VG Bild-Kunst – New registration deadline on March 31
Starting in 2026, VG Bild-Kunst's registration deadline will be moved forward from June 30 to March 31 so that the legally prescribed distribution deadlines (end of the third quarter) can be met. Members of VG Bild-Kunst should prepare for this significant change in procedure early on, as the registration deadline is a cut-off date.
In the collective distribution sectors, members and beneficiaries of VG Bild-Kunst must submit reports on the use of their works in order to receive a distribution. Reports must be submitted for the use of works in the previous calendar year.
In bringing forward the reporting deadline, VG Bild-Kunst has taken into account uses of works that either took place in December of the previous year (e.g., work presentations or art in construction) or that can only be meaningfully carried out after the end of the previous year (e.g., fee reports).
In order to avoid unequal treatment due to different time periods, the general meeting set the new reporting deadline for March 31. This gives each member at least three full months to submit their reports. Illness or professional commitments should therefore not be an obstacle. In addition, most reports for a specific calendar year can also be submitted in the same year (e.g., book reports, single image reports, and film reports).
New settings for the reporting portal
In order to reduce misunderstandings and errors in the reporting process, the reporting portal will in future be set up so that reports for a specific calendar year can be submitted between April 1 of the same year and March 31 of the following year. Example: In the first quarter of 2026, only reports for 2025 can be submitted until the reporting deadline on March 31. Uses that take place in the first quarter of 2026 can only be entered in the reporting portal from April 1, 2026.
The following exceptions apply:
Image agencies
Our image agencies will receive a share of the revenue from social media image licenses as soon as the first payments are made by the platform providers. This fall, VG Bild-Kunst will collect reports for the first time in order to gather all the distribution data for an initial distribution.
In the future, the deadline for submitting reports for the previous year will be August 31. Why so late? Because the reports from the photo agencies are easy to process, so that distribution can still take place by September 30.
Fee reports – supporting documents
For reported fees of €24,000 or more for a calendar year, confirmation from a tax advisor or auditor must be submitted as supporting documentation (or scans of all fee invoices must be provided). The deadline for confirmation remains June 30. The fee report itself must therefore be submitted by March 31, and the confirmation can be submitted by June 30.
Film reports
Film reports can generally be submitted at any time, provided that they can be shown on a billable TV channel.
For smaller formats (technical jargon: “report-related film works”), however, this report must be submitted by the reporting deadline in order for a broadcast in the previous year to be taken into account. If someone misses the deadline, the work can only be taken into account if it is shown again on TV in a later broadcast year.
This rule does not apply to larger formats (technical jargon: “usage-related film works”). In this case, notifications are either taken into account in the regular distribution, i.e., in the year after the broadcast, or in the final distribution, which takes place in the fifth year after the broadcast.
About VG Bild-Kunst:
VG Bild-Kunst is the only image rights management organization in Germany that represents the copyrights of more than 70,000 artists in the audiovisual sector (visual arts; photography, graphics, and illustration; film and television) from Germany and a further 260,000 authors from sister organizations around the world.