Federal supervision of collecting societies aims to prevent them from abusing their power. It applies to remuneration rights in cases involving legal licences since these can only be exercised by the collecting societies (Art.13 para. 3, Art. 20 para. 4, Art. 24 para. 4 and Art. 35 para. 3 of the CopA), which gives them a monopoly. The situation is the same when exclusive rights are subject to obligatory collective rights management (Art. 22, 22 (a-c) and 24 (b) CopA). For non-theatrical musical works, even if they are not obliged to do so, the rights holders choose to entrust their rights to perform, broadcast and produce phonograms and videograms to SUISA for practical reasons. In fact, this means SUISA has a monopoly, which is a justified reason for the Swiss Confederation to supervise its activities. However, there is no reason for the state to intervene when collecting societies carry out an activity that is subject to market and cartel laws. This is the case for the management of rights to music online in particular, where several foreign organisations operate even in Switzerland. This serves to prevent the risk of an abuse of power.
