Remuneration notices

A remuneration notice is an undertaking to pay “equitable remuneration” to the owners of copyright in material reproduced by schools. Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) is the designated agency by the Attorney General to receive 'remuneration notices' from educational institutions or their peak bodies. CAL administers both the hardcopy and the electronic use schemes in Part VB of the Act.

Posting of a remuneration notice with CAL gives an educational institution the right to rely on the schemes in Part VB of the Act. CAL negotiates with the various educational institutions or their peak bodies on the pragmatics of data collection and payment details.

There are three types of remuneration notices under Part VB:

• records notices;
• sampling notices; and
• electronic use notices.

The first two relate to making reproductions of text, images and notated music into hardcopy form. These state whether the institution has decided to keep information about each copy it makes (a “records notice”) or whether it will participate in statistical sampling of copying (a “sampling notice”)

An “electronic use” notice relates to reproductions into electronic form and to “communications” (for example, where email, intranet or a secure website is used to make material available to staff or students).

All universities, TAFEs, government schools, schools administered by the Catholic Education Office and the vast majority, if not all, of the schools affiliated with an Association of Independent Schools are entitled to rely on the hardcopy and electronic use schemes in Part VB of the Act, because relevant remuneration notices have been given to CAL.

If you are not sure whether there is a remuneration notice applying to your institution check with your institution’s copyright officer or with the peak organisation or governing body.