About the Fee
Libraries provide works protected by copyright, such as books, magazines, and CD-ROMs, through a lending system. A fair compensation is paid to the rights holders, such as authors, illustrators, and publishers. This system has been established in the Copyright Act and the Neighbouring Rights Act since 1996. As a result, Stichting Leenrecht was founded to manage and coordinate this process. This foundation collects fees from public libraries in the Netherlands and distributes them among the (groups of) rights holders. A portion of these fees is designated for publishers and is therefore paid out through Stichting PRO. As a publisher, you may also be eligible for a lending right compensation.
Stichting Leenrecht collects
Stichting Leenrecht collects fees from public libraries in the Netherlands. They also receive information about the number of loans from the past year. Based on this, a fee per loan is determined by the Stichting Onderhandelingen Leenrechtvergoedingen (StOL). The StOL includes both payers (libraries) and rights holders (such as authors, publishers, and directors). Stichting Leenrecht distributes the total amount collected among groups of rights holders. They then pay the ‘publishers' share’ to Stichting PRO, which is the portion of the total amount designated for publishers.
Stichting PRO distributes the funds
Stichting PRO is responsible for the 'repartition' (distribution or payment) of the lending rights fees to publishers. The distribution is based on available data. About 80% of all libraries provide insights into which titles have been lent and how often they were borrowed. This information is combined with data from NBD Biblion, allowing these titles to be automatically linked to the correct publisher. As a result, the distribution is largely 'title-specific,' meaning it is based on the actual titles that were lent. We send publishers an overview ('control specification') of all their lent works. Publishers can add any missing titles in the portal. At the end of each calendar year (around December), Stichting PRO distributes the final payment to the publishers involved. On your final overview ('repartition specification'), we indicate how often your works have been lent. The allocation of the funds is carried out in accordance with a repartition regulation.
Information for publishers
Follow-up control specification
