Could we hope for much from Catherine Pégard’s Ministry of Culture? Protected by Emmanuel Macron at the head of the Château de Versailles, arriving at a time when the end of the reign of the President of the Republic was particularly painful for culture, his passage through rue de Valois seemed destined for dead calm.
The parliamentary initiative of senators Laure Darcos and Sylvie Robert, a joint bill relating to the publishing contract, aimed at promoting best practices between players in the book and musical works sectors and simplifying the exception to copyright for people with disabilities, has finally reshuffled the cards.
This Wednesday, June 10, during the public session in the Senate, Senator Sylvie Robert tabled an amendment aimed at reducing the duration of the rights assignment contract to 10 years, compared to 70 years after the death of the author currently, as much as the intellectual protection of a work – which then enters the domain public.
This substantial transfer period is applied in around ten European countries, including Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. Conversely, a greater number of countries have set durations ranging from 5 to 20 years, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.
« This is a sort of review clause, which is carried out at the request of the author…“, explains Sylvie Robert, at the origin of this amendment. His submission took place to challenge the minister on the subject “ and ask him to make a commitment, in session, to bring authors and publishers to the table, very quickly, before our proposed law passes before the National Assembly ».
This request for a reduction in the duration of the transfer resurfaced during the Grasset affair. The Permanent Council of Writers (CPE) thus invited the public authorities, in a forum, to reduce this duration “ 10 years maximum renewable, as is already practiced in certain French publishing groups ».
The negotiations « without delay »
With this appeal amendment, Sylvie Robert intended to challenge the minister, in order to obtain a formal commitment from her regarding interprofessional negotiations on the subject. Catherine Pégard responded by emphasizing that “ [l]The government considers that the limitation by law of the duration of transfer of the exploitation rights of a work by the publishing contract cannot be examined without in-depth reflection on the balance of creation and on the different types of works to which a duration undifferentiated seems unlikely to be suitable ”. Note that Senator Monique de Marco (Gironde, Ecologist – Solidarity and Territories) also made an amendment on the subject.
The rapporteur of the text, Laure Darcos, who worked on it with Sylvie Robert, noted that “ many publishers are still attached to this practice and to the very heritage dimension of the resulting catalogs, with a strong identification of certain famous authors with the publishing house that publishes them HAS”. Noting that the current duration of transfer is nevertheless “ excessive “, she also invites inter-professional negotiations by supporting her colleague’s request, despite an unfavorable opinion on her amendment and that of Monique de Marco.
The Minister of Culture, unsurprisingly, rejected Sylvie Robert’s amendment, but nevertheless took up the subject: “ On this subject, as on many others that concern the world of books, I would like to encourage, support and provoke the most exhaustive reflection. I will therefore continue to participate in discussions with professionals and their representatives and for this, I will promptly propose to them a work schedule. »
READ – Grasset affair: Laure Darcos and Sylvie Robert put forward a “confidence clauseâ€
Senator Sylvie Robert, taking the floor again, stressed that these negotiations must open “ without delay “, since the subject must be integrated into the bill before it goes before the National Assembly. This should take place before the fall, due to the accelerated procedure initiated by the government on the text. After passing through the National Assembly, a joint joint commission would intervene, whose work could lead to promulgation.
The minister having committed herself, Sylvie Robert therefore withdrew her amendment — Monique de Marco did the same. Negotiations between authors and publishers could be concluded over a period of more than 10 years,  which can be 15 or 20 years ”, Sylvie Robert tells us.
The Ministry of Culture must now organize this negotiation between authors and publishers, and Syvie Robert, like Laure Darcos, is already warning the tenant of rue de Valois: “ If this negotiation has not been successful in the fall, deputies will undoubtedly want to make an amendment for a shorter transfer period. »
Photography: Catherine Pégard, in the Senate, this Wednesday June 10, 2026 (Senat screenshot)
By Antoine Oury
Contact : ao@actualitte.com
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