BEIJING, CHINA – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is calling on the Canadian government to lead the way by ratifying a new international treaty that recognizes new rights for performers.
The ‘Beijing Treaty’, which was adopted at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Diplomatic Conference this week, establishes new moral and economic rights in international law for performers who work in film, TV and digital media. The next step is for United Nations member-states to ratify the ‘WIPO Audiovisual Performances Treaty’ (WIPO AVPT), as it is formally known, and implement its provisions in domestic law.
“The Canadian government should seize this opportunity to be a leader on the international stage and demonstrate its commitment to artists by being one of the first to sign the Beijing Treaty,” said ACTRA national executive director Stephen Waddell, in a statement. “Signing the Beijing Treaty would not only demonstrate the Canadian government’s commitment to enhanced intellectual property rights, but would also signal that Canada wants to do business with China, a strategic and powerful economic partner.”
ACTRA represents the interests of 22,000 professional performers working in the English-language recorded media in Canada.
