Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I move amendment No. 90:

In page 112, to delete lines 13 to 47 and in page 113, to delete lines 1 to 6 and substitute the following:

112.—(1) It is the duty of a corporation to prepare and publish, within 12 months of the passing of this Act, and every fourth year thereafter, a code of fair trading practice (in this section referred to as a "code") setting out the principles that it shall apply when agreeing terms for the commissioning of programming material from independent producers.

(2) The Authority, having consulted with the Minister, a corporation, and independent producers (or such persons appearing to the Authority to represent them), shall within 6 months of the passing of this Act and every fourth year thereafter, prepare and issue guidance to the corporation on the format of a code required under subsection (1).

(3) The guidance issued by the Authority under subsection (2) shall be general in nature and shall not specify the particular items to be included in a code to which the guidance relates.

(4) A corporation, having considered the guidance received under subsection (2), shall prepare and submit for approval to the Minister a code.

(5) A code shall include reference to a corporation's approach to—

(a) multi-annual commissioning;

(b) that there is what appears to the Authority and the Minister to be sufficient transparency about the amounts to be paid in respect of each category of rights;

(c) timetable for contractual negotiations;

(d) that what appears to the Authority and the Minister to be satisfactory arrangements are made about the duration and exclusivity of those rights;

(e) that procedures exist for reviewing the arrangements adopted in accordance with the code for demonstrating compliance with it.

(6) The Minister shall, in considering a code, consult with the Authority.

(7) On approval by the Minister a code shall be deemed to have come into force and a corporation shall comply with such a code.

(8) A corporation shall ensure that provision is made for resolving disputes arising in respect of the provisions of a code (by independent arbitration or otherwise) in a manner that appears to the Minister and the parties involved to be appropriate.

(9) The Compliance Committee, at the direction of the Minister report to the Minister on compliance by a corporation with a code prepared under this section.

(10) A corporation may with the approval of the Minister, the Minister having consulted with the Authority, revise and publish amendments to a code.".

This amendment concerns the relationship between the corporation and the independent sector. There are issues that need to be addressed, which have been raised with us by independent producers with regard to the commissioning of work and the rights that flow from such work. I imagine it would be a matter for the authority to take an active role in determining fair practice in this regard. I think the Minister is aware of the concerns about the independent sector. When one looks at the changed landscape, given the amount of work that is out there, it certainly is important to have a good and robust approach to how the independent sector itself operates in addition to how commissioning and processing of work is carried out. One issue that was raised on a number of occasions, and which seems to me to be pretty reasonable, was that of rights flowing from a piece of work. Where an independent producer makes a programme, he or she may not have the rights flowing from that programme because they are maintained by RTE, for example. There is no reason RTE would necessarily exploit those rights, but it could be of value to an independent producer to be able to do so subsequently. RTE would argue that it commissions the work so it is entitled to have any rights flowing from it. To an extent, this issue has been addressed in the Bill but the Minister might refresh my memory as to how he approaches that specific issue, which has been raised on a quite a number of occasions by the independent sector.

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