CONGO

Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights
(No. 24/82 of July 7, 1982)

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(Articles 1 to 48)

TITLE I

General Provisions
Article 1. Literary, artistic and scientific works
of Congolese nationals, published in the People's
Republic of the Congo or abroad, and works of
foreign nationals first published in the Congo, shall
enjoy the protection afforded by this Law.
Article 2. Subject to the implementation of the
international conventions to which the People's
Republic of the Congo is a party, works not falling
within any of the categories referred to above shall
not enjoy the protection afforded by this Law unless
the country of which the original copyright holder is
a national, or in which he has his domicile, affords
equivalent protection to works of Congolese nationals. However, the integrity and the authorship of his
works shall be respected.
The countries in respect of which the condition of
reciprocity referred to in the preceding paragraph is
deemed to have been satisfied shall be determined
jointly by the Ministry responsible for culture and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Article 3. The use of foreign works not enjoying
protection under this Law shall be subject to a prior
declaration filed with the regularly constituted professional body of authors referred to in Article 68
and to payment of royalties under conditions similar
to those applied for protected works.
Such royalties shall be paid into a special fund
that shall be reserved for and devoted to cultural

';' Entry into force on July 7, 19H2. -

WIPO translation.

and social purposes for the benefit of Congolese
authors. The public performance or reproduction of
such works shall require authorization from that body.
The authorization shall be granted, in the case of a
profit-making event, against payment of a royalty
calculated on the basis of the gross takings resulting
from such exploitation; the rate of the royalty shall
be equal to one half of that normally applied for
works of the same category within the private domain
or in accordance with usual practice.
Article 4. This Law shall apply to the rights of
performers, producers of phonograms and to broadcasts, subject to the following conditions:

(i) for performers, in cases where:
the performer is a Congolese national;
the performance takes place on Congolese
territory;
the performance is fixed on a protected
phonogram;
(ii) for producers of phonograms, where:
the producer is a Congolese national;
the first fixation of the sounds was made in
the People's Republic of the Congo;
the phonogram was first published in the
People's Republic of the Congo;
(iii) for broadcasts, where:
the headquarters of the broadcasting organization is situated on Congolese territory;
the broadcast was transmitted from a station situated on Congolese territory.
Article 5. This Law shall also apply to performances, phonograrns and broadcasts protected
under the international conventions to which the
Congo is a party.

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