By Faustina Dagau
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is working towards establishing a regional framework for private copying remuneration to ensure that creative professionals across member states benefit from the reproduction of their copyrighted works.
The initiative is expected to draw on existing practices in Francophone countries and extend the experience to Anglophone and Portuguese-speaking member states to promote a more harmonised approach to compensating creators.
Dr. Roland Kouakou, Director of Education, Science and Culture at the ECOWAS Commission, said a study on private copying remuneration had examined existing legislation and practices in Francophone countries to identify approaches that could be adopted across the region.
ECOWAS has 12 member states now. When you take all the Francophone countries, they already have guidelines on the remuneration of private copying. So this study is also to share the best practices ongoing in Francophone countries with other countries, like the Anglophone and Portuguese-speaking countries,” he said.
Dr. Kouakou made the remarks in an interview on the sidelines of a technical meeting on the validation of the study on private copying remuneration in ECOWAS member states and a regional committee meeting on the return of cultural property to their countries of origin in Accra.
He explained that the study had examined the relevant legislation and existing practices in Francophone countries, with the aim of identifying ways to share and implement those approaches across the ECOWAS region.
The study was funded by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), with support from the relevant regional and member-state institutions.
Roadmap for cultural artefacts restitution
On the recovery of African cultural artefacts taken from their countries of origin, Dr. Kouakou said the regional committee was working towards developing a practical roadmap to accelerate their return.
He explained that the committee regularly reviews progress and updates information on the number of artefacts returned to their countries of origin.
At our meeting last year, the number was around 455 artefacts that had been repatriated. At this moment, I think that after the meeting, we can establish the number of artefacts that have been repatriated since last year,” he said.
According to him, the ECOWAS Council of Ministers had also given the committee a mandate to implement a new action plan to advance the restitution process.
He said the current meeting was expected to produce a comprehensive roadmap with short-term actions that member states could implement to accelerate the recovery of cultural property.
Dr. Kouakou, however, acknowledged that the restitution process involved more than technical considerations, as diplomatic relations, international cooperation and political issues also played important roles.
Repatriation has many aspects. It is not only technical, but there is also a diplomatic aspect. There is also cooperation, and we have political issues,” he said.
He explained that these considerations informed the nomination of President Patrick Stallone as a champion for the restitution initiative.
Dr. Kouakou said the regional committee was expected to engage the champion next year to present recommendations emerging from its deliberations and explore ways of advancing the process.
He expressed optimism about the progress made so far but stressed the need for sustained regional and international cooperation to ensure that more African cultural artefacts were returned to their rightful countries.
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