 6 months from the first emission this authorization is not requested, the recording must be destroyed.

CHAPTER VII
Cession of the patrimonial authors' copyrights
Section I
Common Provisions

            Art. 39. - Author or owner of copyright can yield by contract to other persons only his patrimonial rights
            The cession of the patrimonial rights of the author can be limited only to some rights, for a certain territory and for a certain duration.
            Patrimonial rights of the author or of the owner of copyright can be transmitted by exclusive or non-exclusive cession.
            In case of exclusive cession the owner of copyright himself can not anymore use the work in the ways, terms and for the territory established with the transferrer, and also can not transfer the respective right to another person. The exclusive character of the cession has to be on purpose provided in the contract.
            In case of the non-exclusive cession, the owner of the copyright can use himself the work and can transmit the non-exclusive right to other persons.
            The non-exclusive transferrer can not yield his right to another person, but only with special consent of the yielder.
            The cession of one of the patrimonial rights of the owner of copyright, has no effect upon his other rights, unless agreed otherwise.
            The consent mentioned at paragraph (6) is not necessary in case when the transferrer, juridical person, is
transformed through one of the ways provided by the law.
            Art. 40. - In case of cession, the right of reproduction of a work is presumed that the right for distributing copies of such work,  was also ceded, excepting the right to import, unless otherwise provided in the contract.
            Art. 41. - Cession contract of the patrimonial rights must provide the transmitted patrimonial rights, ways of exploiting, duration  and size of cession, as well as the payment of the owner of the copyright. The absence of any of this provisions, allows the  interested part to ask for repealing of the contract.
            The cession of the patrimonial rights regarding the whole future works of the author, nominated or not, is considered  absolute repealing.
            Art. 42. - Existence and content of the cession contract of the patrimonial rights can be proved only with its written form.
            Exception are contracts having as object works utilized in press.
            Art. 43. - The payment set up based on a cession contract of patrimonial rights is established by parts'  agreement.The amount  of payment is established either proportionally with the incomes from exploiting the work, or in fixed amount or any other way.
            When payment was not established by contract, the author can lawfully apply to the juridical competent bodies, for establishing the payment. This will be done considering the amounts usually paid for the same category of works, destination and duration of the exploiting, as well as other circumstances of the case.
            In case of an obvious disproportion between the payment of the work's author and the benefits of the one that got the cession of the patrimonial rights, the author can ask to juridical competent bodies, reviewing contract or the proper increasing  of the payment.
            The author can not renounce in advance at exerting the right provided at paragraph (3).
            Art. 44. - In the absence of a contrary contractual clause, for the works created within an individual labour contract, patrimonial  rights belong to the author of the created work. If such clause exists, it will comprise the term for which the patrimonial  authors' copyright have been ceded. In the absence of a specified term, it is of 3 years from the date of delivering the work.
            When expiring the term mentioned at paragraph (1), the patrimonial rights come back to the author.
            The author of a work created exclusively within an individual labour contract maintains his exclusive right of using the work, as part of his creation.
            Art. 45. - Unless contrary decided, the owner of the copyright upon a work published into a periodically issue, maintains the right  to use under any form, on the condition not to bring preju dice the issue where the work was published.
            Unless contrary decided, the owner of the copyright can freely benefit of the work, if this was not published in term of a  month from the acceptance date, in case of a daily publication, or in term of 6 months for the other publications.
            Art. 46. - Contract of order of a future work will have to contain both delivery term and the works' acceptance term by the utilizers.
            The person that orders the work has the right to repeal the contract, if the work does not fulfill the established
conditions. In case of contract repealing, the amounts received by the author remain at the author. If, in order to create a work as object of an order contract, preparing works have been executed, the author has the right to be paid back the expenses done.
            Art. 47. - The author can ask for repealing the cession contract of the patrimonial right in case the transmitter does not exploit it, or exploits it inefficiently and by this the rightfully interests of the author are considerably affected.
            The author can not ask for cession contract repealing, if the reasons of efficient or inefficient exploiting is due to own fault, the action of a third party, or force major.
            Abolishing the cession contract, mentioned at paragraph (1), can not be asked before expiring of 2 years from the date of a works' patrimonial right cession. In case of the works yielded to daily publications, this term will be of 3 months, and for periodical publications, one year.
            The owner of the original of a work of art or photograph has the right to expose it to the public, excepting the case when the author excluded deliberately this right by the document of alienating the original.
            The author can not anticipatorily yield exerting the right of asking abolishment of the cession contract mentioned in paragraph (1).
            Obtaining the ownership of a material support of a work, does not awards by this a right of exploiting the work.

Section II
Contract of Publishing

            Art. 48. - By contract of publishing, the owner of the authors' copyright, yields to the publisher in exchange of payment the right  of reproducing and distributing the work.
            It is not a contract of publishing the convention through which the owner of the authors' copyright empowers on own ex penses, a publisher to reproduce and eventually distribute the work.
            In the situation provided in paragraph (2), provisions of common law referring to the enterprising contract will be applied.
            Art. 49. - The owner of the authors' copyright can yield to publisher the right to authorize the works' translation and adapting.
            Art. 50. - Cession towards the editor of the right to authorize other persons to adapt the work or to use it in any other way, must be object of a distinct contract.
            Art. 51. - The contract of publishing must comprise clauses regarding:
            1. duration of the cession;
            2. exclusive or non-exclusive nature and teritorrial outlay of the cession;
            3. maximum and minimum number of the copies;
            4. payment of the author, established in the conditions of the present law;
            5. number of copies reserved free of charge for the author;
            6. issuing and distributing terms for each edition, or when the case, of each copy circulation;
            7. term of giving back the original of the work to the author;
            8. control procedure for the number of copies produced by the publisher.
            The absence of any of the clauses provided in paragraphs a), b) and d) gives the right to the interested part to ask for contracts'repealing.
            Art. 52. - The publisher that got the right of publishing the work as a volume, has, towards other similar offerers at equal price, the priority right to publish the work in electronic form. The publisher must choose in written, in 30 days the most from receiving  the written offer of the author.
            The right mentioned in paragraph (1) is valid for 3 years from the date of publication of the work.
            Art. 53. - The publisher is forced to allow the author to improve or modify the work in case of a new edition, on the condition that this improvements or changes will not change the character of the work, if in the contract is not provided otherwise.
            Art. 54. - The publisher will be able to yield the publishing contract only having the authors' consent.
            Art. 55. - The publisher is forced to give back the author the original of the work, originals of the works of art, illustrations and any other documents received for publication, when not established otherwise.
            Art. 56. - When not contrary agreed, the publishing contract will stop after expiring the duration established, or after out of print the last agreed edition.
            There are considered out of print the edition or copy circulation whose number of unsold copies is less 5% from the total number of copies and in any case if it is lower than 100 copies.
            If the publisher does not publish the work in the agreed period, the author can ask, according to the common law, for abolishment of the contract and compensation for non-execution. In this case, the author keeps the received payment, or when the case, can ask for the payment of the whole amount provided in the contract.
            If the term for publishing the work is not provided in the contract, the publisher is forced to publish it in a period of 1 year the most, from the date of accepting it.
            In case the publisher intends to destroy the stock copies of the work, after a period of 2 years from the publication date, and if in the contract is not provided another period, the publisher is forced to first offer them to the author at the price possibly obtained by selling for destroying.
            Art. 57. - In case of force major for destroying the work, the author is entitled for a payment that will be paid only if the work was published.
            If a prepared edition is totally destroyed due to force major, before its distribution, the publisher is entitled to prepare a new edition, and the author will have the right of being paid for only one of this editions.
            If a prepared edition is partially destroyed due to force major, before its distribution, the publisher is entitled to
reproduce, without paying the author, only the number of the destroyed copies.

