{"id":19255,"date":"2026-08-20T16:09:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interspacemusic.com\/blog\/moldova-music-royalty-collection-stopped-no-designated-collector\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:13:25","slug":"moldova-music-royalty-collection-stopped-no-designated-collector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interspacemusic.com\/blog\/moldova-music-royalty-collection-stopped-no-designated-collector\/","title":{"rendered":"Moldova’s Music Royalty Collection Stopped on 6 March. The Law Says No One Else Is Allowed to Collect."},"content":{"rendered":"

Moldova has had no legally designated music royalty collector since 6 March 2026, and under Article 103 of Law No. 230\/2022 no other organisation is allowed to collect in its place.<\/p>\n

The designations that lapsed were ordinary three-year appointments. AGEPI, the State Agency for Intellectual Property, confirmed in an official statement<\/a> that four 2023 decisions naming the associations AUTORITY and ARTTON as collectors ceased to have legal effect on 5 March 2026.<\/p>\n

From the next day, for the rights those decisions covered, there was no collector at all.<\/p>\n

Why one lapsed decision freezes an entire country<\/h2>\n

A collective management organisation, or CMO, licenses music on behalf of songwriters, performers and producers and distributes what it collects. Most countries stop there.<\/p>\n

Moldova adds a second layer. For rights under mandatory or extended collective management, invoicing is not something every licensed CMO may do. Only the single organisation designated as collector, or a common collection structure, may issue the bill, and the designation comes by decision of the AGEPI director published in the Monitorul Oficial.<\/p>\n

That is a single point of failure by design. When the designation lapses, the result is not a backlog. It is a void in which a radio station, a bar or a cable operator has no one it can lawfully pay.<\/p>\n

The number under dispute<\/h2>\n

The National Association COPYRIGHT put the cost at more than 7 million lei in uncollected remuneration, and said the first-half payout normally distributed in July would not happen. Its president Leon \u0218tirbu described the sum as practically irrecoverable, in remarks reported by ZUGO on 6 July 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AGEPI rejects the framing. It says designation is not a formality but a legal procedure requiring proof that an applicant can collect, administer and distribute transparently, and that a working group was created by Director’s Order No. 67 of 25 May 2026 to examine the question.<\/p>\n

The wider system was moving at the same time. AGEPI suspended AUTORITY as a copyright CMO by Decision 28\/967 of 11 June 2026, and ARTTON by Decision 30\/1115 of 3 July 2026, rectified on 6 July. Its published register of decisions<\/a> under Law 230\/2022 currently ends at No. 34\/1265 of 30 July 2026, with no new collector named. That is 167 days without one.<\/p>\n

Which of your money is frozen, and which is not<\/h2>\n

This is the distinction most Moldovan rightsholders are not drawing, and it decides where effort is worth spending.<\/p>\n