IFRRO World Congress in Buenos Aires – IFRRO gears up to face the future

Over 200 delegates and other invitees will gather in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 22-25 October for the IFRRO World Congress 2012 and a week of discussions on how IFRRO can shape up for future challenges and meet the needs of its members and other stakeholders. The meeting will include an IFRRO Business Models Forum (IBMF)/International seminar on Wednesday 24 October and culminate in a meeting of the IFRRO Annual General Meeting on Thursday 25 October.

The theme of the IBMF will be “Understanding User Needs and Delivering Solutions”. There will be speaker contributions from among others Dra. Delia Lipzic from Buenos Aires University (UBA, Argentina), Ms. Michel Woods of the UN organization WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) and the independent Consultant from Ex Libris Ms. Jenny Walker, in addition to high level IFRRO representatives.

“RROs and Good Governance” is also a topic at the AGM. As Collective Rights Management moves further up the political agenda with initiatives such as WIPO TAG (Transparency, Accountability, Good Governance) and the EU Collective Rights Directive, IFRRO members will be encouraged to view good governance as a competitive advantage for RROs. A final session will consider the IFRRO Board Activity Plan 2012-2014 and discuss how to ensure that IFRRO is able to anticipate and assess future challenges, especially with regard to the digital age, so as better to be able to meet the needs of its members and of users of copyright material.

The AGM will also hold elections for all the positions in the IFRRO Board: President, both Vice Presidents, three Board members representing RRO Members, two Board members representing Creator and Publisher Association Members and four substitute directors (two each for RRO Members and Creator and Publisher Association Members).