Ministerial Resolution No. 41 of 2019 Issuing the Executive Regulations of Law No. 75 of 2019 on Copyright and Related Rights

Ministerial Resolution No. 41 of 2019
Issuing the Executive Regulations of Law No. 75 of 2019 on Copyright and Related Rights

Article One

The provisions of the Executive Regulations of Law No. (75) of 2019 referred to above, the texts of which are attached to this Resolution, shall be applied.

Article Two

Ministerial Resolution No. (23) of 2017 referred to above is hereby repealed, and every provision that conflicts with the provisions of these Regulations is hereby repealed.

Article Three

This Resolution shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall come into force from the date of its publication, and the competent authorities shall implement it.

Executive Regulations of Law No. 75/2019 on Copyright and Related Rights

Chapter One – Cases in Which the Council Exercises the Moral and Economic Rights of the Author

Article 1

The Council shall establish registers and databases for recording such national folklore as is surveyed and classified, for the purpose of the Council’s exercise of the author’s moral and economic rights over national folklore referred to in Article (5) of the Law.
The Minister shall issue the decisions necessary for the care and support of national folklore, and the rules and procedures necessary for implementing the preceding paragraph.

Article 2

The Council shall exercise, over the production of a Kuwaiti author or performer who dies leaving no heir or legatee, over a work or works whose author is unknown, and over all works that pass into the public domain, the following rights:
First: The right to decide on the publication of the work for the first time.
Second: The right to attribute the work to its author.
Third: The right to prevent any infringement or modification of the work that would distort or alter it, or that would prejudice the honour, reputation or standing of the author.
The Council shall take the means and measures necessary to exercise these rights in a manner that ensures the preservation of the work and of the reputation of the author or performer.
The Council shall also exercise the economic rights referred to in the Law over works and related rights whose author or right holder, being of Kuwaiti nationality, dies without leaving an heir or legatee, and over works or related rights whose author is unknown.

Chapter Two – Reproduction and Translation of Works

Article 3

Any Kuwaiti natural or legal person having an interest may submit an application to the President of the Council, or whomever he authorises, to be granted a non-exclusive licence, not assignable to third parties, to reproduce or translate any work or any related right without the permission of the right holder.
The following shall be required for granting this licence:
1- That it be for the needs of school and university education or research.
2- That there be no prejudice to the legitimate interests of the right holder
3- That the licence not conflict with the normal exploitation.

Article 4

In granting the licence, the following shall be observed:
1- That the author has not withdrawn all copies of his work from circulation in Kuwait.
2- That the licence is not assignable by the licensee to third parties.
3- That the name of the author and the title of the work are stated on every licensed copy or translation.

Article 5

The licence application shall be submitted to the Competent Department on the form prepared for this purpose, accompanied by the following:
1- Evidence that the purpose of the licence is confined to the needs of school and university education or research, or to any other purpose justifying the reproduction of the work or of any of the related rights, in accordance with the details set out in Articles (31–32–33) of the Law.
2- Evidence that it is impossible to reach the author, his successor or their legal representative, or that they have not reproduced a sufficient number of copies of the work to meet the said needs.

Article 6

The Competent Department shall examine the licence application, verify that all the conditions and documents required for granting it are met, and submit its recommendation in this regard to the Minister.

Article 7

The Minister shall issue a decision on the licence application within thirty days from the date of submission of the application fulfilling the legally prescribed conditions. If this period lapses without a decision being issued, the application shall be deemed rejected. The persons concerned may renew the previously rejected application, subject to the same provisions, after remedying the reasons on which the first application was rejected.

Article 8

The licence shall contain sufficient particulars, in particular the following:
1- Particulars of the work or related right, including the name of the right holder
2- The name and particulars of the licence applicant.
3- The purpose of the licence.
4- The temporal and territorial scope of the licence.
5- The number of licensed copies

Article 9

The issuance of a licence shall not prevent the issuance of another licence to a person other than the licensee, unless a licence has previously been granted to translate this work into the same language in which the application is submitted and the work has been published in translation in that language.

Chapter Three – Collective Management

Article 10

The President of the Council shall issue the necessary decision regulating the work of collective management, provided that it includes its operating mechanism, the monitoring of its performance and supervision over it, the rules for collecting the fees set out in the attached schedule, and what ensures the distribution of entitlements to authors and holders of related rights, after obtaining the approval of the official authorities concerned with the work of collective management.

Chapter Four – Application to Prevent Customs Release

Article 11

A right holder who has reasonable grounds to believe that goods infringing any of his rights protected under the Law are being imported may submit a written application to the General Administration of Customs not to grant customs release of these goods and not to allow their circulation. The application shall be supported by sufficient evidence of an infringement of the applicant’s right in those goods, and shall include sufficient information to enable the said authority to identify the goods concerned, such as the customs declaration number or the bill of lading or invoice, the date of arrival, the name of the importer and the place of arrival.

Article 12

The General Administration of Customs shall notify the applicant in writing of its decision on his application within seven working days from the date of submission of the application. If the application is accepted, the decision shall be valid for one year from the date of submission of the application, or for the remaining period of protection, whichever ends sooner, unless the applicant requests a shorter period.

Article 13

The General Administration of Customs may require the applicant to provide a security whose value does not exceed 5% of the value of the goods, or an equivalent guarantee, to protect the rights of the owner of the goods whose release is requested to be suspended.

