DUTCH COPYRIGHT ORGANIZATION SUPERVISED BY COMPETITION AUTHORITY?

Left Wing Liberal MP Kees Verhoeven has proposed to dedicate the supervision of Dutch collecting society Buma /Stemra to a newly to form supervisor, which brings the Competition Authority, the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority and the Consumer Authority together. Verhoeven finds that the current Supervision Board is not working properly.

The Competition Authority was established to enhance competition in markets where competition is possible and choice and better value for money for consumers could be achieved. Before that the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority was established to stimulate the liberalization of sectors that were previously monopolized by government companies. For new providers this created new opportunities to access new markets and to compete. The Consumer Authority is for collective consumer interests. The government has decided to merge these authorities because their fields are partially overlapping.

The proposal of MP Verhoeven to dedicate the supervision of Buma /Stemra to the newly to be formed supervisor deserves sympathy. The call for better supervision of Buma / Stemra is not from today or yesterday, and has to do with the misconduct of an organization towards its own members and towards its users (broadcasters, shops, etc.). Yet it is not logical.
As mentioned, the Competition Authority was intended for general competition supervision and the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority to monitor specific markets. To bring Buma / Stemra under such supervision presupposes that a market for the exploitation of copyrights either exists or that it is a sector that is liberalized or should be. That is not the case. The government has never suggested to promote a competing market. In my view this should happen. Buma / Stemra has a virtual monopoly: this organization is the only one with an official government license to exercise the exploitation of copyrights. And that is exactly the problem. Monopolies may hinder market access, free pricing, and innovation.
It seems useful if the government would encourage competition by alternatives like Creative Commons and VillaMusicRights.