Section III
The contract of theater show and musical performance

            Art.  58. - Through a contract of theater show or musical perform ance, the owner of the copyright gives up, to a physical or legal person, the right to publicly perform an actual or future work, literature, drama, music, musical drama, choreography or pantomime, against payment, and the recipient engage himself to present or perform it in agreed conditions.
            Art.  59. - The contract for theater show or musical perform ance is concluded in written form, for a determined time or for a determined number of public performances.
            The contract must include the date of the premiere or the sole performance of the work, according to the case, the exclusive or non-exclusive character of the transfer, the area, and also the payment of the author.
            Discontinuing performance within 2 consecutive years, if another time interval was not provided by contract, gives to the author the right to claim contract canceling and damage for non- performance, according to common law.
            The beneficiary of a contract for theater show or musical performance cannot transfer it to a third part, an show organizer, without prior consent of the author or his representative, except in the case of simultaneous transfer of this activity,  total or partial.
            Art.  60. - The recipient is obligated to allow the author to control the show or performance of the work and to sustain ade quately  the technical conditions for proper performance of the work. Also the recipient must send to the author the program, posters and other printed materials, public reviews of the show, if not otherwise specified in the contract.
            The recipient is obligated to ensure public work presentation or performance in adequate technical conditions and the observ ance of author's rights.
            Art.  61. - The recipient is obligated to periodically inform the owner of the copyright on the number of shows or musical performances, and also on income situation. In this respect, the contract for theater show or musical performance must provide the  information interval, but no less than once in year.
            The recipient must pay the author, at the dates provided in contract, the due and agreed amounts.
            Art.  62. - If the recipient does not present or does not perform the work within agreed time, the author can claim, according to the common law, the canceling of the contract and damage for non-execution. In this situation, the author preserves the received payment or, according to the case, can request the whole payment provided by the contract.

Section IV
The rental contract

            Art.  63. - By the work rental contract, the author commits himself to allow the use, within determined time, of at least one copy of his work, in original or duplicate form, especially com puter software or works fixed in sound or audiovisual records. The recipient of the rental right commits himself to pay remuner ation to the author within the period of using that copy of the work.
            The author preserves copyright on the rented work, with the exception of distribution rights, if not otherwise agreed.
            The work rental contract is subject to provisions of the common law of rental contracts.

PART II
Special provisions

CHAPTER VIII
Motion picture works and other audiovisual works

            Art.  64 . - The audiovisual work is the motion picture work or the work expressed through a process similar to motion picture that  uses image or combination of sound with image.
            Art.  65. - The director or the maker of the audiovisual work is the physical person who assumes the creation and making of the audiovisual work, in the capacity of main author.
            The producer of an audiovisual work is the physical or legal person who assumes the responsibility of producing the work and, in this capacity, organizes the production of the work and sup plies the necessary technical and financial means.
            Art.  66. - According to conditions provided in Art.  5 of the present law, the authors of the audiovisual work are the director or maker, the author of adaption, the author of the screen play, the author of the dialogue, the author of the music specially  created for the audiovisual work and the graphics author for animation works or animation sequences , when these represent an  important part of the work. Within the contract between the producer and the director or maker of the work, the parts may agree  to include, as authors of the audiovisual work, other creators who substantially contributed to its creation.
            Art.  67. - In case of one of the authors described in the above article refusing to accomplish his contribution to the audiovisual work or is unable to do it, he cannot oppose to the use of it for accomplishing the audiovisual work. This author will be entitled to remuneration for his contribution.
            The audiovisual work is considered finished, when the defini tive version was jointly agreed between the main author and the producer.
            It is forbidden to destroy the original support of the defin itive version of the audiovisual work in its standard copy form.
            The authors of the audiovisual work, others than the main author, cannot oppose to the public performance, and also any other usage of the definitive version.
            Art.  68. - The right to audiovisual adaption is the exclusive right of the copyright owner of a preexistent work to transform it or include it in an audiovisual work.
            The transfer of the right provided in paragraph (1) can be made only based on a written contract between the copyright owner and the producer of the audiovisual work, distinctly from the contract of work edition.
            By conclusion of the adaption contract, the copyright owner of a preexistent work transfers to a producer the exclusive right of transformation and inclusion of the said work in an audiovisu al work.
            The authorization given by the copyright owner of a pre- existent work must expressly provide the terms of production, distribution and projection of the audiovisual work.
            Art.  69. - The moral rights on the finished work are recognized only for the authors provided in Art.  66 of the present law.
            Art.  70. - By contracts concluded between the authors of the audiovisual work and the producer, in absence of contrary agree ment, it is assumed that those, with the exception of the authors of specially created music, transfer to the producer the exclusive rights on the use of the work in its whole, provided by Art.  13 letter a), b), c), f), g), h), i), j), k) and l), Art.  16, Art.  17 and Art.  18, and also the right to dubbing and subti tling, against rightful remuneration.
In absence of contrary agreement, the authors of the audio visual work, and also other authors of contributions, keep
all rights to use their own contributions, according to provisions of the present law.
            Art.  71. - In absence of contrary agreement, the remuneration for each mode of usage of the audiovisual work is proportional to the brutto incomes resulting from the usage.
            The producer is obligated to remit to the authors, periodical ly, a situation of the cashed incomes according to each mode of usage. The authors will receive entitled remuneration either from the producer, either directly from the users, either  from the collective management bodies of copyright, based on the general contracts concluded by these bodies with the users.
            If the producer does not finalize the audiovisual work within 5 years from contract conclusion or is not distributing the audiovisual work within one year from its finalizing, the co- authors can request canceling of the contract, if not otherwise agreed.

