PLR in Iceland

iceland

The Writers’ Library Fund

The Writers' Library Fund Act came into effect on January 1, 1998 and replaced The Icelandic Writers' Fund which had been operating in unchanged form for 30 years.The Writers' Library Fund receives an annual contribution from the government which it allocates by law to writers, translators, authors of visual artworks and other copyright holders whose books are at the National University Library of Iceland, public lending libraries, school libraries and libraries of institutions funded by the treasury or municipal authorities.

Writers, translators, authors of visual artworks, composers and the immediate heirs of deceased copyright holders (spouses, and children under 18) may register with the fund and receive annual payments on the basis of works lent out.

Allocations are divided into two parts, one of which is allocated to copyright holders on the basis of the count of loans and the other in the form of grants to copyright holders for the number of reference copies in the libraries. Payments take place before end of May each year. There are lower and upper limits for the amount paid.

The position today

In April 2007, the Icelandic Parliament passed a new law regarding literary matters. The Writers’ Library Fund was abolished, but instead there is a clause in the new laws regarding payment to authors for library loans and other use of books at public and school libraries. Regulation for the fund was passed in April 2008.

Although payments based on the new act have not taken place yet the form of the allocations is already clear: there will be no grants to authors, instead loan statistics will determine almost solely the amount each author is paid. An allocation committee will be authorised to decide on payments for use of reference copies where a certain number of copies in reading rooms equals a certain number of loans.

In the new laws, there is a clause stating that to receive payment from the fund the author’s works must have been published in Icelandic. The clause was almost eliminated as it looked for a while like the Icelandic legislators would succumb to pressure from EFTA. That did not happen as the legislators decided that these payments could not be considered royalties, on the contrary, the payments are cultural subsidies allocated to authors who write in the Icelandic language or translate into the Icelandic language.

(updated april 2008)