Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances

Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances

CONTENTS
Preamble
Article 1: Relation to Other Conventions and Treaties
Article 2: Definitions
Article 3: Beneficiaries of Protection
Article 4: National Treatment
Article 5: Moral Rights
Article 6: Economic Rights of Performers in their Unfixed Performances
Article 7: Right of Reproduction
Article 8: Right of Distribution
Article 9: Right of Rental
Article 10: Right of Making Available of Fixed Performances
Article 11: Right of Broadcasting and Communication to the Public
Article 12: Transfer of Rights
Article 13: Limitations and Exceptions
Article 14: Term of Protection
Article 15: Obligations concerning Technological Measures
Article 16: Obligations concerning Rights Management Information
Article 17: Formalities
Article 18: Reservations and Notifications
Article 19: Application in Time
Article 20: Provisions on Enforcement of Rights
Article 21: Assembly
Article 22: International Bureau
Article 23: Eligibility for Becoming Party to the Treaty
Article 24: Rights and Obligations under the Treaty
Article 25: Signature of the Treaty
Article 26: Entry into Force of the Treaty
Article 27: Effective Date of Becoming Party to the Treaty
Article 28: Denunciation of the Treaty
Article 29: Languages of the Treaty
Article 30: Depositary

Preamble
The Contracting Parties,
Desiring to develop and maintain the protection of the rights of performers in their audiovisual
performances in a manner as effective and uniform as possible,
Recalling the importance of the Development Agenda recommendations, adopted in 2007 by
the General Assembly of the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO), which aim to ensure that development considerations form an integral
part of the Organization’s work,
Recognizing the need to introduce new international rules in order to provide adequate solutions
to the questions raised by economic, social, cultural and technological developments,
Recognizing the profound impact of the development and convergence of information and
communication technologies on the production and use of audiovisual performances,
Recognizing the need to maintain a balance between the rights of performers in their
audiovisual performances and the larger public interest, particularly education, research and
access to information,
Recognizing that the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) done in Geneva on
December 20, 1996, does not extend protection to performers in respect of their performances
fixed in audiovisual fixations,
Referring to the Resolution concerning Audiovisual Performances adopted by the Diplomatic
Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighboring Rights Questions on December 20, 1996,
Have agreed as follows:

Article 1
Relation to Other Conventions and Treaties
(1) Nothing in this Treaty shall derogate from existing obligations that Contracting Parties
have to each other under the WPPT or the International Convention for the Protection of
Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations done in Rome on
October 26, 1961.
(2) Protection granted under this Treaty shall leave intact and shall in no way affect the
protection of copyright in literary and artistic works. Consequently, no provision of this Treaty
may be interpreted as prejudicing such protection.
(3) This Treaty shall not have any connection with treaties other than the WPPT, nor shall it
prejudice any rights and obligations under any other treaties1,2.
1 Agreed statement concerning Article 1: It is understood that nothing in this Treaty affects any rights or
obligations under the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) or their interpretation and it is further
understood that paragraph 3 does not create any obligations for a Contracting Party to this Treaty to ratify or accede
to the WPPT or to comply with any of its provisions.
2 Agreed statement concerning Article 1(3): It is understood that Contracting Parties who are members of the
World Trade Organization (WTO) acknowledge all the principles and objectives of the Agreement on Trade-Related

Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Treaty:
(a) “performers” are actors, singers, musicians, dancers, and other persons who act, sing,
deliver, declaim, play in, interpret, or otherwise perform literary or artistic works or expressions
of folklore3;
(b) “audiovisual fixation” means the embodiment of moving images, whether or not
accompanied by sounds or by the representations thereof, from which they can be perceived,
reproduced or communicated through a device4;
(c) “broadcasting” means the transmission by wireless means for public reception of sounds
or of images or of images and sounds or of the representations thereof; such transmission by
satellite is also “broadcasting”; transmission of encrypted signals is “broadcasting” where the
means for decrypting are provided to the public by the broadcasting organization or with its
consent;
(d) “communication to the public” of a performance means the transmission to the public by
any medium, otherwise than by broadcasting, of an unfixed performance, or of a performance
fixed in an audiovisual fixation. For the purposes of Article 11, “communication to the public”
includes making a performance fixed in an audiovisual fixation audible or visible or audible and
visible to the public.