CHAPTER IX
Computer software

            Art.  72. - By the present law, protection of computer software includes any expression of a program,
application program and operating system, expressed in any language, either source code or object code, the
preliminary conceiving materials, and also the manuals.
            The ideas, procedures, methods, mathematical concepts and principles underpinning any element of a
computer program, in cluding those at the foundation of its interfaces, are not pro tected.
            Art.  73. - The author of a computer program is accordingly benefi ciary of all rights provided by the present law, in part I of the present title, especially of the right to make and authorize:
            1. permanently or temporarily duplicate a program, wholly or partially, by any means and under any form,
including the case of duplication determined by loading, displaying, transmission or storage of the computer program;
            2. translation, adaption, arranging and any other transformation of a computer program, and also reproduction
of the results of those operations, without prejudice to the rights of the person who transforms the computer program;
            3. distribution of the computer program, original or copies, in any form, including renting.
            Art.  74. - In absence of contrary agreement, the patrimonial copyrights for computer programs, created by one or more employ ees when accomplishing duties or following instructions of the employer, are owned by the employer.
            Art.  75. - In absence of contrary agreement, by contract for usage of a computer program it is assumed that:
            1. the user is granted the non-exclusive right to use the comput er program;
            2. the user cannot transmit to another person the right to use the computer program;
            Transferring the right to use a computer program does not imply the transfer of its copyright.
            Art.  76. - In absence of contrary agreement, the actions provided by Art.  73 letter a) and b) are not subject to
authorization by the copyright owner, if those actions are necessary to allow the recipient the use of the computer
program in accordance to its destination, including correction of errors.
            Art.  77. - The authorized user of a computer program can make a duplicate, without author permission, for
archive or safety, as long as this is necessary to grant use of the program.
            The authorized user of a copy of a computer program can, without authorization of the copyright owner,
observe, study or test the functioning of this program, in order to determine the ideas and principles founding any of its
elements, on the occa sion of any loading into memory, displaying, conversion, trans mission or storage operation of
this program, operations that he is entitled to carry on.
            Provisions of Art.  10 letter e) from the present law are not applicable to computer programs.
            Art.  78. -The authorization of the copyright owner is mandatory when reproduction of the code or translation of
this code is essential to obtain information required by interoperability of a computer program with other computer
programs, if following conditions are met:
            1. the actions of reproduction and translation are performed by a person holding the right to use a copy of the
program or by a person who performs these action in the name of the holder, being authorized to this purpose;
            2. the information required for interoperability are not easy and rapidly available to the persons provided by letter a) of the present article;
3.the actions provided by letter a) of the present article are limited to the parts of program required for interoperability.
            Art.  79. - The information obtained by applying Art.  78:
            1. cannot be used with other purpose than obtaining interopera bility of the computer program, independently created;
            2. cannot be communicated to other persons, except the case when communication proves to be necessary to the interoperability of the computer program, independently created;
            3. cannot be used for finishing, producing or selling a computer program, of which expression is fundamentally similar, or for any other action that harms the rights of the author.
            Art.  80. - The provisions of Art.  78 and 79 are not applied, if damage is caused to the copyright owner or to the normal use of the computer program.
            Art.  81. - The provisions of chapter VI of the present title are not applied to computer programs.

CHAPTER X
Works of plastic arts, architecture and photography

            Art.  82 . -The physical or legal person organizing art exhibitions is responsible for the integrity of the works exhibited, taking all  measures to avoid any risk.
            Art.  83. - The contract for reproduction of a work of art must contain directions allowing work identification, such as a brief description, a sketch, a drawing, a photograph, and also refer ence to author's signature.
            The reproductions cannot be sold without the copyright owner approval for the copy submitted for examination.
            On all copies, the name or pseudonym of the author must be present or any other agreed sign which allows his identification.
            The instruments especially created for work reproduction must be destroyed or made unusable, if the copyright owner does not buy them or not otherwise agreed.
            Art.  84. - The studies and projects of architecture and urban ization exposed near the architectural work site, and also the building made according to these, must carry, in a visible place, the name of the author, if not otherwise agreed by contract.
            Building of an architectural work, wholly or partially based on another project, cannot be carried except with the
agreement of the copyright owner of this project.
            Art.  85. - The photograms of a motion picture film are consid ered photographic work.
            Photographs of letters, papers, documents of any kind, tech nical drawings and other similar, cannot benefit from legal protection of copyright.
            Art.  86. -  The right of the author of a photographic work to use his own work must not harm the rights of the author of the work of art reproduced in the photographic work.
            The patrimonial rights on a photographic work, being created while carrying an individual contract or on order, are assumed to belong, for a period of 3 years, to the employer or the ordering person, if not otherwise stated in the contract.
            Alienation of the negative of a photographic work leads to transmission of the patrimonial rights of its copyright owner, if not otherwise stated by contract.
            Art.  87. - The photograph of a person, when taken on order, can be published, reproduced by the person subject of the photograph or his successors, without approval of the author, if not otherwise agreed.
            If the name author is shown on the original photograph it must be mentioned also on the reproduction.

CHAPTER XI
Protection of portrait, of mailing addressee and secret of infor mation source

            Art.  88. - Distribution of a work containing a portrait re quires authorization from the person represented in this por trait. The author, the owner or the holder of the work does not have the right to reproduce it or to publicly communicate it without the consent of the represented person or his successors, within 20 years after his death.
In absence of contrary agreement, the authorization is not required if the person represented in the portrait is model by
profession or has received remuneration for posing.
            Authorization is not required for distribution of a work containing the portrait:
            1. of a generally known person, if the portrait was taken on the occasion of his public activities.
            2. of a person whose representation is only a detail of a work presenting a gathering, a landscape or a public event.
            Art.  89. - The distribution of mailing addressed to a person re quires authorization of the addressee, and after his death, within 20 years, of his successors, if the addressee did not express another wish.
            Art.  90. - The person represented in a portrait and the addressee of mailing can make use of the right provided in Art.  10 letter d)  of the present law, in what concerns the distribution of the work containing the portrait or the mailing, according to the case.
            Art.  91. - The editor or the producer, at author's request, is obligated to keep secret the information sources used within the  work and not to publish documents referring to these.
            Revealing the secret is allowed by consent of the entrusting person or by definitive and irrevocable court verdict.

