Premier & Cabinet

Type:
Department of Premier and Cabinet Circular
Identifier:
C2005-16
Status:
Archived

C2005-16 Payment of Copyright Fees for Government Print Copying

Detailed Outline

NSW Attorney General's Department has signed an agreement with the Copyright Agency Limited for the payment of copyright fees for NSW Government print copying for the period 2000-2005.

Details of the background to the agreement and the methodology for calculating agency copyright fees are set out in the explanatory statement attached.

Under the agreement the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) will invoice each agency individually, with copyright fees to be paid either in 2004-2005 or 2005-2006 depending on the date of receipt of an invoice. CAL has indicated that it intends to issue invoices in May 2005. Payment is due 4 weeks after receipt of the invoice.

Contact officers for enquiries are set out below:

• Enquiries regarding the agreement:
Ben Atkinson
Principal Policy Advisor
Attorney General's Department
9228 8061 or [email protected]

• Enquiries regarding payment arrangements:
Chris Weir
Senior Financial Analyst
NSW Treasury
9228 5379 or [email protected]

C Gellatly
Director-General

Why payment is necessary
The Australian Government is required by Commonwealth copyright legislation to pay the owners of copyright works for government print copying. Government can, under the legislation, discharge the obligation by paying remuneration to the CAL, the declared collecting society for the owners of copyright works. CAL distributes the revenue collected to copyright owners.

Under the copyright legislation, the Government is liable to pay for print copying from the date of CAL's declaration. CAL was declared in 1998.

NSW Attorney General's Department (AGD) carries policy responsibility for whole-of-NSW-Government copyright arrangements.

The negotiation process
The States and Territories started jointly negotiating a uniform government print copying agreement with CAL in 2002. AGD represented NSW in these negotiations. In 2004, AGD became concerned at the slow progress of joint negotiations and began parallel negotiations with CAL. Negotiations were successful and AGD signed an agreement with CAL for NSW government print copying on 14 March 2005.
The agreement applies to government print copying between 2000-2005. The agreement contains a 1 year renewal option and AGD will negotiate to further extend the term.

Liability is calculated by working out the average number of pages of different categories of copyright works copied annually by NSW Government agencies. These averages are then multiplied by negotiated print copying rates. The multiplied averages for the different categories are added and the total constitutes the applicable payment rate for FTE copying. Data is obtained from sampling surveys of government copying.

The Government's liability for print copying in a financial year is calculated by multiplying the per FTE payment rate by the total number of government FTEs.
Under the agreement, agencies that copy sheet music are liable to pay a total fixed cost of $30,000 for sheet music copying from 2000-2005.

The term 'agencies' refers to all the government entities listed in the attachment.

Payment rates
Under the agreement, CAL will invoice each government agency individually - an agency's liability for a single year is calculated by multiplying the per FTE payment rate by the number of agency FTEs at the close of the financial year in question. CAL's bills use the FTE for the previous year - thus bill for 2004-2005 is calculated using 2003-04 FTEs, etc.

The agreement provides for 2 payment rates. For the years July 2000-June 2002, the rate is $8.81 per FTE per agency per annum. For the years 2002-2005, the rate is $9.79 per FTE per agency per annum. Under the agreement, CAL may issue payment invoices from 15 April 2005. CAL has advised that it is not likely to issue invoices before May 2005 and that it does not expect payment before the end of the financial year.

Additionally, agencies will be required to pay, proportionate to their FTE size, a share of costs payable by NSW for 2 surveys of government copying conducted in all the States and Territories, including NSW. Total costs payable by NSW cannot yet be determined
as one of the surveys is yet to take place. However, it is unlikely that the proportionate sum payable by agencies, including larger agencies, will be significant.

Requirement for agencies
Agencies are required to pay for copying for the financial years 2000-01 through to 2004-05. To enable CAL to invoice agencies, AGD will supply to CAL the Work Force Profile. Treasury has advised that each agency's budget in past years has included a provision for the payment of annual fees for print copying. However, payments have not been made since 2000-2001. Agencies can determine the liability by multiplying the payment rate by the agency's FTE number for that period. Agencies should pay the CAL invoice promptly.

Overview

Compliance

Not Mandatory

AR Details

Date Issued
Jun 13, 2014
Review Date
Jun 13, 2024
Replaces
Replaced By

Contacts

Contact
Contact us
Phone
02 9228 5555
Publishing Entity
Department of Premier and Cabinet
Issuing Entity
Department of Premier and Cabinet