Article 3
Beneficiaries of Protection
(1) Contracting Parties shall accord the protection granted under this Treaty to performers
who are nationals of other Contracting Parties.
(2) Performers who are not nationals of one of the Contracting Parties but who have their
habitual residence in one of them shall, for the purposes of this Treaty, be assimilated to
nationals of that Contracting Party.

Article 4
National Treatment
(1) Each Contracting Party shall accord to nationals of other Contracting Parties the treatment
it accords to its own nationals with regard to the exclusive rights specifically granted in this
Treaty and the right to equitable remuneration provided for in Article 11 of this Treaty.
[Footnote continued from previous page]
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) and understand that nothing in this Treaty affects the
provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, including, but not limited to, the provisions relating to anti-competitive practices.
3 Agreed statement concerning Article 2(a): It is understood that the definition of “performers” includes those
who perform a literary or artistic work that is created or first fixed in the course of a performance.
4 Agreed statement concerning Article 2(b): It is hereby confirmed that the definition of “audiovisual fixation”
contained in Article 2(b) is without prejudice to Article 2(c) of the WPPT.
(2) A Contracting Party shall be entitled to limit the extent and term of the protection accorded
to nationals of another Contracting Party under paragraph (1), with respect to the rights granted
in Article 11(1) and 11(2) of this Treaty, to those rights that its own nationals enjoy in that other
Contracting Party.
(3) The obligation provided for in paragraph (1) does not apply to a Contracting Party to the
extent that another Contracting Party makes use of the reservations permitted by Article 11(3) of
this Treaty, nor does it apply to a Contracting Party, to the extent that it has made such
reservation.

Article 5
Moral Rights
(1) Independently of a performer’s economic rights, and even after the transfer of those
rights, the performer shall, as regards his live performances or performances fixed in
audiovisual fixations, have the right:
(i) to claim to be identified as the performer of his performances, except where
omission is dictated by the manner of the use of the performance; and
(ii) to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of his performances that
would be prejudicial to his reputation, taking due account of the nature of audiovisual
fixations.
(2) The rights granted to a performer in accordance with paragraph (1) shall, after his death,
be maintained, at least until the expiry of the economic rights, and shall be exercisable by the
persons or institutions authorized by the legislation of the Contracting Party where protection is
claimed. However, those Contracting Parties whose legislation, at the moment of their
ratification of or accession to this Treaty, does not provide for protection after the death of the
performer of all rights set out in the preceding paragraph may provide that some of these rights
will, after his death, cease to be maintained.
(3) The means of redress for safeguarding the rights granted under this Article shall be
governed by the legislation of the Contracting Party where protection is claimed5.

Article 6
Economic Rights of Performers in their Unfixed Performances
Performers shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing, as regards their performances:
(i) the broadcasting and communication to the public of their unfixed performances
except where the performance is already a broadcast performance; and
(ii) the fixation of their unfixed performances.
5 Agreed statement concerning Article 5: For the purposes of this Treaty and without prejudice to any other
treaty, it is understood that, considering the nature of audiovisual fixations and their production and distribution,
modifications of a performance that are made in the normal course of exploitation of the performance, such as
editing, compression, dubbing, or formatting, in existing or new media or formats, and that are made in the course of
a use authorized by the performer, would not in themselves amount to modifications within the meaning of
Article 5(1)(ii). Rights under Article 5(1)(ii) are concerned only with changes that are objectively prejudicial to the
performer’s reputation in a substantial way. It is also understood that the mere use of new or changed technology or
media, as such, does not amount to modification within the meaning of Article 5(1)(ii).

Article 7
Right of Reproduction
Performers shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing the direct or indirect reproduction of
their performances fixed in audiovisual fixations, in any manner or form6.

Article 8
Right of Distribution
(1) Performers shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing the making available to the public
of the original and copies of their performances fixed in audiovisual fixations through sale or
other transfer of ownership.
(2) Nothing in this Treaty shall affect the freedom of Contracting Parties to determine the
conditions, if any, under which the exhaustion of the right in paragraph (1) applies after the first
sale or other transfer of ownership of the original or a copy of the fixed performance with the
authorization of the performer7.