Title II
Copyright related rights

CHAPTER I
Common dispositions

            Art.  92. - The copyright-related rights do not affect the authors' copyright. No disposition of this title should be inter preted as a  limitation of the authors' copyright.
            The patrimonial rights recognized in this section can be entirely or partially ceded, in keeping with the common law.
            These rights can be the object of an exclusive or non-exclusive transfer.
            Art.  93. - Under this law fixing means recording codes, images or sounds and images on any kind of material support, even on an electronic one, which allows their receiving, reproduction or communication.
            Art. 94. - Copyright owners are recognized and protected. The authors are artists or performers, producers of sound recordings for their own recordings and radio and television stations for their own broadcasts.

CHAPTER II
Rights of artists and performers

            Art.  95. - Under this law, artists and performers mean actors, singers, musicians, dancers and other persons
who sing, dance, recite, play, perform, conduct, direct or does any other literary or artistic activity, shows, including
folk, entertainment, circus or puppet shows.
            Art.  96. - The artists or performers have the following moral rights:
            1. - the right to ask for the recognition of the copyright for their own performance;
            2. - the right to request that their names or pseudonyms are indi cated or told at each show or whenever their
recordings are played;
            3. - the right to request that the quality of his/her performance are observed and to oppose any deformation,
forgery or any other substantial modification of their performance which would seri ously affect their reputation;
            4.the right to oppose to any use of their work if they are seriously affected by such an use;
            Art.  97. - The rights provided in Art.  96 are not subject to any renunciation or transfer.
            (2) After the death of the performing artist or performer, the rights stated by Art.  96 are inherited for an indefinite period of time, according to legal provisions.
Art. 98. - The artists or performer has the exclusive patrimonial right to authorize the following:
            1. the recording of the performance;
            2. the reproduction of the performance;
            3. the release of the corresponding recording by sale, rent, loan or by any other way of transmitting, onerously or free of
charge;
            4. presenting in a public place or communicating to the public the performance, fixed or not fixed on a material support;
        5. adapting the recorded performance; broadcasting or transmitting the performance, fixed or not fixed on a material support, the retransmission by wireless or wire means, by cable, satellite or by any other similar means.
            Art. 99. - The artists and performers participating collec tively in the same performance, such as the members of a band, choir, orchestra, ballet group or theater group, must designate their representative for getting authorization provided in Art. 98.
            The representative is appointed in written form, with the consent of the majority of the members of the group.
            The director, the conductor and the soloist are exempted from the provisions of the previous paragraphs.
            Art. 100. - In case of a performance by an artist as part of an individual labour contract, the copyright stated in Art. 98 can be transmitted, provided it is stipulated as such in the individ ual labour contract.
            Art. 101. - In absence of contrary agreement, the artist or the performer participating in carrying out an audiovisual or a sound recording is supposed to cede to the producer the exclusive right to use this work by fixing, reproduction, broadcasting or
communication to the public. For the communication to the public, the artist or the performer are entitled to receive 50% of the
amounts cashed by the producer.
            The provisions of Art. 43, 44 and 68 paragraph (1) also apply to performing artists or performers.
            Art. 102. - Copyright lasts for 50 years starting with January the first of the year following the one of the first recording, or when absent, the first communication to the public.

CHAPTER III
Copyright for authors of sound recordings

            Art. 103. - Under this law, a sound recording or phonogram means any sound recording of sounds resulting from the perform ance of an artistic work, or any other sounds or the digital representation of these sounds by any means, and the tape used for the recording.
            The producer of sound recordings is a physical or legal person who assumes the responsibility of organizing and financing the first recording of the sounds, being or not a work in the sense of the present law.
            Art. 104. - As far as the reproduction and release of sound re cordings are concerned, the producer is entitled to write on the recording material, including covers, boxes or any other packag ing, the title of the work and the producing date, the name of the producer, apart from the mentions related to the author and the performer.
            Art. 105. - The producer of sound recordings has the exclusive patrimonial right to authorize the following:
            1.the reproduction of his own sound recordings;
            2. the release of his own sound recordings by sale, rent, loan or any other means onerously or free of charge;
            3. broadcasting or transmitting by radio or television the au thor's own sound recordings, the retransmission by wire and
wireless means, by satellite or by any other similar means as well as by any other means of communication to the public;
            4.presenting his own sound recordings in a public place;
            5.adapting his own sound recordings;
            6.import, to Romanian territory, legal copies of his own sound recordings.
            Also, the producer of sound recordings has the exclusive patrimonial right to prevent the import of copies of his own sound
recordings made without his consent.
            The rights provided in paragraph (1) and (2) are transferred by exclusive or non-exclusive cession under the conditions pro
vided for the author's copyright in Art. 42 and 43.
            The provisions of paragraph (1) letter f) does not apply when the import is carried out by a physical person, without trading purposes.
            Art. 106. - Copyright lasts for 50 years starting with January the first of the year following the one when the first recording was made.
            If the sound recording is made public during this period, the copyright expires after 50 years since it was made public.

CHAPTER IV
Common dispositions for authors, performing artists or performers and the producers of sound and audiovisual recordings

            Art. 107. - The authors of sound recordings or audiovisual recordings are entitled together with the publishers and the producers of the respective works and with the performing artists or performers, to a compensatory remuneration for the private copy made under the conditions of Art. 34 paragraph (2) of the present law.
            The fee provided in paragraph (1) will be paid by the manu facturers or importers of devices for the reproduction of record ings or by the manufacturers or importers of devices that allow their reproduction. The payment will be made when the respective devices are put in circulation and will account for 5% of the sale price of those devices and materials manufactured in Romania, respectively, 5% of the value provided by the customs docu ments for the imported devices and materials.
            The amount provided in paragraph (1) is distributed by the bodies in charge of the collective management of copyright, among authors, performing artists, performers, publishers and produc ers, as follows:
            1.for sound recordings, 40% of the amount is given, in negotia ble parts, to authors and publishers and the remaining 60%
is distributed, in equal shares, to performing artists and perform ers, on the one hand, and to producers of sound recordings, on the
other hand.
            2.for audiovisual recordings, the fee is distributed in equal shares among authors, artists or performers and producers.
            The amounts owed in keeping with paragraph (1) will be col lected by a single management body appointed by the Romanian Copyright Office.
            The procedure for distributing these amounts among beneficiaries will be established through a protocol nego tiated by the
parties.
            The collective management bodies collecting the amounts owed in keeping with paragraph (1) are entitled to request information from manufacturers and importers on the situation of sales and of the imports of materials and devices, respectively, and to control if the information is correct.
            The right provided in paragraph (1) cannot make the object of renunciation on behalf of the authors and artists or performers.
            Art. 108. - The fee provided in Art. 107 is not paid if the unre corded audio or video supports, manufactured in Romania or im ported, are subject of wholesale to producers of sound and audio visual recordings or to radio and television bodies for their own broadcast.
            Art. 109. - The authors and publishers of works fixed on a graphic or digital support are entitled to a compensatory remu neration for the private copy made in the conditions of Art. 34 of the present law.
            The fee provided in paragraph (1) will be paid by the manu facturers or importers of devices that allow the reproduction of the works fixed on a graphic or digital support. The payment will be made when these devices are put in circulation in Romania and will represent 5% of the sale price of the devices made in Roma nia, respectively 5% of the value provided by the customs
documents for the imported devices.
            The fee provided in paragraph (1) is distributed through collective copyright management bodies, in equal shares, between the author and the publisher.
            The amounts owed in keeping with paragraph (1) are collected by a single collective management body, designated by the
Romanian Copyright Office. The procedure of distributing these amounts between beneficiaries will be established through a
negotiated protocol between the parties.
            Art. 110. - The dispositions of Art. 107 and 109 do not apply to the import of materials and devices meant for reproduction, made by a physical person without trading purposes.
            Art. 111. - The distribution of copies of an artistic work or of a sound recording subsequently to their first distribution no longer requires the authorization of the owner of related rights, except for renting and for import.
            Art. 112. -  The dispositions of Art. 33 and 38 are applied, by analogy, to performing artists or performers and to the producers of sound recordings.

CHAPTER V
Radio and television companies
Section I
Rights of radio and television companies

            Art. 113. - The radio and television companies have the exclu sive patrimonial right to authorize the following, with the obligation of the authorized person to mention the name of the company:
            a) the recording of their own radio or television programs;
            b) the reproduction of their own radio or television programs, fixed on any kind of support;
            c) distribution of their own radio or television program fixed on any kind of support, by sale, rent, loan or any other way of
transmission, onerously or free of charge;
            d) retransmission of their own radio or television programs by wireless or wire means, by cable, satellite or by any other similar means, as well as by any other way of communicating them to the public;
            e) communicating its own radio or television programs in a place accessible to the public, against entrance fee;
            f) adapting its own radio or television programs fixed on any kind of support;
            g) the import on the territory of Romania of any legal copy of its own radio or television program, fixed on any kind of sup port.
            Also, the radio and television companies have the exclusive patrimonial right to prevent the import of unauthorized copies of their own radio and television programs, fixed on any kind of support.
            The rights provided by paragraph (1) and (2) are transmitted by exclusive or non-exclusive cession in the conditions provided for the author's copyright in Art. 41 and 43.
            The dispositions of paragraph (1) letter f) do not apply when the import is carried out by a physical person without trade
purpose.
            Art. 114. - Copyright lasts for 50 years starting with January the first of the year following the one when first broadcast or transmission of the radio or television program has occurred.
            Art. 115. - Any subsequent distribution of a radio or television program, fixed on any kind of support, does not require the authorization of the copyright owner, except for renting.
            Art. 116. - The dispositions of Art. 33, 34 and 38 are also ap plied, by analogy, to radio and television companies.

Section II
Public communication by satellite

            Art. 117. - The radio and television companies whose object of activity is public communication of programs through satellite must carry out activities observing copyright and related rights protected by the present law.
            In the sense of the present law, through public communication by satellite it is understand introducing, under the control and responsibility of a radio or television company based in Romania, of signals carrying programs destined to public receiving,
within a communication link which leads to the satellite and then re turns to the earth.
            Art. 118. - In the case of coded signals carrying programs, their introduction in the communication chain is considered public communication if the receiving decoder is made available to the public by the respective company or with its consent.
            The responsibility of public communication, in case of sig nals transmitted by a company outside Romanian territory, is assured as follows:
            1. if the signals are transmitted to the satellite through a uplink station situated on Romanian territory, the responsibility lays
with the person operating the station;
            2. if no satellite uplink station is used but the public communi cation was authorized by a company based on Romanian
territory, the responsibility lays with the authorizing company.
            Art. 119. - Copyright owners can cede their rights for trans mission by satellite only through a contract concluded individu ally or through a collective management body.
                The provisions of the frame contract concluded between a collective management body and a radio or television company for transmitting a work also apply to the copyright owners who are not represented by the collective management bodies, if the transmission by satellite takes place simultaneously with the terrestrial transmission made by the same broadcaster. The copy vright owner who is not represented can, at any moment, discard the effects of the frame contract by an individual contract.
            The provisions of paragraph (2) do not apply to audiovisual works.

Section III
Retransmission by cable

            Art. 120. - In the sense of the present law, by public communica tion made through retransmission by cable it is understand a simultaneous, unchanged and integral retransmission, by cable or by a ultrashort wave system, for public receiving, of an initial radio or television public broadcast, by wire or wireless.
            Art. 121. - The owners of copyright or of related rights can exercise their rights for authorizing or forbidding the retrans mission by cable based on contracts through a collective manage ment body.
            If the copyright owners did not entrust the management of their rights to a collective management body, the body which
manages the rights from the same category is considered to be rightful manager of owner rights. If there are several collective
management bodies for the same field, the copyright owner can choose one of them. Copyright owners can claim their rights
within 3 years from the retransmission by cable.
            A radio or television company exercises its rights of re transmitting by cable its own programs through contracts concluded with cable distributors.
        A radio or television company is allowed to retransmit only its own programs by cable, without the consent of the copyright
owner and without paying any fee. This also applies to those radio or television companies whose programs are compulsory
retransmitted by cable, according to regulations in force.
            Art. 122. - If the parties do not reach an agreement for conclud ing a contract for retransmission by cable, they can appeal to arbitrators designated according to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code.

Title III
Management and protection of author's copyright and other related rights

CHAPTER I
Management of authors' copyright and of other related rights
Section I
General dispositions

            Art. 123. - Copyright owners can exercise the rights stipulat ed by the present law personally, or through the collective man agement body, upon their request.
            The copyright and related rights who, by their nature, are corresponding to a use of a work or service impossible to be
authorized individually are, especially liable to be managed collectively, This category includes, especially, the rights provided
by Art. 13, letters g), h), j), k) and l), Art. 17, 18, 102, 107 and 109 of the present law.

