The CAL Survey

It is a requirement of the Hardcopy Licence agreement that schools when selected participate in a survey. Each year the Collecting Agency Limited (CAL) surveys the copying activities of a representative selection of institutions throughout Australia. This survey provides CAL with an indication of:

• the copying practices of institutions around Australia; and
• a sufficiently accurate basis for determining distribution of moneys to creators.

Institutions participating in a survey are required to provide CAL with sufficient information to determine the amount of copying being undertaken and the identity of the works being copied.

The survey is structured to take into account variations such as size, location, and classification etc, of the licensees. The survey gives reasonably accurate data, and it saves both institutions and CAL the administrative burden of keeping and analysing more comprehensive and ongoing records.

On average, a TAFE institute will participate once in five years and a school once in eight years. The chosen institutions are trained before the survey starts. These training sessions explain the detail of the records to be kept during the survey period. During the survey staff are required to keep copying records for their institution.

If there is a lack of understanding by participating staff of the copyright status of reproduced materials and also the relevant exemption provisions of the Copyright Act inaccuracies can occur in the survey. This can increase the charges the school sector has to pay.