UAE: ERRA is the first Middle Eastern member to be invited to the IFFRO 2023 World Conference

Emirates' ERRA makes history at 2023 IFRRO World Conference in Iceland, representing Middle East's authors and publishers.

on Oct 11, 2023

UAE: ERRA is the first Middle Eastern member to be invited to the IFFRO 2023 World Conference | Frontlist

The Emirates Reprographic Rights Management Association (ERRA) created history by being the first Middle Eastern member to attend the 2023 World Conference of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO), which was recently held in Reykjavik, Iceland.

The IFRRO has approximately 150 members representing many authors, visual artists, book publishers, periodicals, newspapers, and musicians from 85 countries.

The conference's inaugural session began in the presence of President Gudni Th. Johannesson of the Republic of Iceland, and was led by Mohammed Al Kamali, a member of the Association's Board of Directors, and Majd Al Shehhi, Director of ERRA.

Members of IFFRO, administrative body representatives, and a diverse mix of authors and publishers from around the world were in attendance for the annual elections to confirm the President and Council members for the 2023-2024 term. Attendees participated in presentations, panel discussions, and other meetings during the conference.

The event included conversations on a wide range of copyright-related subjects, examining current trends and problems in the collective rights management process and emphasising the critical need of protecting creators' rights on both a regional and worldwide scale.

Al Shehhi praised the UAE's continuous participation in this key international event, calling it "a major step in elevating the UAE's position on the global stage regarding copyright protection and its leadership in nurturing creative industries."

She also stressed that this participation was perfectly linked with the Association's strategic goals, which were to strengthen the Association's global position in safeguarding the rights of writers and publishers while efficiently managing the shared and paid use of works that included text and images.

She went on to say that they signed a bilateral agreement with the Malaysia Reprographic Rights Centre (MARC) to represent a large collection of Malaysian literary works, and that "in exchange, we worked hard to make these works available to libraries and universities in the UAE that held licences with our organisation."

Concurrently, the rights of Emirati works were represented in Malaysian libraries and universities after we secured authorization from their producers, including writers and publishers. This reciprocal arrangement considerably aided the interchange of cultural content and promoted the wider distribution of Emirati artists' creative works."