Section II
Bodies for the collective management of copyright and other related rights

            Art. 124. - The bodies of collective management of copyright and other related rights defined within this law as collective management bodies, are legal persons established by free associa tion. Their main object of activity is collecting and distribut ing the rights whose management is entrusted to them by copyright owners.
            Art. 125. -  The collective management bodies provided in this chapter are subject to the regulations on non-profit associations and can get legal profile, according to the law, at the recommen dation of the Romanian Copyright Office.
            These bodies are created directly by the copyright owners; authors, performing artists or performers, producers, radio and
television companies as well as other copyright owners who are physical or legal persons. They act within the limits of the
mandate entrusted to them and based on the constitution adopted in keeping with legal procedure.
            The collective management bodies can be created separately for the management of distinct categories of rights, correspond ing to various artistic fields as well as for the management of rights
belonging to distinct categories of copyright owners.
            Art. 126. - The recommendation provided in Art. 125 paragraph (1) is given to the collective is given to the collective manage ment bodies based in Romania which:
            1. are going to operate in keeping with the regulations in force at the date when the present law becomes effective;
            2. produce evidence regarding a collection of works belonging to their members and of the human and material means
needed to operate them;
            3. have adopted a constitution which meets the conditions provid ed by the present law;
            4. have the legal and economic capacity of managing the rights throughout Romania's territory;
            5. are accessible in keeping with the special disposition of the constitution specific to every copyright owner.
            The decision of the Romanian Copyright Office regarding the recommendation given to a collective management body in order to exercise its rights is published in the Official Gazette at the expense of the collective management body.
            Art. 127. - The constitution of the collective management body must contain dispositions related to:
            1.The name, field and object of activity, by indicating the rights it manages based on the collection of works made up to this purpose;
            2. The conditions in which the rights are being managed, based on the principle of equal treatment;
            3. The rights and obligations of the members in relation to the collective management bodies;
            4. Tthe administration and representation bodies, their competency and operation;
            5. The initial assets and envisaged economic resources;
            6. The rules applicable to the distribution of paid rights;
            7. Ways of establishing the commission which copyright owners should pay to the collective management body with a view to cover expenses;
            8. Ways of checking the economic and financial administration by the members;
            9. Any other compulsory dispositions in keeping with the legisla tion in force.
            Art. 128. - If for an artistic field, there is more than one collective management body, under this law, the competent body is the one joined by the copyright owner. If the owner is not a member of any body, the case will be dealt with by the body in the field appointed by the copyright owner. The owners can claim their rights within 3 years from the use of the rights.
            Art. 129. - The mandate of copyright collective management is given either directly by the copyright owners, under a written agreement, or by contracts concluded with foreign bodies managing similar rights.
            The disposition of title I, chapter VII, section I do not apply to the mandate or contracts provided by paragraph (1).
            Any copyright owner can entrust a collective management body with the exercise of his rights based on a contract, if the
management of these rights fall within body's competency.
        The collective management bodies cannot ensure the exploita tion of the original works and of the related rights for which they have been given a collective management mandate.

Section III
Operation of collective management bodies

            Art. 130. - The collective management bodies have the follow ing obligations:
            1. to grant to the beneficiaries, through contract, in exchange of remuneration, the non-exclusive permits of utilization of the works or services of the copyright owners under the form of a non-exclusive licence;
            2. to elaborate tables for their domains of activity, including the property rights deserved by them as well as the
methodologies which have to be negotiated with the beneficiaries for the pay ment of these copyrights, in case of those
works whose exploita tion makes impossible the individual authorization by the copy right owners;
            3. to conclude, on behalf of the copyright owners or on the basis of the assignment granted by similar foreign bodies,
general contracts with the organizers of shows, radio, TV and cable retransmission bodies, whose goal is to authorize the
performance and dissemination of the works or the current and future services included in their portfolio;
            4. to represent the interest of their members concerning the use of their works outside the territory of Romania, through
conclu sion of bilateral contracts with similar bodies abroad, as well as through affiliation to international
non-governmental bodies in this field;
            5. to collect the amounts due to beneficiaries and distribute them among the copyright owners, according to the provisions
of the constitution;
            6. to inform, upon request, the copyright or related rights owners on the ways of using their rights and send them the annual financial report and the auditing report;
            7. to grant specialized assistance to the copyright owners and represent them within the legal procedures pertaining to their object of activity;
            8. to fulfill any other activity in keeping with the assignment received from the copyright or related right owners, within the
limits of their object of activity;
            9. to ask the beneficiaries to report the information and hand- over the documents necessary for the determination of
amounts, remuneration and taxes collected by them.
            Preparation of tables and methodologies provided by paragraph (1) letter b) is made based of negotiations with the representa tives of employer associations of the beneficiaries.
            Art. 131. - The tables and methodologies provided by Art. 130, paragraph (1), letter b) are negotiated within a commission consisting of:
            a) a representative of the main collective management body oper ating in a specific domain;
            b) a representative of the main employers association of benefi ciaries in a specific domain.
            The collective management bodies as well as the employers associations of the beneficiaries, represented in the commission, for each domain, are designated by the Romanian Copyright Office.
            The tables and methodologies are sent for endorsement to the Romanian Copyright Office, which, within 30 days, sends them for approval to the Government.
            In the case when, as a result of the negotiation, the commis sion cannot establish the tables and methodologies, within 90 days from the date of setup, these will be presented for media tion to the Romanian Copyright Office. In order to mediate, the
Romanian Copyright Office calls for the negotiating parties, analyses their points of view and takes a final decision on the tables
and methodologies, which is further send to the Government for approval, within 30 days from receiving date.
            The tables and methodologies, approved through a Government decision, are mandatory for the beneficiaries that had not
participated in the negotiations.
            The Romanian Copyright Office can be informed, through a new endorsement demand, on the tables and methodologies in
order to modify them, by any of the parties that had negotiated them, but not earlier than three years from the day of approval,
in what concerns the remunerations settled as percentages.
            The remunerations, settled as a fixed amount, can be periodi cally modified by the collective management bodies, at the same time as the indexing of the revenues at national level. This will become effective starting with the month that follows after it had been reported to the beneficiaries.
            Art. 132. - The collective management of copyright and related rights is carried out only for the works and services previously communicated to the public.
            Art. 133. - The collective management bodies, within the negotiations carried on according to Art. 130, paragraph (1), letter b), in the name of the member whose copyrights they man age, can ask the beneficiaries for more than 10% as a whole for the copyrights and 3%, respectively, for the related copyrights, from the gross amount of money collected, and in absence, from the expenses occasioned by the use.
            The collection of the amounts owed by the beneficiaries will be carried by only one collective management body, for a domain designated by the Romanian Copyright Office, based on criteria of representation.
            The distribution of these amounts among the end- users collective management bodies will be carried on the basis of a protocol negotiated between them.
            Art. 134. - The exertion of the collective management entrust ed through the assignment contract cannot restrict in any way the property rights of the copyright owners.
            The collective management is exercised according to the following rules:
            a) the decision concerning the methods and rules of collecting the remuneration and of other amounts from the beneficiaries and those concerning the distribution among the copyright owners, as well as those concerning other important aspects of the collective management must be taken by the members in accordance with the constitution;
            b) the copyright owners, whose rights are managed by a collective management body, must periodically get fair, complete and de tailed information on all the activities of the collective man agement body;
            c) in absence of an express permission from the copyright owners whose rights are managed, no remuneration collected by a collective management body can be used for other purposes such as cultural or social ones or to fund promotional activities,
others than those meant to cover the real costs of the respective copy right management and to distribute remaining amounts to
them after the deduction of these costs;
            d) the amounts collected by a collective management body, after the deduction of real costs of the collective management, are subject to taxation according to legal provisions in this field. After other deductions authorized by the copyright owners, according to the provisions of letter c), the corresponding amounts are distributed among the copyright owners proportionally to the real use of their work.
            Art. 135. - The collective management bodies are obligated to supply to the Romanian Copyright Office information related to the exertion of their prerogatives and to put at its disposal, in the first quarter of each year, the annual report, proved by the statutory general assembly and the report of the auditing commission;
            In the case where the collective management body no longer fulfills the conditions stipulated by Art. 124 or manifestly and
repeatedly violates the obligations stipulated by Art. 130 and paragraph (1) of this article, the Romanian Copyright Office can
grant to the collective management body a term to become legal. If these obligations are not observed, the Romanian Copyright
Office can ask a court of law to cancel the respective collective management body.
            Art. 136. - The existence of the collective management bodies does not prevent the copyright and related rights owners to apply to some intermediaries, specialized physical or legal persons, to represent them in individual negotiations concerning the rights recognized by the present law.

