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Societal Indicators
Fair Business Practices
through various communications and written materials. UMG’s lobbying
efforts mainly concentrate on protection of intellectual property rights,
recognition of the value of music and cultural diversity, the battle
against illegal content and promotion of works’ distribution and public
performance rights – especially in countries where these rights currently
have little or no protection.
Through these associations and on its own, UMG has been very active,
including in Europe, in defending more equal distribution of the value
generated by digital music services and consolidating the notice-and-
take-down mechanisms. In France, the “Schwartz agreement” was
signed in October 2015 by key stakeholders in the music industry. The
French government promoted this voluntary code of practice to help
govern relationships between digital platforms, record labels, publishers
and artists, with the major labels being represented in France by their
national union, SNEP (see also Chapter 1, Section 1.5.5 of the Annual
Report 2015).
UMG has continued to work for the extension from 50 to 70 years of
the period for protection of copyright-related rights. This measure
encourages cultural diversity by allowing performers and studio
musicians to be compensated for a longer period of time for their work
and for the copyright owners to maintain a high level of investment in
new talent. In 2015, this extension was adopted in Canada and ratified
by the TransPacific partnership agreement for application in Japan and
New Zealand.
4.5.3.
RESPONSIBLE COMMUNICATIONS
AND MARKETING
The Data and Content Protection Charter, adopted by Vivendi in 2008,
establishes the principles applied by the group in the area of responsible
communications and marketing. The principles in the charter must be
complied with by all the subsidiaries in the countries in which the group
operates. With this charter, Vivendi commits in particular to working to
avoid advertising practices that mislead children, complying strictly with
consumer protection legislation and obtaining the prior consent of Web
users before sending advertising messages.
In the spirit of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles established in
2012 by the UN Global Compact, Unicef and Save the Children, the group
pays special attention to protecting young viewers. Principle 6 requires
businesses to ensure that their marketing and advertising respect
children’s rights.
In 2015, in the framework of its dialog with media-sector stakeholders at
the Forum RSE Médias, Vivendi contributed to the development of a “CSR
and advertising” factsheet covering ethical issues related to advertising
in content-based industries and proposing best practices.
EXISTENCE OF A FORMAL COMMITMENT IN FAVOR OF
RESPONSIBLE COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING ON
ANY COMMUNICATION MEDIUM
GRI
UNGC OECD Scope covered
G4-DMA PR Marketing
Communications aspect
-
VIII
UMG
Canal+ Group
EXISTENCE OF MEASURES FOR ENSURING CONFORMITY
OF COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING WITH THE
COMMITMENTS MADE
GRI
UNGC OECD Scope covered
G4-DMA PR Marketing
Communications aspect
-
VIII
UMG
Canal+ Group
Vivendi’s subsidiaries promote responsible communications and
marketing, under codes, charters or special provisions.
At Canal+ Group for example, this commitment is incorporated into
several sections of the Ethics Charter (particularly those relating to
business ethics and environmental protection).The agreement signed
by Canal+ and the CSA also contains specific provisions on advertising
communications.
The group is especially vigilant when it comes to messages to which
children are exposed. In France, Canal+ has set up strict provisions
for its youth channel Piwi+ and Télétoon+, stating for example that
advertising sequences must last no longer than two minutes and that
advertising slots must be clearly identified. The Canal+ Family channel
does not run any adverts at all. In Poland, advertising communications
aimed at children are evaluated according to an internal charter (see
Section 4.1.2.2 of this chapter). More particularly, advertising messages
for beverages and food the overconsumption of which could be
considered as unhealthy are covered by a self-regulation deployed by
nc+ in 2014 with the main broadcasters in the country.
Several measures have been taken to ensure compliance of
communications and marketing with the commitments made. Adverts
are reviewed internally by the legal departments. Externally, in France,
radio and television adverts are submitted to the Autorité de Régulation
Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP), the French authority for the
professional regulation of advertising.
All of UMG’s companies comply with its Code of Conduct. Most of the
operating companies have set up an in-house committee in charge
of approving communications and advertising campaigns before
their launch. These committees meet regularly and are composed of
marketing directors and project managers (who develop and implement
communications plans in connection with the artists). This ensures that
communications meet the requirements of the Code of Conduct and
applicable local rules, such as those set forth by the ARPP in France and
the National Council of Advertising Self-Regulation (CONAR) in Brazil.
EXTRA-FINANCIAL INDICATORS HANDBOOK
2015
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