Untitled Document

plr 2004 seminar

report on plr seminar, rome, september 2004

The seminar was held at the Burcardo Library and was attended by speakers and delegates from authors’ organisations in 22 different European countries.

The conference was a follow-up to the introductory seminar to Public Lending Right held in London in October 2003. As with the London seminar, funding for this meeting, including delegates’ travel and hotel costs, was generously provided by Kopinor, the reproduction rights organisation of Norway. The seminar was hosted by the Sindacato Nazionale Scrittori (SNS), and special thanks go to Alessandro Occhipinti and Tiziana Colusso for all their work in organising the meeting. Valuable help was provided by John Stanghelle of the Norwegian Non-fiction Writers and Translators’ Association (NFF). Thanks are also due to the Societa Italiana degli Autori ed Editori (SIAE) for allowing the Burcardo Library to be used for the seminar. Sessions were chaired by Trond Andreassen of NFF and Jim Parker of the UK’s PLR office.

Following the success of the 2003 PLR seminar in London delegates had asked if another seminar could be held in the following year to enable discussions on PLR developments across Europe to continue and to allow delegates, particularly from the newer Member States, to hear of developments elsewhere; and to report on progress in their own countries towards implementation of the PLR aspects of the 1992 Lending and Rental Right Directive.

The seminar programme reflected the current PLR issues in Europe. As keynote speaker we were delighted to have Maureen Duffy, President of the European Writers Congress. Her presentation reminded delegates that authors had to be prepared to fight for PLR. The campaign for PLR in the UK, in which she had been one of the principal players, took many years and much determination by authors before success was achieved in the 1979 Act. This was even more relevant in current circumstances where authors were seeking to establish their rights in an increasingly global publishing and media world.

Other speakers included Daniele Muffat-Jeandet from the European Commission who updated delegates on the Commission’s plans to ensure that the Directive is being implemented correctly by Member States; John Erik Forslund who discussed the importance of getting the support of the library community for new PLR systems; Irmgard Schmitt from VG Wort who described the working of the now well-established German PLR system; and Slavco Pregl who reported on the success of PLR campaigning in Slovenia and on the operation of the newly-formed Slovenian PLR system.

As in London, there were reports from delegates on progress, or lack of it, in their own countries. While delegates applauded the success of countries like France, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in setting up PLR systems, they were extremely concerned at the lack of progress in a number of Member States. They adopted a resolution seeking clarification from the Commission on the wording of the Directive, and the scope for countries to derogate from its obligations; also pressing the Commission to take firmer action against Member States that have not implemented it correctly.

It was agreed that the seminar should meet again in 2006 and that it would be appropriate to meet in Madrid given the problems currently being encountered in Spain in terms of implementing the Directive.