Congo (DRC) protects authors of works first published in Congo and works of nationals of member countries of treaties that Congo is party to or based on reciprocity.

Foreign authors enjoy copyright protection in Congo concerning reproduction rights and performance rights.

Congo has not introduced making available rights.

Congo (DRC) protects performances and phonograms under the treaties that Congo is a party. Congo also protects performers whose performances take place in Congo or are fixed on a protected phonogram. The phonogram is protected if the producer is a Congo national, the first fixation of the sounds was made in Congo or it was first published in Congo.

Qualifying foreign performers and producers enjoy the protection of their reproduction rights. Further, although Congo has made a reservation to the Rome Convention providing that it will not apply Article 12, i.e., single equitable remuneration for direct broadcasting or any communication to the public, according to the copyright law, performers and producers of phonograms are granted the right to remuneration. However, foreign producers are not entitled to receive remuneration, i.e., providing that royalties due for the use of phonograms produced by foreign producers are to be paid to the body responsible for copyright management and protection and used to promote the culture/artistic activities of Congo.

Congo has not introduced making available rights.

“National Treatment” refers to the assimilation of the treatment of foreign right holders to that of domestic right holders. It is a basic rule of most international conventions and mandates that foreign rights holders from contracting countries must receive the protection within any other contracting country as that country grants to its own nationals, ensuring equal rights under the scope of the relevant convention.

General national treatment obligations are set out in Article 5 of the Berne Convention and Article 2 of the Rome Convention, providing that the members of respective conventions must grant to each other’s nationals the rights provided in the convention. Berne Convention also extends the national treatment to “the rights which their respective laws do now or may hereafter grant to their nationals,” while Rome Convention members are not obliged to extend national treatment to the rights of performers and producers of phonograms which are accorded under their national law over and above the rights enshrined in the Rome Convention.

The criteria for eligibility for protection are provided in Article 3 of the Berne Convention and Articles 4 and 5 of the Rome Convention. With regards to national treatment of producers of phonograms, members of the Rome Convention may reserve the right not to apply either the criterion of fixation or that of publication of the phonogram.

As per WIPO, the total number of members to the key treaties above is as follows:

Berne Convention: 181 Members
Rome Convention: 98 Members
WIPO Copyright Treaty: 118 Members
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty: 114 Members
TRIPS Agreement: 166 Members

This is a high-level overview concerning national treatment of music authors, performers and producers of phonograms; for comprehensive and detailed provisions, refer to the laws of each country. The overview:

1) details only the criteria applicable to foreign rights holders, without including the broader set of qualification rules for domestic protection that do not concern them,

2) is limited to performance rights and digital exploitation of recorded music, including works and other protected objects:

- “Performance rights” include radio and TV broadcasting, public performance, and communication to the public,

- “Digital exploitation” includes reproduction rights, distribution rights, communication to the public and making available rights.

The term "based on reciprocity" used in the overview for some countries means that Country A will protect the works of authors or other right holders who are nationals of Country B that is not a member of treaties Country A is a party to, and whose works or other protected objects were first published outside of Country A, only if Country B offer similar copyright protection to Country A’s authors or other rights holders and works and other protected objects respectively first published in Country A.

The term "treaty" in the overview includes conventions and international agreements.