Services for authors

Our range of services at a glance

SSA looks after the collection and distribution of rights remuneration for a workRemuneration due to rights owners calculated based on the collections or the expenditure, payable when the work is used (depending on the category also referred to as authors' fees or royalties). To be distinguished from an honorarium or a fee paid for services in the case of commissioned 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 IPISwiss Federal Institute for Intellectual Property - regulatory body for collective management organisations in the field of copyright and related rights in Switzerland.
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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 organisationThere are five collective management organisations (CMOs) in Switzerland for authors' and related rights: ProLitteris, SSA, Suissimage, SUISA, SWISSPERFORM 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 authorNatural person creating a work and reinforce the principle of solidarity. Usually set up as cooperatives or associations, collective management organisationsThere are five collective management organisations (CMOs) in Switzerland for authors' and related rights: ProLitteris, SSA, Suissimage, SUISA, SWISSPERFORM do not pursue any other interests than those of their members, who ultimately decide on their direction.

SSA is a collective management organisationThere are five collective management organisations (CMOs) in Switzerland for authors' and related rights: ProLitteris, SSA, Suissimage, SUISA, SWISSPERFORM 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 rightsThe right to authorise the terrestrial, satellite or internet transmission of a work via a broadcaster (radio, TV). 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 rightsThe right to authorise the terrestrial, satellite or internet transmission of a work via a broadcaster (radio, TV). 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)Pursuant to copyright law, the following rights are subject to mandatory management by a collective management organisation: retransmission, private copy, public reception, reprography, rental, educational use, usage including reproduction/copying for internal information/documentation purposes at the workplace. These are areas of usage where the legislator assumes that it is sensible or in fact possible at all that individual authors pursue the..., which comprises in particular cable retransmission rightsSimultaneous, integral and unaltered transmission of a radio or TV broadcast via cable network (or retransmission facility) via an entity other than the original broadcaster. Retransmission rights are subject to mandatory collective management., private copying rightsRight to receive remuneration for the reproduction for private purposes. This kind of right to remuneration is exclusively managed by collective management organisations. (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.
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Remuneration for on demand usagesMeans of communication in digital networks allowing the user to access audiovisual works of a provider from digital databases from anywhere, at any point in time. Compared to pay-per-view and near-on-video-on-demand, the offer is not linked to any chronological order determined by a programme. This procedure requires temporary reproduction of data on various technical media. (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 workIntellectual property creation in literature and art (as well as computer programmes) exhibiting an individual and therefore unique character. Said individual character is the prerequisite that a work can be protected. 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.
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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 workIntellectual property creation in literature and art (as well as computer programmes) exhibiting an individual and therefore unique character. Said individual character is the prerequisite that a work can be protected. registered in the ISAN film database is assigned a unique, internationally recognised and unchangeable reference number, a so-called “identifier”.

The ISANInternational Standard Audiovisual Number - ISAN (standard international number for audiovisual works) is an ISO certified numbering system on a voluntary basis, serving the identification of audiovisual works. It provides a consistent, permanent and internationally recognised identification for each audiovisual work. 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 copyrightEntirety of legal provisions attributing the author of a work moral and proprietary privileges. management by licensees such as broadcasting companies with and without streaming offers, video/DVD producers
Tool against piracyUnauthorised usage of an interpretation, a performance or a reproduction/recording of a protected work or unauthorised use
Management of film catalogues
Festival and funding applications

The SSA supports ISANInternational Standard Audiovisual Number - ISAN (standard international number for audiovisual works) is an ISO certified numbering system on a voluntary basis, serving the identification of audiovisual works. It provides a consistent, permanent and internationally recognised identification for each audiovisual work. 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 ISANInternational Standard Audiovisual Number - ISAN (standard international number for audiovisual works) is an ISO certified numbering system on a voluntary basis, serving the identification of audiovisual works. It provides a consistent, permanent and internationally recognised identification for each audiovisual work. number, so that authors are not disadvantaged.

Legal advice

SSA provides legal advice to its members with respect to copyrightEntirety of legal provisions attributing the author of a work moral and proprietary privileges. related issues.

Legal succession

SSA also represents legal successors (e.g. heirs) of rights owners if the relevant mandate agreementAgreement by means of which an author or a rights owner entrusts SSA with the management of certain rights, thus becoming an affiliate of SSA. has been entered into.
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Manuscript deposits

Unpublished manuscripts may be deposited at SSA. The purpose of depositing a manuscriptThe term manuscript (originally "written by hand") refers nowadays to all forms of written works that have not been published. is to be able to prove the existence of a work at a given point in time.
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Member card

SSA members get various discounts in theatres and cinemas.
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Payment of copyright remunerations

On this page you will find our info sheet “Delivery of copyright remuneration statements and other important documents”.

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.
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Social funds (solidarity funds)

Our solidarity funds helps members who are going through a difficult financial patch.
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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 authorNatural person creating a work 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.