Original, the Bosnian and Herzegovinian RRO, received a licence to operate at the end of 2017 and is now collecting copyright revenues. It became the 100th RRO in membership of IFRRO in 2018.

In October, IFRRO participated in a one-day awareness raising conference in Sarajevo. The conference was supported by the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and it gathered a number of key Bosnian institutions, users, importers, government representatives, authors, journalists, publishers and other interested parties. Goran Simić, writer and President of Original, opened the conference. Four panel discussions followed, focusing on the legal basis for collective management of reprography, best practices in the Balkans, legal challenges, and licensing of educational institutions.

Local speakers included Lejla Gačanica and Admira Sitnić (Original), Manda Galić (Institute for Intellectual Property BiH) and renowned journalist Kristina Ljevak. Foreign speakers were coming from the region and beyond, including Jedrzej Maciejewski and Marcin Zydron (Copyright Polska, Poland), Miloš Konstantinović (OORP, Serbia), Rudi Zaman and Luka Novak (SAZOR, Slovenia), Albert Junčaj (ORPCG, Montenegro) and Pierre-Olivier Lesburguères from the IFRRO Secretariat.

IFRRO Board member Samantha Holman also recorded a video of support that was shown at the conference.

After a day long of questions and discussions, everyone joined to congratulate Original, its President Mr. Simić and CEO Ms. Gačanica, on everything they have accomplished for Bosnian creators and the many good things to come.

The conference was widely covered in the local press: see articles here, here, here, and a post on Original’s website here.

Repost from IFRRO web-site: https://www.ifrro.org/content/national-conference-collective-licensing-sarajevo-bosnia-and-herzegovina