Today’s decision follows RTL Group’s initial complaint with the European Commission, filed back in November 2000. In its complaint, RTL Group argued that the territorial restrictions in the reciprocal agreements between the national collecting societies conflict with the key principle of a European single market: forcing European broadcasters to only deal with their national collecting society prevents any competition - relating to the costs of the administrative services - between the different national collecting societies.

Christian Hauptmann, Deputy General Counsel of RTL Group: “Today’s decision of the European Commission provides an opportunity to develop a future-proof music licensing system. It has always been our goal to ensure that broadcasters and other mass users of music gain access to a multi-territory one-stop shop for the worldwide music repertoire - just as record companies have already known for years. A sound competitive environment will lead to more efficient administration services and lower transaction costs - and this is also to the benefit of composers, authors and users.”

For more information please see the related press release.