Section 2: Agency agreement

I.-The right to authorise the simultaneous, unabridged and unchanged cable retransmission, on national territory, of a work broadcast from national territory or the territory of another Member State of the European Union may only be exercised by a collective management organisation. If this organisation is governed by Title II of Book III, it must be approved for this purpose by the minister responsible for culture.

If the rightholder has not already entrusted the management of the right to one of these organisations, he shall designate the one he entrusts with the task of exercising it. He shall notify this designation in writing to the organisation, which may not refuse.

The contract authorising the televising of a work on national territory shall mention the organisation responsible for exercising the right to authorise its retransmission by cable, simultaneously, in full and without change, on national territory and the territory of the other Member States of the European Union.

The authorisation provided for in the first paragraph is issued in consideration of:

1° The professional qualifications of the directors of the organisations and the means that they can implement to ensure the collection of the rights defined in the first paragraph and the exploitation of their repertoire;

2° The size of their repertoire;

3° Their compliance with the obligations imposed on them by the provisions of Title II of Book III.

A decree in the Council of State sets the conditions for the issue and withdrawal of authorisation. It also lays down, in the case provided for in the second paragraph, the procedures for appointing the body responsible for managing the retransmission right.

II.-By way of derogation from I, the holder of the right may assign it to a broadcasting organisation.

The provisions of I do not apply to rights of which a broadcasting organisation is the assignee.

III.-Cable retransmission for the purposes of this Article means the simultaneous, unabridged and unchanged retransmission by cable or by an ultra-fast wave broadcasting system for reception by the public of an initial transmission, whether wired or wireless, in particular by satellite, of television or radio programmes intended for reception by the public, irrespective of the way in which the cable retransmission service provider obtains the programme-carrying signals from the broadcasting organisation for the purposes of retransmission.