The Regulation on the Amendment of the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles Regarding the Certification of the Companies that Fill, Reproduce and Distribute or Fill in the Materials in which Intellectual and Artistic Works are Detected (“Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette on 6 July 2021. With the Regulation, procedures and principles of the certification obligation are lightened in detailed, and those who are obliged to receive a certificate are redetermined.
In this context, the following places that produce materials related to the identification and reproduction of intellectual and artistic works and/or fill, reproduce and sell these materials or distribute them in any way and make them available to the public are obliged to obtain certificates:
• Filling facilities, printing houses and other places where intellectual and artistic works are reproduced
• Businesses producing blank carrier materials
• Publishers
• Film and phonogram producers
• Commercial art galleries, fine art retailers and auction houses
• Businesses that sell, distribute, import or lease copies and materials containing intellectual and artistic works
In this regard, certification transactions of the film and phonogram producers are performed by General Directorate of Copyrights, and certification transactions of the filling facilities are performed by Istanbul Directorate of Copyrights and Cinema. All other certification transactions will be performed by the provincial culture and tourism directorates pursuant to the Regulation. Addition to this, the certification obligation of the theaters and similar places that display and transmit motion pictures is not applicable anymore under the Regulation. Also, the specific provisions and regulations for filling facilities have been abolished, and the unity was occurred in practice.
Addition to above, the obligation to display the certification is repeated under the Regulation, and it is stated that the businesses subject to the certificate obligation has to display the certifications during the inspections. The obligation to have the certificate number is regulated for the printing houses, publishing houses, filling facilities and similar places; and filling facilities are obliged to keep the source identification code (SID code) on carrier materials.
On the other hand, businesses/places that have the certificate will be able to sell the books or carrier materials containing intellectual and artistic works in the fairs, festivals or other cultural events provided that “Temporary Sales Certificate” is obtained and displayed to the provincial culture and tourism directorates. For this, a document that include the name and the date of the event shall be obtained from the firm/establishment that organize the event. Another thing is that film and phonograph producers’ producer documents, which have been obtained temporarily or permanently, will not be renewed at the end of their validity period since film and phonogram producers will be obliged to obtain certificate pursuant to the Regulation. It has been regulated that at the expiration date of these documents, it is obligatory to obtain a certificate, as explained above, to replace the producer’s documents.
As a result of these changes, with the Regulation, it has been tried to create unity in practice and the general principles and procedures have been clearly determined. On the other hand, the effective date of the relevant Regulation has been determined as 01.01.2022 and it is aimed to facilitate the transition period in matters that have been changed.