French Intellectual Property Code
In forceThis time limit may only be waived for a legitimate reason, in particular the lack of information enabling the identification or location of the beneficiary right holders.
II.-Where these sums are paid to a collective management organisation or an independent management organisation representing the rights holder, a contract concluded between these different organisations specifies the period of time available to each of them to ensure that the rights holder receives the sums due to him within the period mentioned in I. In the absence of a contract, the collecting body has one month from the end of the financial year to pay the sums due to the body which is its member. The latter must then pay the sums due to the rights holder within the remaining period specified in I.
Where collective management organisations or independent management organisations which are members of each other are successively involved in the distribution of these sums, a contract concluded between them sets the time limit applying to each of the parties, without the total time limit exceeding that set out in I. In the absence of a contract, the collecting body has one month from the end of the financial year to pay the sums due and the remaining period is divided equally between the other bodies.
III.-The collecting organisations pay the sums due pursuant to a representation agreement under the conditions set out in I. These sums must then be paid to rights holders within six months of receipt, except in the case provided for in the second paragraph of I.
