Since 2021, certain contracts concluded by collective management organisations (CMOs) on behalf of their members can be extended, by order of the French Ministry of Culture, to non-member authors of the CMO. These non-member authors, however, may request to be excluded from the scope of this extended collective licensing (ECL) at any time.
In some strictly limited cases, French legislation provides for contracts concluded by an accredited collective management organisation (CMO) and authorising the use of works from its repertoire to also cover, by order of the Ministry of Culture, the same type of works by non-member authors of the CMO (articles L. 324-8-1 and following and articles R. 329-13 and following of the French Intellectual Property Code).
Enshrined in EU law in 2019 and integrated into French law in 2021, extended collective licensing is subject to an important restriction: non-member authors of the CMO who do not wish for their works to be included may object at any time, and thus retain the right to manage the corresponding uses of their works.
The French Intellectual Property Code provides for the possibility of resorting to extended collective licensing in the following cases:
- The exploitation of works in digital form by educational establishments for illustration purposes, as part of their teaching activities (art. L. 122-5-4 of the French Intellectual Property Code);
- The exploitation of visual artworks by content-sharing platforms (art. L. 137-2-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code);
- The exploitation of visual artworks in scientific works made available to the public online (art. L. 139-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code).
In September 2022, ADAGP was accredited by the French Ministry of Culture, allowing it to request the extension of contracts authorising the exploitation of works from its repertoire to all authors of the visual arts (ministerial order of 13 September 2022 accrediting ADAGP to conclude extended collective licensing contracts).
Non-ADAGP member authors may contact ADAGP at any time to collect the royalties related to the exploitation of their works (contact us to collect your royalties), or on the contrary, have their works excluded from the scope of the extended collective licensing by completing the form below (you may contact us here if you have further questions).