Extending the benefits of collective licensing

Extended Collective Licensing (ECL) is a type of licensing that allows an authorised collecting society to extend an existing collective licence so that it can license on behalf of all rights holders in the sector, except those who opt out. While traditional collective licensing relies on rights holders opting in by giving the collecting society express permission to license their works, ECL assumes that rights holders want their works to be licensed, unless they opt out.

ECL is one of the measures the government is introducing to simplify the licensing system. Along with several other measures in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, it will help make copyright licensing more efficient and remove unnecessary barriers to the legitimate use of works, while preserving the interests of right holders.

This technical consultation is on the draft secondary legislation, to be known as The Copyright (Extended Collective Licensing) Regulations. The government is inviting respondents to submit substantive comments on the legal effectiveness, structure and effect of the regulations only. The policy is out of scope of this consultation.

This consultation is aimed at all interested parties across all sectors including:

• collecting societies
• authors and creators
• users of collective licences.