Collecting societies

The EEA Agreement and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) give rise to the obligation to implement agreement-specific regulations in the field of intellectual property law.

These provisions were implemented in the Gesetz vom 19. Mai 1999 über das Urheberrecht und verwandte Schutzrechte (URG; LR 231.1 -Copyright Act) and in the GEsetz vom 29. März 2018 über die Wahrnehmung von Urheberrechten und verwandten Schutzrechten durch Verwertungsgesellschaften (VGG; LR 231.3 - Act on the Administration of Copyright and Related Rights by Collecting Societies).

The URG regulates the protection of authors of literary and artistic works, the protection of performers, directors, producers of sound and audiovisual recordings, and broadcasting organizations. The Verordnung über das Urheberrecht (URV; LR 231.11-  Copyright Ordinance) regulates the exceptions from the obligation to pay remuneration when lending copies of works and the measures to be taken in the case of import, export or transit of goods whose distribution in the country infringes copyrights or related rights.

The VGG regulates the administration of copyrights and related rights by collecting societies as well as dependent and independent collecting institutions. The Verordnung über die Wahrnehmung von Urheberrechten und verwandten Schutzrechten durch Verwertungsgesellschaften (VGV; LR 231.31 - Collecting Societies Ordinance) regulates the details of the licensing and notification obligations of collecting societies, tariff approval, supervision and fees. 

The licenses for the exploitation of certain copyrights and related rights and the assertion of the corresponding remuneration claims in Liechtenstein were again granted to the collecting societies SUISA, ProLitteris, SUISSIMAGE and SWISSPERFORM for a period of 5 years from July 23, 2022. The tariffs in force at the time of the granting of the license were approved by the Office of Economic Affairs. This approval is valid until they are revised, but no longer than for the duration of this concession. The complete tariffs can be obtained from the collecting societies themselves or can be found on their respective homepages.

The Office of Economic Affairs supervises the management of the collecting societies and ensures that they fulfill their obligations. It examines and approves the annual reports and the tariffs of the collecting societies. Upon request, the Liechtenstein associations of work users may participate in the tariff negotiations together with the Swiss associations of work users. The tariffs relate, for example, to the reproduction of copyrighted and published works by means of reprographic processes, the use of music, the performance of music for dance and entertainment, the public screening of video clips, screenings of image and sound carriers  for an admission fee, telekiosks, cinemas and audiotex or videotex-like services.