Who? Why?

Who has to pay the reprography remuneration?

Anyone who copies works protected by copyright on a device that he rents, owns or leases, must pay an operator levy. The Royal Decree regulating that remuneration identifies as operator levy payers anyone who makes copies of protected works or who makes a copy machine available to others free of charge or for a fee.
In practice, therefore, these are companies, copyshops, government institutions and schools, associations, self-employed contractors and members of the liberal professions.

Does this mean that everyone gets sent an annual request for payment? No. The law requires Reprobel to contact anyone who can reasonably be considered eligible and who can be identified. Private individuals are not contacted.

Why is it necessary to pay remuneration on copies of copyright protected works?

In fact it’s only logical: authors and publishers make a living from the sale of their work. If that work is used without any remuneration being provided for it, something is wrong. After all, you like to be paid for the job you do, don’t you?
Moreover, the remunerations for authors and publishers make them less dependent on government subsidies.

For your information: the manufacturers and importers of all devices with which copies can be made are required to pay a equipment levy on each of these devices, but this does not have any influence on the operator levy. The two remunerations complement each other, and therefore do not exclude one another.