Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: CMA releases undertakings given by Performing Right Society, (May 24, 2016)

By Michael Menzhuber, J.D., LL.M.

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided to release the Performing Right Society (PRS) from undertakings dating back to 1997, the agency announced today.

The PRS, one of the two main collecting societies for music in the U.K., licenses musical works and administers the royalties when they are played in public or broadcast. Following a Monopolies and Mergers Commission investigation, the PRS gave undertakings in 1997 that allowed its members to administer their own live performing rights, as well as to make other commitments over its corporate governance and provide information to the CMA’s predecessor, the Office of Fair Trading.

After announcing in November 2015 that it would carry out a review of the undertakings, the CMA announced on March 23, 2016 that it had decided to provisionally release the PRS from the undertakings. After carefully reviewing the responses to the provisional release decision, the group of independent CMA panel members carrying out the review decided that the areas covered by the undertaking would be effectively addressed by the EU Collective Rights Management Directive and the corresponding U.K. Collective Management of Copyright Regulations 2016 (UK Regulations).

The review, which did not examine performing rights in general or any wider issues, considered whether there had been a change in circumstances such that the undertakings were no longer appropriate and should be varied, released, or retained. Based on their findings, the panel members decided that the undertakings were no longer required.

The U.K. Regulations, which became effective on April 10, 2016, introduce a number of requirements that collective management organizations, such as the PRS, must meet as well as various protections for their members. The requirements are intended to ensure a high standard of governance, financial management, transparency, and reporting.

News: Antitrust