The Polish Parliament voted in favor of a resolution declaring the proposed Directive on collective rights management and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use incompatible with the principle of subsidiarity.  

The principle of subsidiarity states that the European Union should only act if, and so far as the objectives of a proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States. According to the Polish Parliament, the draft proposal does not adequately explain why the goals this Directive seeks to achieve can be better realized on a EU level instead of on a national level. Especially with regard to the proposed transparency of colleting societies, Poland argues that national legislation suffices. Furthermore, the Polish resolution addresses three concerns:

• The proposed Directive might have a negative effect on the freedom of economic activity, since it imposes new obligations on collecting societies.
• Private party autonomy may be reduced. By imposing new contracting obligations on collective management organizations, and by the proposed changed modalities of governance of such organizations – which are similar to commercial companies – the model of governance applied to societies/associations may be undermined.
• Outsourcing collective management to other entities might result in decreased protection of copyright.

The European Commission adopted this proposal in order to ensure rights holders have a say in the management of their rights, and to realize better functioning collective societies. However, Member States can follow a procedure to express their opinion concerning the proposed legislation within six weeks from the date of transmission of the draft act. Poland made use of this option; if one third of all votes allocated to the national parliaments agree with the Polish resolution within this term, this resolution could result in a review of the draft. 

Read more about developments regarding collecting societies on Future of Copyright: 

• GEMA's new fee system causes controversy amongst dance clubs
• Dutch Parliament agrees on strict supervision of collecting societies
• Brazilian collecting society ECAD faces fraud charges