S.L. 415.1 Art. 8Approval of collective management organisations. 6 [

(1) A collective management organisation shall not operate in Malta unless it submits a request to the Board to operate as a collective management organisation and is approved as a collecting society in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

(2) A request for approval of a collective management organisation, which may also be submitted to the Board by electronic means, shall include: S.L.415.01 ADMINISTRATION OF COPYRIGHT

(a) a copy of the statutes of the collective management organisation;

(b) the regulations of the collective management organisation concerning the system of collection and distribution of fees and equitable remuneration;

(c) a proposed tariff of all royalties to be collected by the collective management organisation;

(d) a declaration stating the number of persons who have entrusted or undertaken to entrust the collective management organisation with the administration of their economic rights at the time of the said declaration;

(e) a list of contracts with other foreign or local collective management organisations regarding the administration of rights;

(f) the contact details, including a postal address, fax number or e-mail address, telephone number and the legal address if this is not the same as the postal address, for the purpose of receiving complaints or requests for information; and

(g) the prescribed fee for a request for approval of a collective management organisation.

(3) The Board shall approve the collective management organisation unless:

(a) the statutes or regulations mentioned in sub-regulation

(2) do not conform to the relevant provisions of the Act, these regulations or of any other law;

(b) there is factual evidence indicating that a physical person who may lawfully represent the collective management organisation under the statutes of the organisation does not possess the abilities or reliability necessary for the exercise of such activity;

(c) there is factual evidence indicating that the collective management organisation is not able to fulfil its functions for any reason including the absence of economic and technical means, or of appropriate staff;

(d) another collective management organisation has already been approved in the same field of administration, provided that the Board is satisfied that the existence of more than one organisation in that particular field of administration would not be beneficial to the interests of the authors and other owners of copyright and of neighbouring rights and the users;

(e) it considers that the proposed tariffs are unacceptable, provided that if the collective management organisation has different sets of tariffs, it may still be allowed to operate in those areas for which the Board [

has approved the tariffs.

(4) In determining whether a collective management organisation has the economic and technical means to fulfil its functions as specified in sub-regulation (3)(c), the Board may consider the following:

(a) the number of authors who have undertaken to entrust the collective management organisation with the administration of their economic rights, as well as any plan or strategy by means of which the collective management organisation intends to increase this number;

(b) any bilateral or multilateral contracts concerning the administration of rights of foreign authors and other foreign owners of copyright and of neighbouring rights, as well as any such contracts or agreements which the collective management organisation is in the process of implementing;

(c) the extent of the exploitation of works which fall under the administration of that collective management organisation or the volume of potential users of such works;

(d) the capability of the collective management organisation to administer the rights of its members in other countries; and

(e) the ways and means whereby the collective management organisation proposes to achieve its aims: Provided that for the purpose of carrying out its functions under this sub-regulation the Board may request from a collective management organisation any related or incidental information as it deems appropriate.

(5) The basis for calculating the tariffs shall normally be the monetary advantages obtained from exploitation of the protected work, as well as the proportion of the utilisation of the work in the total exploitation.

(6) Other considerations to be made when calculating the prospective tariffs should include the category and nature of the user involved, including the type of business in the case of a commercial venture, as well as any religious, cultural and social elements involved.