IFPI launches global anti-piracy guidelines for CD plants

More than nine hundred CD plants in over 70 countries have been sent new guidelines on how to avoid illegally manufacturing CDs in the latest anti-piracy educational initiative by the international recording industry.

London, 26 June, 2003

IFPI, representing the recording industry worldwide, has just released two updated guides designed to help optical disc plants avoid music piracy and ensure the correct application of the SID Code, the standard identifier for replication plants.

IFPI's Good Business Practices for Optical Disc Mastering and Manufacturing Plants was first published in 1998, and provides practical guidelines to help plants identify and reject orders for pirate product. These have been sent to plants over the past two weeks by IFPI and its sister organisation in the USA, the RIAA.

The revised version of the Good Business Practices sets out a step-by-step procedure for plants to follow when processing orders, as well as other measures they can implement to reduce their exposure to piracy. The emphasis is on stringent checking of orders and ensuring that customers provide the necessary evidence to show that they have the right to manufacture the music content.

The step-by-step procedure is an important new feature, which is designed to give plants more detailed and practical guidance on avoiding piracy than ever before.

The new SID Code Implementation Guide has been published in response to uncertainty among plants as to how to apply SID Code identifiers to new high density formats such as DVD and SACD, and to blank media. The new Guide sets out technical specifications for the application of SID Codes to high density formats and makes it clear that SID codes should also be applied to recordable and re-writeable formats of CD and DVD.

Geoff Taylor, IFPI's Deputy General Counsel, states: "As well as taking legal action against music pirates, IFPI is committed to taking proactive steps designed to help the legitimate replication industry steer clear of piracy. These two new guides are part of that commitment, and they will help strengthen the cooperation between the legitimate music and replication industries against the music pirates that are cheating them both."

Notes to editors:

Both guides are currently being distributed to all known optical disc plants worldwide. They can be downloaded from IFPI's website at
/content/library/good_business_practices.pdf
and
/content/library/sid-code-implementation-guide.pdf

Since its introduction in 1994 the SID Code has become the industry standard for indicating the source of optical disc mastering and manufacturing. The SID Code represents quality and care and has now been adopted in over 80% of the world's optical disc plants, representing over 90% of worldwide optical disc manufacturing capacity.

IFPI represents the recording industry worldwide. Its members comprise 1,500 independent and major record companies in 70 countries.