Reprobel, as a unique one-stop shop, collects the legal remuneration for recognized education and scientific research. It has been appointed for this purpose by royal decree.

The remuneration for education and scientific research is a ‘legal license’. This is a legal exception to exclusive copyright with a remuneration determined by law and royal decree. Under a statutory license – unlike in ordinary copyright law – a user does not need the prior permission of the rights holders to perform well-defined acts of use within the limits of the statutory exception. But beware: statutory exceptions are, after all, interpreted restrictively, and their effect therefore has a strict scope. Beyond that is ordinary, exclusive copyright law.

The statutory license for recognized education and scientific research covers the following uses of copyrighted works and performances, or fragments thereof. The definition of a recognized research institution is set by national copyright law through a closed fiscal list. What qualifies as a recognized educational institution depends largely on the educational legislation of the Communities, although special education types are also defined under national copyright law.

This includes not only texts and still images but also audio and audiovisual works and performances—strictly within the limits of the legal exception.

Covered uses include:

• Photocopying (paper-to-paper)
• Printing (digital-to-paper)
• Scanning (paper-to-digital)
• Digital reproductions (digital-to-digital): copy-pasting, downloading, uploading, storage on a server or in the cloud, etc.
• Digitally defined educational uses as specified by law
• Digital communication via the institution’s closed and secure network

A key legal requirement is that these actions must be “for illustration in teaching” or for recognized scientific research. These exceptions must not undermine the normal commercial exploitation of the original works. “For illustration in teaching” means the use must be supplementary to a specific lesson or assignment, and must occur in preparation for, illustration of, or execution of that lesson.

This legal exception may not be used as a basis to cancel, reduce, or circumvent purchases, subscriptions, or licenses for commercially available educational materials (such as printed or digital textbooks and workbooks). Therefore, reproducing or internally distributing entire textbooks or substantial portions thereof is not allowed. While copyright law no longer specifies a maximum fragment length, in practice, no more than 10% of a textbook or a single chapter remains the standard guideline.

This statutory exception only applies to recognized educational institutions and recognized scientific research institutions. It does not apply to research with a commercial aim and/or conducted by private enterprises.

The statutory license does not apply to sheet music (musical scores).
Compilations of copyrighted works or fragments thereof are also generally excluded, especially if they replace or reduce the need for commercially available teaching materials.

Furthermore, the usage must involve a legal source, must not be profit-driven, and must occur as part of the institution’s normal activities and under its responsibility (on-site or elsewhere). The institution’s electronic network must be protected by appropriate security measures, allowing access only to teachers, students, and researchers.

Any uses that do not meet the above criteria fall under standard, exclusive copyright. This means specific prior permission from the rights holders—usually in the form of a copyright license—is required.

The statutory license for recognized education has been cross-border within the EU for several years now, but only for specific digital educational uses that fall within the legal exception. Students residing abroad who are enrolled in a Belgian higher education institution may also benefit from the exception, within its strict limits.

The legal basis for the compensation is found in Articles XI.240–242 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law. The detailed provisions are set out in a Royal Decree of royal decree of 31 July 2017, extended unchanged by Royal Decree on 9 February 2024 for the reference years 2024 and 2025. These statutory fees are indexed annually.

The compensation is a fixed annual fee per pupil, student, or researcher, adjusted based on the educational level or type.

The following fees apply for reference year 2026. These fees are not subject to VAT:

• Pre-primary education: €0.65 per child
• Primary education: €2.43 per pupil
• Secondary education: €3.46 per pupil
• Higher education (university / non-university): €2.88 per full-time equivalent student
• Part-time arts education: €0.098 per pupil/student
• Adult education and social advancement education (employment, vocational training, socio-professional integration): €0.39 per learner

Scientific research: €2.88 per full-time equivalent researcher (noting that the amount per student for recognised higher education institutions includes the remuneration of their researchers)

Reprobel writes to recognised educational institutions and recognised scientific research institutions before 1 March of each reference year for their annual declaration for this reference year. The declaration deadline is 31 March of the current reference year. The declaration is made on the online declaration portal, with the individual login provided by Reprobel, although a separate declaration process is used for scientific research because of the small number of institutions.

For the relevant reference year, educational institutions report their numbers of pupils, students or course participants for the school or academic year that ended in the calendar year preceding the reference year. So, for reference year 2026, this is the school or academic year 2024-2025. These are the official numbers validated by the Communities. For the approved scientific research institutions, it refers to the number of staff in full-time equivalents who carried out scientific research in the calendar year preceding the reference year (i.e. for reference year 2026, the calendar year 2025).

The fee billed to you is determined by law. It is flat-rate, and therefore unrelated to the actual use of copyrighted works at your institution during the reference year. As a recognised educational or research institution, you therefore always pay this fee as stipulated by law, regardless of whether you use many, few or no copyrighted works at all within the limits of the statutory exception.

For questions about your declaration or payment for the statutory fee for recognised educational institutions, please email: education@reprobel.be. For the similar fee for recognised scientific research, please email research@reprobel.be. You can also use Reprobel’s contact form for this purpose.