Article 9
Right of Rental
(1) Performers shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing the commercial rental to the
public of the original and copies of their performances fixed in audiovisual fixations as
determined in the national law of Contracting Parties, even after distribution of them by, or
pursuant to, authorization by the performer.
(2) Contracting Parties are exempt from the obligation of paragraph (1) unless the
commercial rental has led to widespread copying of such fixations materially impairing the
exclusive right of reproduction of performers8.

Article 10
Right of Making Available of Fixed Performances
Performers shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing the making available to the public of
their performances fixed in audiovisual fixations, by wire or wireless means, in such a way that
members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.
6 Agreed statement concerning Article 7: The reproduction right, as set out in Article 7, and the exceptions
permitted thereunder through Article 13, fully apply in the digital environment, in particular to the use of performances
in digital form. It is understood that the storage of a protected performance in digital form in an electronic medium
constitutes a reproduction within the meaning of this Article.
7 Agreed statement concerning Articles 8 and 9: As used in these Articles, the expression “original and copies,”
being subject to the right of distribution and the right of rental under the said Articles, refers exclusively to fixed copies
that can be put into circulation as tangible objects.
8 Agreed statement concerning Articles 8 and 9: As used in these Articles, the expression “original and copies,”
being subject to the right of distribution and the right of rental under the said Articles, refers exclusively to fixed copies
that can be put into circulation as tangible objects.

Article 11
Right of Broadcasting and Communication to the Public
(1) Performers shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing the broadcasting and
communication to the public of their performances fixed in audiovisual fixations.
(2) Contracting Parties may in a notification deposited with the Director General of WIPO
declare that, instead of the right of authorization provided for in paragraph (1), they will establish
a right to equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of performances fixed in
audiovisual fixations for broadcasting or for communication to the public. Contracting Parties
may also declare that they will set conditions in their legislation for the exercise of the right to
equitable remuneration.
(3) Any Contracting Party may declare that it will apply the provisions of paragraphs (1) or (2)
only in respect of certain uses, or that it will limit their application in some other way, or that it
will not apply the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) at all.

Article 12
Transfer of Rights
(1) A Contracting Party may provide in its national law that once a performer has consented
to fixation of his or her performance in an audiovisual fixation, the exclusive rights of
authorization provided for in Articles 7 to 11 of this Treaty shall be owned or exercised by or
transferred to the producer of such audiovisual fixation subject to any contract to the contrary
between the performer and the producer of the audiovisual fixation as determined by the
national law.
(2) A Contracting Party may require with respect to audiovisual fixations produced under its
national law that such consent or contract be in writing and signed by both parties to the
contract or by their duly authorized representatives.
(3) Independent of the transfer of exclusive rights described above, national laws or
individual, collective or other agreements may provide the performer with the right to receive
royalties or equitable remuneration for any use of the performance, as provided for under this
Treaty including as regards Articles 10 and 11.

Article 13
Limitations and Exceptions
(1) Contracting Parties may, in their national legislation, provide for the same kinds of
limitations or exceptions with regard to the protection of performers as they provide for, in their
national legislation, in connection with the protection of copyright in literary and artistic works.
(2) Contracting Parties shall confine any limitations of or exceptions to rights provided for in
this Treaty to certain special cases which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the
performance and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the performer9.
9 Agreed statement concerning Article 13: The Agreed statement concerning Article 10 (on Limitations and
Exceptions) of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) is applicable mutatis mutandis also to Article 13 (on Limitations and
Exceptions) of the Treaty.
 
Article 14
Term of Protection
The term of protection to be granted to performers under this Treaty shall last, at least, until the
end of a period of 50 years computed from the end of the year in which the performance was
fixed.

Article 15
Obligations concerning Technological Measures
Contracting Parties shall provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against
the circumvention of effective technological measures that are used by performers in connection
with the exercise of their rights under this Treaty and that restrict acts, in respect of their
performances, which are not authorized by the performers concerned or permitted by law10,11.

Article 16
Obligations concerning Rights Management Information
(1) Contracting Parties shall provide adequate and effective legal remedies against any
person knowingly performing any of the following acts knowing, or with respect to civil remedies
having reasonable grounds to know, that it will induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal an
infringement of any right covered by this Treaty:
(i) to remove or alter any electronic rights management information without authority;
(ii) to distribute, import for distribution, broadcast, communicate or make available to
the public, without authority, performances or copies of performances fixed in audiovisual
fixations knowing that electronic rights management information has been removed or
altered without authority.
(2) As used in this Article, “rights management information” means information which
identifies the performer, the performance of the performer, or the owner of any right in the
performance, or information about the terms and conditions of use of the performance, and any
numbers or codes that represent such information, when any of these items of information is
attached to a performance fixed in an audiovisual fixation12.
10 Agreed statement concerning Article 15 as it relates to Article 13: It is understood that nothing in this Article
prevents a Contracting Party from adopting effective and necessary measures to ensure that a beneficiary may enjoy
limitations and exceptions provided in that Contracting Party’s national law, in accordance with Article 13, where
technological measures have been applied to an audiovisual performance and the beneficiary has legal access to
that performance, in circumstances such as where appropriate and effective measures have not been taken by rights
holders in relation to that performance to enable the beneficiary to enjoy the limitations and exceptions under that
Contracting Party’s national law. Without prejudice to the legal protection of an audiovisual work in which a
performance is fixed, it is further understood that the obligations under Article 15 are not applicable to performances
unprotected or no longer protected under the national law giving effect to this Treaty.
11 Agreed statement concerning Article 15: The expression “technological measures used by performers”
should, as this is the case regarding the WPPT, be construed broadly, referring also to those acting on behalf of
performers, including their representatives, licensees or assignees, including producers, service providers, and
persons engaged in communication or broadcasting using performances on the basis of due authorization.
12 Agreed statement concerning Article 16: The Agreed statement concerning Article 12 (on Obligations
concerning Rights Management Information) of the WCT is applicable mutatis mutandis also to Article 16 (on
Obligations concerning Rights Management Information) of the Treaty.

Article 17
Formalities
The enjoyment and exercise of the rights provided for in this Treaty shall not be subject to any
formality.

Article 18
Reservations and Notifications
(1) Subject to provisions of Article 11(3), no reservations to this Treaty shall be permitted.
(2) Any notification under Article 11(2) or 19(2) may be made in instruments of ratification or
accession, and the effective date of the notification shall be the same as the date of entry into
force of this Treaty with respect to the Contracting Party having made the notification. Any such
notification may also be made later, in which case the notification shall have effect three months
after its receipt by the Director General of WIPO or at any later date indicated in the notification.

Article 19
Application in Time
(1) Contracting Parties shall accord the protection granted under this Treaty to fixed
performances that exist at the moment of the entry into force of this Treaty and to all
performances that occur after the entry into force of this Treaty for each Contracting Party.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1), a Contracting Party may declare in a
notification deposited with the Director General of WIPO that it will not apply the provisions of
Articles 7 to 11 of this Treaty, or any one or more of those, to fixed performances that existed at
the moment of the entry into force of this Treaty for each Contracting Party. In respect of such
Contracting Party, other Contracting Parties may limit the application of the said Articles to
performances that occurred after the entry into force of this Treaty for that Contracting Party.
(3) The protection provided for in this Treaty shall be without prejudice to any acts committed,
agreements concluded or rights acquired before the entry into force of this Treaty for each
Contracting Party.
(4) Contracting Parties may in their legislation establish transitional provisions under which
any person who, prior to the entry into force of this Treaty, engaged in lawful acts with respect to
a performance, may undertake with respect to the same performance acts within the scope of
the rights provided for in Articles 5 and 7 to 11 after the entry into force of this Treaty for the
respective Contracting Parties.

Article 20
Provisions on Enforcement of Rights
(1) Contracting Parties undertake to adopt, in accordance with their legal systems, the
measures necessary to ensure the application of this Treaty.
(2) Contracting Parties shall ensure that enforcement procedures are available under their
law so as to permit effective action against any act of infringement of rights covered by this
Treaty, including expeditious remedies to prevent infringements and remedies which constitute
a deterrent to further infringements.

Article 21
Assembly
(1) (a) The Contracting Parties shall have an Assembly.
(b) Each Contracting Party shall be represented in the Assembly by one delegate who
may be assisted by alternate delegates, advisors and experts.
(c) The expenses of each delegation shall be borne by the Contracting Party that has
appointed the delegation. The Assembly may ask WIPO to grant financial assistance to
facilitate the participation of delegations of Contracting Parties that are regarded as developing
countries in conformity with the established practice of the General Assembly of the United
Nations or that are countries in transition to a market economy.
(2) (a) The Assembly shall deal with matters concerning the maintenance and development
of this Treaty and the application and operation of this Treaty.
(b) The Assembly shall perform the function allocated to it under Article 23(2) in respect
of the admission of certain intergovernmental organizations to become party to this Treaty.
(c) The Assembly shall decide the convocation of any diplomatic conference for the
revision of this Treaty and give the necessary instructions to the Director General of WIPO for
the preparation of such diplomatic conference.
(3) (a) Each Contracting Party that is a State shall have one vote and shall vote only in its
own name.
(b) Any Contracting Party that is an intergovernmental organization may participate in
the vote, in place of its Member States, with a number of votes equal to the number of its
Member States which are party to this Treaty. No such intergovernmental organization shall
participate in the vote if any one of its Member States exercises its right to vote and vice versa.
(4) The Assembly shall meet upon convocation by the Director General and, in the absence
of exceptional circumstances, during the same period and at the same place as the General
Assembly of WIPO.
(5) The Assembly shall endeavor to take its decisions by consensus and shall establish its
own rules of procedure, including the convocation of extraordinary sessions, the requirements of
a quorum and, subject to the provisions of this Treaty, the required majority for various kinds of
decisions.

Article 22
International Bureau
The International Bureau of WIPO shall perform the administrative tasks concerning the Treaty.

Article 23
Eligibility for Becoming Party to the Treaty
(1) Any Member State of WIPO may become party to this Treaty.
(2) The Assembly may decide to admit any intergovernmental organization to become party
to this Treaty which declares that it is competent in respect of, and has its own legislation
binding on all its Member States on, matters covered by this Treaty and that it has been duly
authorized, in accordance with its internal procedures, to become party to this Treaty.
(3) The European Union, having made the declaration referred to in the preceding paragraph
in the Diplomatic Conference that has adopted this Treaty, may become party to this Treaty.

Article 24
Rights and Obligations under the Treaty
Subject to any specific provisions to the contrary in this Treaty, each Contracting Party shall
enjoy all of the rights and assume all of the obligations under this Treaty.

Article 25
Signature of the Treaty
This Treaty shall be open for signature at the headquarters of WIPO by any eligible party for
one year after its adoption.

Article 26
Entry into Force of the Treaty
This Treaty shall enter into force three months after 30 eligible parties referred to in Article 23
have deposited their instruments of ratification or accession.

Article 27
Effective Date of Becoming Party to the Treaty.
This Treaty shall bind:
(i) the 30 eligible parties referred to in Article 26, from the date on which this Treaty has
entered into force;
(ii) each other eligible party referred to in Article 23, from the expiration of three months from
the date on which it has deposited its instrument of ratification or accession with the Director
General of WIPO.

Article 28
Denunciation of the Treaty
This Treaty may be denounced by any Contracting Party by notification addressed to the
Director General of WIPO. Any denunciation shall take effect one year from the date on which
the Director General of WIPO received the notification.
 
Article 29
Languages of the Treaty
(1) This Treaty is signed in a single original in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and
Spanish languages, the versions in all these languages being equally authentic.
(2) An official text in any language other than those referred to in paragraph (1) shall be
established by the Director General of WIPO on the request of an interested party, after
consultation with all the interested parties. For the purposes of this paragraph, “interested
party” means any Member State of WIPO whose official language, or one of whose official
languages, is involved and the European Union, and any other intergovernmental organization
that may become party to this Treaty, if one of its official languages is involved.

Article 30
Depositary
The Director General of WIPO is the depositary of this Treaty.
[End of document