In 1936, CISAC (an organisation representing collecting societies managing copyright) drew up a non-binding model contract for reciprocal representation agreements between its members.

Following complaints lodged in 2000 and 2003 against CISAC's model contract, the Commission found in its Decision of 16 July 2008 a concerted practice between the collecting societies in breach of the EU antitrust rules (each collecting society limits, in the reciprocal representation agreements, the right to grant licences relating to its repertoire in the territory of another collecting society party to the agreement). The Commission ordered the collecting societies to bring an end to this practice.

CISAC (and most of the collecting societies concerned) appealed this decision before the General Court of the European Union. The EBU intervened in the proceedings in 2009 in support of CISAC, claiming that the Court should annul Article 3 of the contested decision, because the practice of granting one-stop-shop licences to national broadcasters should be maintained.

In its judgments of 12 April 2013, the General Court has annulled the Commission’s decision in respect of the finding of the concerted practice. The General Court considered that the Commission has not provided sufficient evidence with respect to the territorial scope of the mandates which societies grant each other. Furthermore, the Commission did not render implausible the EBU and CISAC's explanation that the parallel conduct of the collecting societies was not the result of concertation, but a rational means of ensuring the effectiveness of these licensing arrangements.