CHAPTER II
The Romanian Copyright Office

            Art. 137. - At the time when the present law comes in effect, the Romanian Agency for Copyright Protection, a specialized body subordinated to the Ministry of Culture, changes its name into the Romanian Copyright Office and operates as a specialized body subordinated to the Government, with unique authority on the territory of Romania concerning the evidence, monitoring and control of the enforcement of law in the field of copyright and related rights, the expenses for its operation and investments being integrally funded from the state budget. The Ministry of Finance will carry adequate modifications to the state budget.
            The Government appoints the general director of the Romanian Copyright Office, as well as a number of 20 arbitrators from among the candidates with legal training, designated by the collective management bodies, the creators, performing or acting
artists and producers' associations and the bodies grouping entities whose professional activities are related to the use of the
works as well as the radio and TV bodies.
            The arbitrators have not the quality of employees of the Romanian Copyright Office and have the right to remuneration for their participation in mediation of tables and methodologies for collecting the rights managed by the collective management bodies, according with provision of Art. 130. paragraph (1) letter b) of the present law.
            A regulation, adopted by the Government will establish the normative concerning the structure of the personnel, the organization and operation of the Romanian Copyright Office as well as the operation of the arbitrator corp.
            Art. 138. - The prerogatives of the Romanian Copyright Office are the following:
            a) organizes and manages the record of the repertoire of works and authors received from the collective management bodies for copyright and related rights;
            b) grants notifications for setting up, as legal bodies, accord ing to the law, of the collective management bodies and monitors the enforcement of the legislation by the bodies whose setting up has been endorsed;
            c) notifies, according to the law, the elaboration and negotia tion of tables and methodologies established by the collective
management bodies with the employers associations of the beneficiaries;
            d) exerts, also, upon request and at the expense of the owners of protected copyrights, a function of monitor and control of
activ ities leading to infringements of the copyright and related rights legislation;
            e) interferes, through mediation, in the negotiations between the collective management bodies and the beneficiaries, according to the provisions of Art. 134, paragraph (4);
            f) concludes an acknowledging report of law violations, according to the Criminal Procedure Code and informs competent
bodies in case of offenses for which the criminal procedure is launched ex officio;
            g) elaborates programs of practical and theoretical training and education in the field of copyright and related rights;
            h) maintains relations with similar specialized organizations in this field, when the Romanian state is part of.

CHAPTER III
Procedures and sanctions

            Art. 139. -  The violation of the right acknowledged and gua ranteed by the present law attracts the civil, contravention or criminal responsibility, according to the case, according to the law. Procedural provisions are stipulated in the present law and are
completed with those of the common law.
            The owners of the violated copyright can ask the legal bodies or other competent bodies, according to the case, to recognize their rights, to acknowledge the violation and can call for reparation of prejudice, according to legal provisions.
            In case of violation of acknowledged copyrights, protected by the present law, the owners can ask the court of law or other competent bodies, according to the provisions of the law, to immediately order measures to be taken in order to prevent some imminent damage or to secure their repair, according to the case.
            The owners of the violated rights can ask the court of law to order the enforcement of any of the following measures:
            1. to remit the receipts obtained from illicit activities in order to cover the prejudices or, if the prejudices cannot be covered
in this way, to remit the goods resulting from an illicit activity in order to sell them until the prejudices caused are fully
covered;
            2. to destroy the equipment and the means owned by the author of the illicit deed, meant to perpetrate the illicit deed;
            3 .to remove illicit copies from the trading circuit by confis cating and destroying the illegal copies;
            4. to publish in the newspapers the court's verdict, at the expense of the author of the illicit deed;
            The dispositions of paragraph (4) do not apply to architec tural constructions if the destruction of the building is not required by the circumstances of the respective case.
            Art. 140. -  The following deeds are considered an offense and are punished with imprisonment from one month to 2 years or with a fine between 200,000 lei to 3 million lei if a person, without being authorized or without having the consent of the holder of the rights stipulated by law:
            1. makes public an original work;
            2. presents to the audience, recites, performs or directly presents an original work;
            3. allows public access to the data base on computer containing protected original works;
            4. translates, publishes in collections, adapts or changes an original work in order to obtain a derived work;
            5. records the work of a performer;
            6. broadcasts by radio or television any original work or re- broadcasts it by wireless, cable, satellite or by any similar
means or other means of communication;
            7. presents the sound recording of a producer in a public place;
            8. broadcasts by radio or television the sound recordings of a producer or rebroadcasts them by wireless means, by cable,
satel lite or by any other means;
            9. records programs of radio or television or retransmits them by wireless, wire,cable, satellite or any other similar
procedure or by any other means of communication to the public;
            10. transmits radio and television programs to the public, against entrance fee.
            Art. 141. - A person perpetrates an offense if he or she takes possession, without any right, of the capacity of the author of an original work or, if he or she makes public an original work under a different name than the one decided by the author. Such an offense will be punished with imprisonment from 3 months to 5 years or a fine from 500,000 lei to 10 million lei.
            Art. 142. - The following deeds are considered an offense which can be punished with imprisonment from 3 months to 3 years or a fine from 700,000 lei to 7 million lei, if a person, without the consent of the right's owner recognized by the present law:
            1. reproduces entirely or partially an original work;
            2. distributes an original work;
            3. imports copies of an original work in order to sell them in Romania;
            4. publicly exhibits an original work of art, of applied art, photographic or architectural art;
            5. publicly projects a motion picture work or another audiovisual work;
            6. emits a work by any means using wireless propagation of signs, sounds or images, including by satellite;
            7. transmits a work to the public by wire, cable, optical fiber or by any other similar method;
            8. retransmits a work by any means using wireless propagation of signs, sounds or images, included by satellite or,
retransmits a work by wire, cable, optical fiber or by any other similar meth od;
            9. emits or transmits a broadcast or televised work in a place accessible to the public;
            10. reproduces the performance of an artist;
            11. broadcasts the performance of an artist;
            12. reproduces the sound recordings of a producer;
            13. broadcasts the sound recordings of a producer, including by renting;
            14. imports cassettes of a producer in order to sell them in Romania;
            15. reproduces recorded radio or television programs;
            16. broadcasts radio or television programs, including by rent;
            17. imports recorded radio and television programs in order to sell them in Romania.
            Art. 143. - The following deeds are considered offense and can be punished with imprisonment from 3 months to 2 years or with fines from 500,000 lei to 5 million lei, if it does not represent a more serious offense, the deed of a person who:
            1. puts at the disposal of public by sale or by any other means, onerous or free of charge, technical means destined to
unauthor ized erasure or neutralization of the technical devices protect ing a computer program;
            2. refuses to declare to the competent bodies, the origin of the samples of work or the origin of the supports on which a
service or a radio or TV program is recorded, being protected by the present law, and being in his possession when
being broadcasted.
            Art. 144. - The criminal procedure is put in motion in case of offenses provided by Art. 140, 141 and 142 letters a), c), j), l), n) and o) as consequence of a claim filed by a person damaged in the sense of the present law.
            Art. 145. -  The documents concluded by the Romanian Copyright Office in exerting its prerogatives of control, according to Art. 138, letters d) and f) are submitted to conditions of Art. 214 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Title IV
Enforcement of law. Transitory and final provisions

