47. The rights afforded by this Chapter shall terminate on expiry of a period of 25 years
as from the date on which the software was created.
Chapter VIII
Exercise of Copyright
48. There is established under the terms of this Law a public establishment of an
industrial and commercial nature enjoying legal personality and financial autonomy with the
name Tunisian Copyright Protection Agency.
The Agency shall report to the Ministry responsible for culture.
The Agency shall be subject to the rules of commercial accounting except where this
Law derogates from such rules.
Its headquarters shall be in Tunis and suburbs.
49. The tasks of the Tunisian Copyright Protection Agency shall be:
(a) to safeguard authors’ rights and to defend their material and moral interests;
(b) to represent, with regard to users of works, its members or foreign associations of
authors or the members of such associations in accordance with either its terms of reference or
a reciprocal agreement;
(c) to lay down the appropriate royalties payable for any work.
The functions and organization of the Agency shall be laid down by decree.
Chapter IX
Procedures and Sanctions
50. It shall be prohibited to import onto the territory of the Tunisian Republic copies of
a work that constitute an infringement of copyright within the meaning of this Law and of the
international copyright treaties.
51. Any person who infringes recognized copyright in any protected work as set out in
Article 2 of this Law shall be required to pay to the owner of such right damages of which the
amount shall be determined by the competent court.
Infringement of copyright shall be deemed proven where the user of the work is unable
to furnish the authorization referred to in Article 2 of this Law.
52. Any person who has knowingly done or caused to be done any act whatsoever that
infringes Articles 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 44, 46 and 50 of this Law shall be liable to a
fine of between 500 and 5,000 dinars.
In the event of a repeated offense, the fine may be increased to 10,000 dinars, to which
may be added a term of imprisonment of between one and six months or one only of these
two penalties.
53. The owner of an establishment open to the public in which an infringement of the
provisions of this Law has been committed, either by showing to the public protected works
or by the sale or rental of copies, shall be deemed jointly liable for making good the material
and moral prejudice caused by the exploitation of those works in the event of it being proved
that the owner of the establishment concerned acted knowingly.
page 10/12