WIPO’s Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances Set to Enter into Force with Indonesia's Ratification; Aims to Improve Livelihoods of Actors and other Audiovisual Performers

Geneva, January 28, 2020
PR/2020/845

The Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances gained a key 30th member, allowing entry into force of the international agreement designed ultimately to improve earning conditions for actors and other audiovisual performers vital to the films and television shows beloved by viewing publics worldwide.

With the ratification of Indonesia on January 28, 2020, the Beijing Treaty will enter into force for its 30 contracting parties on April 28, 2020. WIPO member states in 2012 approved the Treaty at a Diplomatic Conference hosted by the Chinese Government in Beijing, from where the Treaty takes its name.

Many audiovisual performers – television and film actors, musicians, dancers, choreographers and others – never reap great fortunes and could in fact use some support in ensuring the sustainability of their livelihoods.

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry

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The Beijing Treaty bolsters AV performers’ rights to their work, which translates into rising earnings, and promotes the economic sustainability of the audiovisual industry that delights us all.

WIPO Director General, Francis Gurry

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The Beijing Treaty is the most important thing that has happened to actors since the invention of cinema.

Javier Bardem, Actor

About the Beijing Treaty

The Beijing Treaty deals with the intellectual property (IP) rights of performers in audiovisual performances, notably by bolstering five kinds of exclusive economic rights for the beneficiaries’ performances fixed in an audiovisual format: The rights of reproduction, distribution, rental, making available and broadcasting and communication to the public.

By joining the Treaty, its members agree to adopt, in accordance with their legal systems, the measures necessary to ensure the application of the Treaty. In particular, each contracting party must ensure that enforcement procedures are available under their laws, permitting effective action against any act of infringement of rights covered by the Treaty. The action must include expeditious remedies to prevent and defer infringement.

Background

The Beijing Treaty modernizes and updates for the digital era the protection for singers, musicians, dancers and actors in audiovisual performances contained in the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961). These updates for the digital era complement the provisions in the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), which updated protections for performers other than audiovisual performers and for producers of phonograms.

Find out more

• Main Provisions and Benefits of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances
• Beijing Treaty website