PLR in Latvia

latvia

Historical and legal background

Although the eligibility of authors to receive remuneration for public lending of their works was covered by the Latvian Copyright Law of April 2000 the government did not set up a scheme until 2004.

Only with the amendments of 22 April 2004 a special section on public lending was included in the Copyright Law providing that the government would determine the procedures for the calculation of the amount of remuneration for public lending from state and regional libraries, as well as procedures for proportional distribution of remuneration among authors, performers, phonogram and film producers.

Remuneration was to be calculated taking into consideration expenditure on library collections by the sate and local authorities in the previous year. For the year 2003 a remuneration fund of 7 % of 2002 expenditure was set. According to transitional provisions included in the Regulations regarding Public Lending this sum is going to be gradually raised by 0,5% each year until in 2009 it reaches 10 % level.

AKKA/LAA – a multi-repertoire collecting society has been recognised as the official body to administer PLR in Latvia. AKKA/LAA will distribute to authors, performers, film and phonogram producers payments based on a survey of the loans of books, films and phonograms.

The PLR Scheme in action

a) Statistical Research

The first statistical research analysing which books, phonograms and film copies were lent by libraries and the frequency of their lending, in 2003, 2004 and 2005 was commissioned by AKKA/LAA in the summer of 2006. It covered lending by 10 Libraries, selected on a regional basis. In February-March 2007 additional statistical samples for loans made in 2005 was taken in another six libraries. Since electronic data for library loans will only be available from 2006 onwards, the date for the previous years had to be processed manually in all libraries but one. The costs of the research were reimbursed by AKKA/LAA.

b) Distribution

Because the Regulations for Public Lending provide rather general outlines of the Scheme and are focused primarily on the legal framework and financing, the rules for distribution applied to different categories of authors were to be decided by the rights holders themselves. A special commission formed by AKKA/LAA and representatives of the Writers’ Union of Latvia and the Artists’ Union of Latvia agreed upon the following shares:

author of the text	100%
translator	50% (prose), 60% (drama), 75% (poetry)
illustrator	share to reflect contribution (calculated un addition to author’s/translator’s share
compiler	5% (if material of 5 or less authors compiled) and 25% (if material of more than 5 authors is compiled)
adaptor	50%

Of the remuneration for phonogram lending, 40% is allocated to composers and authors, while 60% goes to producers and performers. Publishers are not included in the PLR scheme.

In order to receive PLR remuneration, each author must submit an application form for each of his or her books, naming any co-authors and indicating the volume of illustrations.

In December 2006 the first PLR distribution was carried out in Latvia, covering book loans and loans of non-book materials in 2003 and 2004. The sum of 212, 387.17 LVL (302,201.43 EUR) was paid to 1089 authors. 722.89 LVL (1028.59 EUR) was transferred to the Latvian Performers’ and Producers’ Association (LaIPA) for further distribution to neighbouring rights holders.

The second and most recent distribution took place in March 2007 when 1027 authors received the total amount of 114,754.86 LVL (163,282.38 EUR) for public lending in 2005. 650.89 LVL (926.14 EUR) were paid out as the producers’ and performers’ share.

No maximum or minimum thresholds are set for the amount payable. The highest sum paid to a single author per annum was 3952,50 LVL (5623.93 EUR), the smallest 0.02 LVL (0.03EUR).

PLR as a cultural benefit

Though it was designed to be part of the copyright system and operates as such, and though the primary idea behind it is to compensate the use of authors’ works in non-commercial lending, the Latvian PLR Scheme is also a tool for cultural support. The fact that only a few writers in Latvia make their living as writers is no secret – for others, literature is more of a hobby that it is a profession. The introduction of PLR offers the hope that annual payments to authors will serve not only as acknowledgement for work done but also as an encouragement for their further creative endeavours. Moreover, as soon as the first payments were made it became clear that PLR would be a kind of social support for senior writers.

Not only authors profit for the PLR system. Librarians find the annual surveys quite useful – they get a detailed picture of reading trends on a broader scale, and this helps them to plan the increase of library stocks.

(updated February 2008)