Egypt protects the rights of authors who are nationals of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) member country. A national of the member country includes an author whose works are published for the first time in one of the member countries of the WTO, or simultaneously in a non-member and a member country within 30 days of its first publication.

Qualifying foreign authors enjoy copyright protection in Egypt concerning performance rights and digital exploitation of their works.

Egypt protects the rights of performers and producers of phonograms who are nationals or legal entities of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) member country. A national or legal entity of the member country includes: 1) a performer whose performance has taken place in the WTO member country; 2) a performer whose performance has been incorporated in sound recording the producer of which is a national of the WTO member country or if the first fixation of the sound has been done in a territory of the WTO member country, 3) performance has been transmitted through a broadcasting organisation whose headquarters is in a member country of the WTO, provided that the radio program has been broadcast from a transmission device also existing in the member country. and 4) producers of phonograms if the first fixation of the sound has taken place in the WTO member country. 

Qualifying foreign performers and producers of phonograms enjoy protection in Egypt concerning performance rights and digital exploitation of their performances and phonograms respectively.

Note: Egypt does not grant reproduction rights to performers concerning their fixed performances. 

“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.