Services for authors

Our range of services at a glance

SSA looks after the collection and distribution of rights remuneration for a work for its members, i.e. it issues invoices to the users, collects the respective remuneration and – after having deducted a share for its administration costs – passes it on to the relevant authors. In addition, it complies with the duties assigned to it by law and under its authorisation issued by the IPI.
Read more…

Authors are basically free to manage the rights of their works themselves, depending on the genre via publishers, agents, galleries etc. or to entrust a collective management organisation with this task. Collective management organisations have the necessary resources (staff) and specific tools to be able to cover the financial and legal aspects of rights management in a comprehensive manner. CMOs have more clout vis-a-vis the users than an individual author and reinforce the principle of solidarity. Usually set up as cooperatives or associations, collective management organisations do not pursue any other interests than those of their members, who ultimately decide on their direction.

SSA is a collective management organisation for dramatic, dramatico-musical, choreographic and audiovisual works. Apart from the collection and distribution of rights remuneration, it offers the following services to its members:

Cultural funds

Through its cultural funds, SSA supports creativity and distribution of domestic works.

Distribution and rights management

Broadcasting rights for radio and TV by SRG/SSR as well as performing rights (stage) are usually distributed throughout the year at the end of the month and depend on the actual usage of the works. Broadcasting rights for private radio and TV stations, however, are distributed in autumn of the year following the usage, based on the remuneration collected.

Remuneration arising from mandatory collective management (mcm), which comprises in particular cable retransmission rights, private copying rights (CD, DVD etc.), rental rights (video clubs/shops) and educational use, is paid out once per year, initially in the year after the use. Thus remuneration for broadcasts of dramatic, dramatico-musical and choreographic works is distributed in September, remuneration for audiovisual works in French is distributed in November/December.
Read more…

Remuneration for on demand usages (e.g. video on demand) is distributed at leat once y year.

Remuneration for reproduction (CD, DVD etc.) is paid out during the year at the end of each month following the collection of the licence fees.

Remuneration for uses abroad are distributed throughout the year irrespective of the work genre or the type of usage, depending on when the amounts are collected.

The other remunerations are generally payed in the month following their reception.

All remuneration payouts shall only take place if the works have been registered in time and if the relevant documentation has been supplied in full.

Catch-up distributions take place thereafter, according to SSA’s usual rules.
Read more…

Documentation and international relations

Providing SSA with a works declaration marks the starting point for a network of international relations with the aim to manage members’ rights effectively abroad, too. For more information on this topic, please go to the website of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers.

Information

SSA members receive our magazine “Le Journal de la SSA” three times per year. Our newsletter is called “Infolettre”.

ISAN

The ISAN (International Standard Audiovisual Number) is a numbering system and identifies audiovisual works. Each audiovisual work registered in the ISAN film database is assigned a unique, internationally recognised and unchangeable reference number, a so-called “identifier”.

The ISAN is used as an identifier in the following context and processes:

  • Simplification of the copyright management processes for the accounting and distribution of compensations
  • Traceability and control of copyright management by licensees such as broadcasting companies with and without streaming offers, video/DVD producers
  • Tool against piracy or unauthorised use
  • Management of film catalogues
  • Festival and funding applications

The SSA supports ISAN Switzerland and contributes to the collection of numbers for Swiss productions.

The SSA also takes over the costs for older works by its members for which no producer has applied for an ISAN number, so that authors are not disadvantaged.

Legal advice

SSA provides legal advice to its members with respect to copyright related issues.

Legal succession

SSA also represents legal successors (e.g. heirs) of rights owners if the relevant mandate agreement has been entered into.
Read more…

Manuscript deposits

Unpublished manuscripts may be deposited at SSA. The purpose of depositing a manuscript is to be able to prove the existence of a work at a given point in time.
Read more…

Member card

SSA members get various discounts in theatres and cinemas.
Read more

Payment of copyright remunerations
Pension funds

SSA members are – subject to certain conditions – admitted to SSA’s pension fund “Fonds de Secours” which augments their retirement capital in proportion to the rights remuneration for their works.
Read more…

Social funds (solidarity funds)

Our solidarity funds helps members who are going through a difficult financial patch.
Read more…

Withholding Tax

A distinction between two scenarios has to be made when it comes to a reimbursement of withholding tax that has been deducted from remuneration received from abroad; that is whether the tax residence of the author is in Switzerland or not. The different approaches in force depend on the remunerations’ country of origin; Switzerland and some other countries do not apply withholding tax to copyright royalties.

If the tax residence of the author is in Switzerland, a reduced tax rate is frequently deducted in the remunerations’ country of origin. Generally speaking, people domiciled in Switzerland for tax purposes benefit from a reduced rate of withholding tax, due to the double taxation agreements signed by Switzerland with the countries from which the remunerations originate.

As far as our information goes, it is possible to apply for a reimbursement of the base rate tax for remunerations if the amount has exceeded CHF 50.00. Such applications for a lump settlement must be filed in person and no sooner than the year in question has ended at the cantonal tax authorities, who will hand out the needed form DA-3 and inform you on how to proceed specifically. Any claims for such reimbursements, however, do lapse after three years.

If the tax domicile of the author is not in Switzerland: if the country of origin of the remuneration has a withholding tax, the rate of this tax is generally not reduced, i.e. it is generally higher than the tax rate that is deductible for authors resident in Switzerland. As tax practice can change, we recommend that you read our information sheet on this topic or contact us in a specific case.

Only the local tax authority will be able to provide you with information on the procedures for reclaiming all or part of these deductions, depending mainly on the conventions concluded between the author’s country of residence for tax purposes and the country from which the remunerations originate.

Obligation to provide information and reimbursement
Members and mandators must notify SSA without delay of any change in their country of tax residence within 30 days and undertake to pay to SSA any withholding tax that it may be required to refund to its foreign sister companies as a result of proceedings brought by the local tax authorities.

Read more…

Working spaces

SSA provides its members with three working spaces free of charge: the Michel Soutter room, the conference room Bernard Falciola and the co-working space Anne Cuneo.
Read more…