Article 14

Without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding Articles, the General Administration of Customs may, on its own initiative and without the need for a complaint or application from the right holder or from third parties, issue a decision suspending the customs release of imported goods or goods prepared for export upon their arrival in the customs area, if there is sufficient evidence that these goods involve any kind of infringement of the rights protected by the Law.
If the General Administration of Customs decides, in application of the provisions of this Article, to suspend the release of goods that have arrived in the customs area, it shall:
1- Notify the importer of the goods and the right holder of the decision suspending customs release immediately upon its issuance.
2- Notify the right holder, upon a written request from him, of the names and addresses of the consignor and the consignee of the goods, and of the quantities of the goods.
3- Allow the persons concerned to inspect the goods in accordance with the customs procedures followed in this regard. The right holder shall file an action on the merits of the dispute before the competent court and inform the General Administration of Customs thereof within a period not exceeding ten working days from the date of his notification of the decision suspending the customs release of these goods; otherwise, the decision shall be deemed never to have existed, unless the General Administration of Customs or the competent court decides to extend this time limit, in the cases it deems appropriate, for a period not exceeding another ten days.

Article 15

The Director of the General Administration of Customs shall, after coordination with the Competent Minister, issue a decision specifying the particulars, conditions, controls and procedures relating to the submission of an application to suspend customs release and the decision thereon, and the documents to be attached to this application.

Article 16

The following shall be excluded from the application of the provisions of Article (12) of these Regulations:
– Small quantities of goods of a non-commercial nature contained in travellers’ personal luggage.
– Goods that have been put into circulation in the markets of the exporting country by the right holder or with his consent.

Chapter Five – Deposit of Works

Article 17

The Library shall establish special registers for applications for the deposit of works and for applications of holders of related rights subject to the provisions of the Law.

Article 18

The deposit application shall be submitted by the author of the work or the holder of the related right, as the case may be, or by their successors or their legal representative, to the Competent Department on the form prepared for this purpose. The application may not include more than one work.

Article 19

Applications shall be entered in the registers referred to in Article (18) of these Regulations and shall be given sequential numbers annually according to the date of their submission. Each application shall be marked with its serial number and the date of its submission, and the applicant shall be notified of the receipt of the application and its attachments.

Article 20

The Library shall examine the deposit application and its attachments. In examining the deposit application, the Library may seek the assistance of such experts as it deems fit.

Article 21

The acceptance or rejection of the deposit shall be by a decision of the Director General of the Library, within a maximum period of sixty days for works and five days for books from the date of submission of the application. A decision rejecting the application shall be reasoned, and the applicant shall be notified thereof by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

Article 22

The rejection of the said deposit application shall not prevent the applicant from submitting a new deposit application in which the reasons on which the previous rejection decision was based are remedied.

Article 23

If the deposit is accepted, the Library shall assign, according to the type of work or related right, a deposit number at the Library and the international standard number.

Article 24

A deposit applicant whose application has been accepted shall submit copies of the work or related right that is the subject of the deposit as set out in the deposit application form.

Article 25

The Library shall prepare a file for each work, in which shall be kept the papers, documents and dispositions relating to the application for the deposit of the work or related right and the recording of the dispositions made in respect of it.

Article 26

An application to record a disposition affecting a right recorded in the deposit registers shall be submitted by the disposing party, the party in whose favour the disposition is made, their successors or their legal representative, to the Library on the form prepared for this purpose.

Article 27

Applications to record dispositions shall be treated under the same provisions prescribed for deposit applications set out in this Chapter, and accepted dispositions shall be recorded in the deposit registers provided for in Article (38) of the Law, according to the works to which those dispositions relate.

Article 28

The Library may, at the request of the persons concerned, issue deposit certificates. The Library shall issue the certificate of deposit of a work against a fee of ten dinars for each certificate, excluding deposit certificates issued at the request of government entities.

Article 29

The persons concerned may file a grievance with the Minister against decisions rejecting deposit, registration or the issuance of certificates within sixty days from the date of notification of the rejection decision. The grievance shall be decided within sixty days from the date of its submission, and if this period lapses without a reply, the grievance shall be deemed rejected

Article 30

Every final enforceable judgment that would amend or cancel any of the particulars recorded in all or some of the deposit registers at the Library shall be annotated in those registers.

Article 31

The Library may prepare additional manual or digital registers in addition to the registers referred to in this Chapter, as the requirements of work may necessitate.

Article 32

The attached schedule shall be applied in respect of fees, and the attached annexes shall be applied as forms for applications for reproduction or translation, deposit or registration applications, or applications to record dispositions.

Schedule of Prescribed Fees
for a Licence / Permit / Issuance of a Certificate in respect of Collective Management

No.	Type of Service	Collective Management Entity	Prescribed Fee (KWD)
1	Application for registration to obtain a licence in the collective management register	Companies	100/-
		Civil associations and unions	50/-
2	Application for a permit to carry out the work of collective management	Companies	5000/-
		Civil associations and unions	3000/-
3	Application for the issuance of a certificate of registration in the collective management register	Companies	10/-
		Civil associations and unions	10/-

Issued on 29 August 2019 and published in the Official Gazette Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 September 2019.