WIPO's Beijing Treaty came into force on April 28, 2020

By Emmanuel Legrand

The World Intellectual Property's Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances has officially entered into force on April 28, 2020, three months after Indonesia joined as the key 30th accession or ratification. WIPO member states approved in 2012 the Treaty at a Diplomatic Conference hosted by the Chinese Government in Beijing, from where the Treaty takes its name.

  WIPO noted that the Beijing Treaty "can from today begin improving earning conditions for actors and other audiovisual performers – a development with added importance amid the negative impact on cultural production by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic."

  The Beijing Treaty gives audiovisual performers – television and film actors, musicians, dancers, and others – more rights to their work, which can translate into increased remuneration from retransmission. The Beijing Treaty provides with five kinds of exclusive economic rights for the beneficiaries of performers in audiovisual performances fixed in an audiovisual format: the rights of reproduction, distribution, rental, making available and broadcasting and communication to the public.

Give performers more rights

  "Many of the actors and other performers in our beloved series and movies are essentially gig workers, without long-term salaries, equity stakes or great fame," said outgoing WIPO Director General FrancisGurry. "The Beijing Treaty helps give these performers more rights to their work, which in turn boosts their personal revenues. If ever there was a moment to increase the amount - and predictability - of audiovisual performers’ earnings, it is in this Covid-19 era that is negatively affecting economic activity including new productions."

  An official with the National Copyright Administration in China told news agency Xinhuanet that China will continue to work with the WIPO to encourage more countries to approve and sign the treaty. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, ratified the treaty in 2014.