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The Ministry of Economy and Commerce has announced Qatar’s accession to the Rome Convention on the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961), effective 23 September 2017.
 
The Rome Convention on the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961) includes the protection of the intellectual property rights of broadcasters from any infringement. These include the right to wireless transmission and live broadcast of television performances to the public; the right to re-broadcast via another broadcasting organization, as well as the right to broadcast audio, sound or images to the public; the right of fixation and reproduction of performances and the authorization of others to these rights, the protection of broadcasting organizations authorized by the state to operate and maintain a main headquarters on its territory.
 
The accession of Qatar to the Rome Convention marks another milestone in the country’s successful journey in the field of intellectual property rights protection, in which Qatar ranks first in the Arab world for the eighth consecutive year and 20th worldwide.
 
The accession of Qatar to the Rome Convention on the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961) as well as other international conventions and treaties relating to the protection of intellectual property rights also aims at protecting the rights of legitimate copyright owners due to the important commercial and economic repercussions of intellectual property rights in terms of promoting economic growth and development to accomplish the Qatar 2030 vision.
 
Qatar has previously acceded to a number of international conventions for the protection of copyright and related rights, such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the first international convention to protect the rights of authors, performers and producers of phonograms, as well as the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) And the WIPO Treaty (WPPT) on the Protection of Performances and Phonograms. The Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961) was characterized by provisions to protect broadcasting organizations.