One of CEDRO’s main functions is to collection of royalties generated by the use of copyrighted works and subsequent distribution of royalties to the respective copyright owners.

Payment collection: CEDRO annually collects payment of royalties generated by copying of the works under its management, as well as by the loan of that works, and distributes the income to the authors and publishers owning the copyright.

There are three modes of royalty payment collection for photocopying of copyrighted printed works:

-Private copy levies: The Intellectual Property Act lays down a levy that photocopier manufacturers and importers must pay CEDRO to compensate copyright owners for private copies of their work, which, under the Act, do not require authorisation.

- Licensed copies: Payments received as consideration for the licences that CEDRO grants copy shops, universities and other institutions for partial copying of works in the CEDRO repertoire. (furhter information)

- Foreign copies: Payments from foreign bodies similar to CEDRO for copying of Spanish works in other countries.

- Loan remmuneration: payment collection for the loan of works to libraries and similar institutions.

In the last five years, receipts were as follows:

Distribution: CEDRO annually distributes to the respective copyright owners the royalties collected in the preceding financial year, after deducting amounts for:

• funding the social role provided in law (training, promotion and benefits for authors and publishers);
• the fund created under CEDRO’s Articles of Association (actions and services for the benefit of members); and
• administration expenses.

Distribution of royalties is carried out according to a book of Rules and Regulations approved by the Members’ General Meeting of CEDRO. The Distribution Rules are aimed at ensuring that distribution of royalties is fair and proportionate and prevents arbitrariness, in accordance with the Intellectual Property Act.

Distribution essentially consists of assigning a money value to each work in question and paying that value to the respective rights-holders. As a general rule, 55% of the value assigned to a work is due to the author(s), and 45% is due to the publishing house.

Each year’s distribution covers:

• books published in the three years immediately before the year of collection of the royalties to be distributed,
• periodicals published in the two years immediately before the year of collection of the royalties to be distributed, and
• music scores published in the five years immediately before the year of collection of the royalties to be distributed.

The value assigned to each work is determined on the basis of several criteria:

- Subject matter: For books, the calculation takes account of the subject matter. Each subject area is assigned a percentage of royalties based on its photocopying volume in accordance with CEDRO’s statistical studies* on photocopying in Spain. The resulting amount is distributed among all works classified within that subject category in the Spanish ISBN Agency’s database.
 
- Retail Price (RRP): CEDRO takes account of the RRP of each book in the distribution process, as recorded in the Spanish ISBN Agency’s database.

- Published issues: For each periodical covered by the distribution calculation, account is taken of the number of issues published.

In the last five years, the amounts distributed were as follows: