The Ministry of Arts and Cultural Heritage has suspended the application of the new tariffs that should have been applied since July 1. According to a circular issued by the Ministry, certain amendments will have to be made to the law on copyright.
According to our information, the Ministry of Arts and Cultural Heritage had made provision for several state agencies to collect the royalties that are intended for artists. However, the regulations of the Copyright Act clearly state that only the Mauritius Society of Authors (MASA) is entitled to collect these royalties.
The authorities had no choice but to back down. Officially, the Minister underlined that further consultations with artists will have to take place before putting into practice the new MASA tariffs.
These rates, as a reminder, were decided in a technical committee that brought together several artists, members of the MASA board of directors and the committee was chaired by an employee of the Ministry of Commerce. During the consultations, a former MASA board member objected to the initial tariff because his proposals were not included.
The proposals were then submitted to the Department of Arts and Cultural Heritage.
It should also be noted that the elections for the new MASA Board of Directors, which were to be held on Sunday, June 27, have been cancelled and no date has yet been set.
