The compensation for the public lending right is also a statutory compensation scheme, a “statutory license.” Public libraries that are specifically established or recognized by the government may, on this basis, lend out copyright-protected works (books and magazines, but also e.g. CDs and DVDs) to library users without needing to obtain prior permission from the rights holders each time.

However, they must pay an annual renumeration to Reprobel. The rate of this compensation is determined by the minister responsible for copyright, as set out in a Royal Decree from December 2012.

Public libraries, as part of the broader public sector, must also manage their photocopies (under the statutory compensation scheme for reprography) and their prints and digital reuse (via an additional license: bizili by Reprobel) of protected texts and images through Reprobel. You can find more information about this in the section “Private and Public Sector.” However, these compensations are separate from the compensation for the public lending right.

The statutory licence for public lending rights covers only public lending with an educational or cultural purpose and without any profit motive by public libraries officially established or recognised specifically for that purpose of ‘works of literature’ (in the broad sense of the word: books, periodicals, etc.), databases, photographic works, scores and sound and audiovisual works and performances. Specific arrangements apply to library users with visual impairments. The lending of copyright protected works by institutions not specifically established or recognised as a public library – e.g. the library of a public institution or a local cultural non-profit organisation – is therefore not covered by this statutory exception, even if such lending would de facto have a public character. What constitutes a public library is determined by the regulations of the competent Communities.

Moreover, it concerns only the public lending of copyright-protected works on a physical medium such as books, comics, CDs and DVDs. E-lending under Belgian copyright law is therefore not covered by the statutory licence for public lending, but by ordinary, “exclusive” copyright. E-lending must therefore be arranged directly with the rights holders (via classical copyright licences on a mandate basis, such as CloudLibrary in Flanders or Lirtuel in French-speaking Belgium).

The legal basis for the compensation for public lending right is found in Articles XI.243–245 of the Belgian Economic Law Code. The compensation is further detailed in a Royal Decree of 13 December 2012.

Public libraries owe an annual double remuneration to Reprobel: a proportional remuneration per lending, and a flat-rate remuneration depending on the number of works in the library’s collection. Since reference year 2017, these remunerations amount to:

• Remuneration per lending: €0.0294 (based on the number of loans during the reference year, with the correction in minus listed below)
• Collection remuneration (based on the total number of works in the library’s collection, regardless of their copyright status, at the beginning of the reference year, with the corrections in minus listed below):

The number of loans is reduced at a flat rate of 5% to take into account the lending of works in the “public domain”, which are therefore not or no longer protected by copyright. However, the renewal of a loan does not count as a new loan under the 2012 RD.

The number of works in the collection is reduced by, on the one hand, the works in the public library’s “stock” that are not available for lending and, on the other hand, the works that are in the “public domain” and therefore not or no longer protected by copyright. The adjustment in minus for public domain works is 5%. This is also the case for works in stock if there is no automated and centralised data registration system that allows for a more accurate mapping of the number of works not made available for lending.

If public authorities (e.g. the Flemish Community for all public libraries under its competence) declare and pay both components of the lending rights remuneration centrally to Reprobel, then an additional discount of 5% applies to the total lending rights remuneration due. There are also smaller discounts (of 2.5% each) if a public authority or an association of public libraries only declares one of the two components of the remuneration centrally and pays it to Reprobel.

For Ostbelgien (German-speaking Community), the annual lending rights fee is fixed at €13,000, and that for all public libraries under its jurisdiction.

The lending rights fee is subject to 6% VAT (reduced VAT rate for copyright).

Public libraries may or may not pass on the lending rights fee to library users at their discretion.

Officially recognised / established educational institutions, scientific research institutions, healthcare institutions and institutions for the benefit of the blind, visually impaired, deaf and hard of hearing are exempt from the payment of the lending rights fee.

For practical reasons, the annual declaration to Reprobel for the statutory remuneration for public lending rights relates to the reference year corresponding to the declaration year – 2. The number of works in the collection is declared centrally by the Communities (or the federal State) for the public libraries under their jurisdiction. The Flemish Community and Ostbelgien (German-speaking Community) pay centrally to Reprobel for all their public libraries; in French-speaking Belgium (FWB), Reprobel collects the lending rights remuneration separately from the individual public libraries. Reprobel writes to the Communities (or the Federal State), or the individual public libraries, annually in connection with their declaration.

You can ask questions about your declaration or payment for the public lending remuneration via the contact form of Reprobel .