The Stage

Agency laws ‘to cost £35m’

Published Thursday 2 September 2004 at 10:25 by Jeremy Austin

Government changes to legislation governing the operation of agencies will cost the entertainment industry £35 million in the first year of implementation, the Agents’ Association has warned.

In a strongly worded advertisment in today’s Stage, former association president Bob James, who continued working on the legislation after his term of office expired, has claimed the application of the new laws is muddled, that it could be in breach of European law and will mean a mountain of paperwork for artists and agents.

He also accuses the Department of Trade and Industry of ignoring many of the suggestions made by the association, claiming Whitehall’s response to issues raised following the introduction of the legislation has been inadequate, with many questions unanswered.

James adds: “Our repeated requests that all agents be either licensed or subject to legislation were rejected, as was our wish for the separation of regulations for entertainment agents from those of the high street bureaux.

“The reasoning behind the amended regulation was ‘to update them and to ensure that the artistes had a better chance of being paid’. No thought was given to the additional costs that this would incur - costs which would inevitably be passed on to the artistes or hirers in one way or another.”

James said that the DTI estimated that these costs would be a one-off £3.5 million expense to the 17,000 firms in the employment industry, equating to £205 per agency. However, he believes the amount of additional paperwork means it will be closer to £35 million in the first year and further ongoing costs each year thereafter.

Among these additional costs will be the price of trying to explain “the vagaries of the DTI’s legislatory changes” as well as sending out Terms of Business - a requirement of the new regulations - to hirers, artists and other agents, some of whom will have been working together for decades.

The revised Conduct for Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations were introduced on April 6. They included a clause that brought to an end the practice of agencies asking for up-front fees - payments in advance for services - something that disreputable agents exploited. The association and Equity both welcomed this.

However, much else in the regulations has been criticised by overseas bodies as well as organisations in the UK. Promoters across Europe have complained to British agents about the Terms of Business. Jens Michow, an attorney at law and also president of the Federal German Association of Concert Promoters, has warned the terms “are not in accordance with European law”.

Michow adds: “They are unacceptable because they are subject to British law without any evident reconciliation with German and/or European law.”