Regarding Adaptation of the Ukrainian Legislation to the EU Acquis as Regards Related Rights

The article analyzes the state of legislative regulation of the institute of related rights, including retrospective review, in the context of its development within continental European law and the impact of the latter on the domestic copyright legislation. Given the parallel processes taking place today – the unification of copyright law in the EU, which is mandatory in light of the fundamental principles of EU law, and the harmonization of the Ukrainian legislation in this area in accordance with the European integration commitments – attention is drawn to the legal regulation development trends for both the related rights (copyright) in Ukraine and copyright per se in general. Therefore, an urgent question for Ukraine is whether to experiment in this area or to follow the European way without any unnecessary initiatives. The systematization of Ukrainian legislation on copyright and related rights is in line with the approaches inherent in continental European law. The provisions of the domestic legislation, in general, tend to correspond to the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations of Oct 26th, 1961 (the Rome Convention), the 1994 TRIPS Agreement (Article 14), and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty of Dec 20th, 1996 (WPPT), as well as the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on one side, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community, and their Member States, on the other. However, considering Ukraine's Euro-integration course, including the adaptation of the domestic legislation to the EU acquis, it is still advisable to assess these changes through the prism of the current EU legislative acts. This is because the requirements stipulated in the Association Agreement, including those related to the regulation of related rights, are no longer aligned with the current provisions of EU law. The main objective is seen as the clear and consistent implementation of the EU acquis in accordance with the latest trends in European law, without allowing for any legislative experiments.

related rights, copyright, continental European law, unification of EU copyright law, performers, authors