Untitled Document

plr 2003 seminar

report on plr seminar, london, october 2003

A seminar was held at the London Ryan Hotel, Kings Cross Road, London in October 2003 to discuss Public Lending Right developments in Europe. The seminar was attended by representatives of authors’ organisations and speakers from twenty-three European countries.

The seminar was conceived by the Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association (NFF) and jointly organised with the UK’s PLR Office. Funding for the seminar and the travel costs of delegates was generously provided by Kopinor, the reproduction rights organisation of Norway, with sponsorship from the UK’s Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS).

The seminar was aimed primarily at representatives from authors’ organisations in the ten European countries due to join the European Union in May 2004, and in those existing Member States that have not yet set up lending right systems for authors and other creators as required by the 1992 EU Lending Right Directive. The intention was to provide delegates with an update on the international PLR situation and on recent announcements by the European Commission on progress by Member States in implementing the Lending Right Directive. The seminar also provided an opportunity for delegates to hear presentations from speakers describing the operation of a number of different PLR systems. These included the new French and Lithuanian PLR systems.

The large number of European countries represented at the seminar demonstrated the growing importance of PLR issues for European authors’ organisations. Under the chairmanship of Trond Andreassen of NFF, delegates reached unanimous agreement on a Resolution urging the governments of all Member States (both existing and applicant) that have not yet set up PLR systems to take steps to do so as soon as possible

Delegates were also unanimous in their wish for a follow-up seminar during 2004 to maintain momentum towards wider recognition of PLR. It was agreed that the seminar might usefully be held in Rome and that European Commission financial support be sought for the seminar given the important contribution being made by this seminar programme towards wider implementation of the 1992 Lending Right Directive.