            Art. 146. - The provisions of the present law are enforced in any of the following situations:
            A. for works:
            1. which have not been made public yet and whose authors are Romanian citizens;
            2. which have not been made public yet and whose authors are legal or physical persons with residence or headquarters in
Romania;
            3. which have been made public for the first time in Romania or which have been made public for the first time in another
country and simultaneously, but not later than 30 days, in Romania;
            4. of architecture built on the Romanian territory;
            B. for the services of performing or acting artists:
            1. which take place on Romanian territory;
            2. are fixed in sound recordings protected by the present law;
            3. which have not been fixed in sound recordings but are broad cast by radio and TV programs protected by the present
law;
            C. for sound recordings:
            1. whose producers are legal or physical persons with residence or headquarters in Romania;
            2. whose recording took place for the first time in Romania;
            3. which have been made public for the first time in Romania or which have been made public for the first time in another
country and simultaneously, but not later than 30 days, in Romania;
            D. for radio and TV programs:
            a) broadcast by radio or TV stations with headquarters in Roma nia;
            b) broadcast by broadcasting bodies with headquarters in Romania.
            Art 147. - The foreigners who are copyright or related rights owners, benefit from the protection provided by the international conventions, treaties and agreements in which Romania is part, and in absence, benefit from an equal treatment as the Romanian citizens, provided that reciprocity exists.
            Art. 148. - The existence and contents of a work can be proved by any proving means, including their inclusion in the repertoire of a collective management body.
            The authors or the owners of the copyright or the holders of the exclusive copyright of the author, which the present law refers to, have the right to write on the original work or on its authorized copies the mention pertaining to the reservation of their use, consisting of the symbol C surrounded by a circle, accompanied by their name, the place and the year of the first publication.
        The producers of sound recordings, the performing or acting artists, which the present law refers to, have the right to write on the original work or on the copies of the authorized sound or audiovisual recordings or on their packaging, a mention pertain ing
to the protection of their copyrights, consisting of the symbol P surrounded by a circle, accompanied by their name, the place
and the year of the first publication.
            Until contrary proof, it is supposed that the exclusive copy rights signaled through the symbol C and P exist and belong to the person who has used them.
            The provisions of paragraphs (2), (3) and (4) do not condi tion the existence of the rights acknowledged and guaranteed by the present law.
            The authors of works and the copyrights owners, concurrently with the inclusion of their work in the repertoire of the collective management body, can also register their literary or artis tic name,
exclusively in order to communicate it to the public.
            Art. 149. - The legal documents concluded under the provi sions of previous legislations generate all the effects according to them, with the exception of the clause stipulating the cession of the exploitation rights of all works which the author might create in the future.
            Benefiting from the protection of the present law are also the works created prior to this law coming into effect, computer
programs, sound recordings including motion pictures and audio visual works, as well as the programs of the radio and TV stations, under the condition stipulated in paragraph (1).
            The duration of the exploitation rights over the works creat ed by the deceased authors, before the present law coming into effect and for whom the protection term expired, is extended up to the limits provided by the present law. The extension generates effects only since the coming into effect of the present law.
            Art. 150. - The equipments, sketches, models, manuscripts and any other goods which are directly serving to the creation of a work giving consequence to copyright cannot be the object of forced seizure.
            The amounts owed to the authors as a consequence of the use of their work, benefit from the same protection as the salaries and can be monitored only under the same conditions. These amounts are subject to taxation, according to the fiscal legislation in effect.
            The civil actions and demands arising from relationship settled by the present law, as well as the corresponding way of attack, introduced by the copyright or the related rights owners or by the physical or legal persons representing them, are ex empted from the stamp tax.
            Art. 151. - The litigations pertaining to the copyright or the related rights are in the competence of legal bodies, according to the present law and the common law.
            Art. 152. - The collective management bodies which operate at the moment of this law coming into effect are obligated to comply with the provisions of Art. 125, within six months since the present law comes into effect.
            Art. 153. - The provisions of this law are completed with the provisions of the common law.
            Art. 154. - The present law comes into effect 90 days after its publishing in "Monitorul Oficial al Romaniei".
The Decree no. 321 of June 21, 1956, concerning the copy right, with its subsequent modifications, as well as any other
opposite provisions are abrogated the same day.
            Until the tables and methodologies negotiated according to the provisions of Art. 131 of the present law are endorsed, the tariffs established by regulations in effect are further en forced.
 

March 14 1996
Law No. 8