DVP was created on 26 October 2021 by 74 publishers and press agencies to manage the new related right enshrined in the European Directive of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the digital single market, transposed in France by the law of 24 July 2019, for the benefit of publishers and press agencies.

This neighbouring right allows publishers and press agencies to be remunerated by online communication services, such as Google, Meta, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., which use their content in digital form.

DVP is a non-profit civil society organisation that operates on a cooperative basis: it pools the related rights attached to the content produced by its members, publishers and press agencies, in order to negotiate the best possible remuneration from online public communication services that use this content in electronic form.

Collective management allows publishers and press agencies to join forces to assert their rights together vis-à-vis the users of their content.

Within the scope of its contributions, its role is to:

• negotiate with online public communication services the rights and remuneration due to its members for the use of their content, which is subject to neighbouring rights;
• collect the remuneration due to its members for such use;
• distribute these rights among its members.

The rights collected are paid out after deduction of the costs incurred for the operation of DVP in accordance with a general policy defined by its members and the implementation procedures determined by its Board of Directors, composed of 16 directors, including 15 members of DVP and 1 qualified person.

As a collective management organisation, DVP guarantees equivalent economic conditions for all its members.

All holders of neighbouring rights in the press within the meaning of the Law of 24 July 2019, in other words:

• press publishers, natural or legal persons, within the meaning of Article L. 218-1 of the Intellectual Property Code, publishing, in that capacity, a print press publication and/or an online press service defined as: “a collection consisting mainly of literary works of a journalistic nature, which may also include other protected works or objects, in particular photographs or videograms, and which constitutes a unit within a periodical or regularly updated publication bearing a single title, with the aim of providing the public with information on current events or other published subjects, on any medium, on the initiative, under the editorial responsibility and under the control of these publishers.”

Recognition by the Joint Commission for Publications and Press Agencies (CPPAP) of a press publication or online press service is a sufficient but not necessary condition for its publisher to become a member of DVP.

• Press agencies, i.e. commercial companies that collect, process, format and provide, on a professional basis, all information that has been subject to journalistic processing under their own responsibility and at least half of whose turnover comes from the provision of such information to press publication companies, publishers of electronic communication services to the public and press agencies.

Recognition by the CPPAP of a news agency established in France is a necessary condition for membership of DVP.

The publishers and press agencies that are members of DVP, meeting in General Assembly, elect every three years:

• a Board of Directors, composed of 16 directors, 15 of whom are publishers and press agencies that are members of DVP and one of whom is a qualified individual;

This Board of Directors takes all decisions essential to the life of DVP and, in particular, decides on the conclusion of authorisation contracts with online public communication services and sets the amount of remuneration payable for the authorisations issued, as well as the terms and conditions for collecting and distributing this remuneration among DVP members. These decisions are implemented by a Manager.

• A Supervisory Board, composed of six members, including no more than two qualified individuals.

This Supervisory Board monitors and controls the activities of the Board of Directors and the Manager.

• The General Meeting, composed of all DVP members, meets annually to approve the annual accounts, validate the previous year’s activity report, adopt general policies such as the general distribution policy, the general investment policy or the general policy on deductions made from the sums collected before distribution to members, and more generally to discuss all items on the agenda. It also elects the members of the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board.

It is therefore the members of DVP who decide on the company’s overall direction.