At NCE was held a public hearing to discuss the legislative amendments on the improvement of legislation in the field of intellectual property law

The discussion was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Supreme Court, Prosecutor General's Office, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, parliamentarians, human rights activists and the media.

Public hearings were held for the purpose of clarification and discussion of the draft law, which is of interest to citizens and businesses.

The draft law was developed in response to the request of the Head of State, by the results of 27th plenary session of the Foreign Investors Council under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated by 12^th of June 2014 on transition to the system of the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the field of intellectual property protection.

The main novels of the draft law are:

- The creation of a single-level intellectual property registration system by delegating the authority to an expert organization (RSE "National Institute of Intellectual Property") of rights for registration of intellectual property;

- Extension of the possibility of pre-trial consideration of disputes by registration;

- Ensuring the rights of copyright holders to receive compensation for the illegal use of the trademark;

- Publication of applications for trademarks from the time they arrive to the expert organization.

Issues discussed at the public hearing, are relevant for every citizen and business. In this regard, NCE expressed its views on the resolution of the existing problems in this sphere. In particular, they touched upon issues of regulation of copyright.

"The path of development of Kazakhstan is aimed at achievements in the industrial and innovative spheres, the sphere of new technologies and innovations that are directly related to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Scientific research and experimental development, technological solutions, works of science, literature and art, trademarks, software accompany all sectors of the economy. The National Chamber as an organization, which carries out the protection of rights of business, is directly interested in the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. The implementation of the tasks to meet the interests of the business community, the National Chamber on regular basis presents a consolidated opinion and proposals for improving the current legislation", - said Deputy Chairman of NCE RK Murat Abenov.

So, at the last meeting on the interaction of collective rights management organization (CMRO) and users (7^th of September 2016, Almaty) were highlighted problems of right holders and authors in terms of protection of copyright and related rights on music, audiovisual works, etc. .

Under current law, the use of intellectual property is possible only with the consent of the author or copyright holder, except in cases of use of the work within the statutory exceptions (for example, citation, distribution (sale) of copies of a work lawfully released into circulation with the consent of the owner, etc. ). Proof of consent of the owner of an exclusive right to use the work, is a contract concluded between the copyright holder and the user (person using the product).

However, in practice, the right to remuneration is implemented through national and global system of collective rights management organizations (CRMO). In the interests of the right holder, CMRO provides conclusion of license agreements with users, as well as collection, distribution and payment of remuneration to the member owners and foreign owners through the international system of copyright organizations or collects a fee in favor of the holders of neighboring rights.

Under Kazakhstani law is allowed accreditation of organizations, which by virtue of the passage of a certain procedure were granted the right to represent an unlimited circle of owners. However, only 9 organizations have been accredited, only three exercise their activities, i.e., collect fees and pay the authors (artists), and the rest, in fact, do nothing. The rates at which are signed these contracts have to be approved by these organizations themselves.

In contrast to the collective rights management organizations (CRMO), accredited organization shall provide such assistance in the most qualified, complete and available for interested parties manner. A user wishing to make payments to right holders, through the work of such organizations may be able to do that through the most optimal way.

State accreditation, which, by law, must mean control by the state, is required to serve as a guarantor of the legitimate rights and interests of the user who trusts transfer of sums of money in favor of the remuneration of right holders and right holder to whom the sum to be transferred.

However, in practice a proper control of public authorities is not executed: there is no control over the financial activities and duties prescribed by law, the failure to comply with which should lead to the withdrawal of accreditation.

Currently, issues of intellectual property rights and collective management costs cause increased attention worldwide. Problem analysis revealed obvious drawback of this mechanism, in fact, organizations that manage other people's property rights for compensation, which they themselves have set, are not controlled by the right holders neither in financial nor in organizational terms. The mechanism of non-transparent distribution of collected funds in favor of the holders laid originally in the very essence of the principle of collective management - collected funds should be allocated in proportion to the actual use of specific works among their respective owners. In fact, there is data manipulation of statements on the use of objects of copyright and related rights provided by the users of statistical data and ratings. You can’t manage what is not counted.

In summary, we propose to amend Chapter 4 of the Law of RK "On Copyright and Related Rights" and provide a detailed and transparent regulation of the activities of organizations for copyright management.

A clear legal settlement of the foundations of copyright will not only create a favorable environment for rights holders, but also as a whole will contribute to the positive dynamics of development of the economy.