CEDRO. Aim and functions. Private copy royalties.

The Intellectual Property Act provides a number of exclusive author’s rights, known as ‘copyright’. Copyright includes an author’s right to consent to or prohibit copies of his or her work. Therefore, anyone wishing to make copies of a copyrighted work needs to have the consent of the copyright-holder.

2- Copyright limits.

The Act also limits copyright in some ways. You do not need the copyright-holder’s consent to make a copy for your own private use, if it is not be used collectively or for profit. The Act specifies, however, that the following are not private copies:

copies made in establishments that provide the public with copying services (‘copy shops’),
copies made in places where copiers and copying materials are made publicly available (e.g., libraries), and
copies made for collective use or for circulation at a price.

3- Copyright levy for authors.

To compensate copyright-holders for the private copies made of their works (to which their consent or the lack of it does not apply), the Act imposes a levy on copying machines and materials. The levy is payable by manufacturers, importers and distributors of copying machines and materials and Spain. CEDRO is the body in charge of collecting the levy on behalf of copyright-holders in books and similar publications. CEDRO then pays out appropriate royalties to the respective copyright-holders.

4- Liquidation of the private copy fee.

The indebted companies of the private copy levy for books and assimilated publications must present to CEDRO at the end of every trimester a declaration of the equipment, apparatuses and media commercialized in that period and that is subject to this compensation, so and as they establish article 25 of the TRLPI and Order PRE/1743/2008, of 18 of June.

CEDRO offers these companies the following forms to facilitate this communication:

Declaration form for reproduction devices of books and assimilated publications commercialized after the 1 of July of the 2008.
Declaration form for reproduction devices of books and publications assimilated commercialized between the 28 of July of the 2006 and the 1 of July of the 2008. (For declarations previous to the 28 of July of the 2006, please contact CEDRO).
Declaration form for recording media and devices:
- For companies of the Peninsula and Baleares.
- For companies of the Canary Islands.
- For companies of Ceuta and Melilla.

Please send these forms by e- mail to the following address: copiaprivada@cedro.org.

The closing dates to send the forms are:

First trimester of the year: from the 1 to the 30 of April.
Second trimester of the year: from the 1 to the 31 of July.
Third trimester of the year: from the 1 to the 31 of October.
Fourth trimester of the year: from the 1 to the 31 of January of the following year.

Informative note for the Commercial Manufacturers, Importers and Distributors, on Ministerial order PRE/1743/2008, of 18 of June.

5- Exemption from private copying fee.

Act 23/2006, which amends the consolidated text of the Intellectual Property Act, newly incorporates the exemption from payment of compensation for private copying for equipment and apparatus acquired by those licensed to reproduce books and publications related to their activity.

A party wishing to benefit from this exemption must complete the form that appears on this website so CEDRO, following the pertinent checks, may issue a certificate of exemption specifying the trademark, model and printing speed of the equipment or apparatus exempt from the fee (one certificate per machine). This certificate should be sent to the national supplier to avoid the fee being included in the invoice at the time the equipment is purchased.

6- Application for copyright payment as compensation for private copying.

The copyright holders of books, who are not members of CEDRO, can apply for any copyright which may correspond to them as compensation for the private copying of their works.

These amounts derive from the compensation specified by the Spanish Intellectual Property Act and paid to CEDRO by manufacturers, importers and distributors of the multifunctionals, scanners and photocopiers used to make these copies. CEDRO is bound to distribute these royalties to the holders of any reproducible books in Spain, whether CEDRO members or otherwise.

Those individuals, whether natural or legal, who are not CEDRO members and wish to apply for copyright for the private copying of their works, can find further information here.