This morning the Education Exception Contract was signed which regulates for the first time the copying of printed material (reprography) and the digital use of Maltese books in public schools. This was possible after a year of negotiations and consultations between all those involved.
“This was one of the first things I worked on when I became responsible for the Ministry of Education,” said Education Minister Justyne Caruana, “through this agreement the Government is continuing to invest in this. the sector so important for our country – Education – an agreement that translates into an investment of € 100,000 and with which we are seeing that the use of books and other published material continues, but at the same time we ensure the interests and rights of authors, illustrators and publishers ”.
The agreement thus regulates the illegal and irregular use of reprographics and the digital use of books, which in themselves harm the book industry, in a way that benefits everyone, including teachers and students.
The regularization and licensing of textbooks in the education system is a European Union (EU) obligation that every Member State must follow, and this obligation will be strengthened once the European Union’s Rights Directive of Digital in the Digital Single Market enters into force in the summer of 2021. With this agreement publishers and authors receive up to a maximum of € 100,000 allocated per year at the rate of 10% for reprographic or digital use for each published book. This agreement applies to all public schools and even to Church schools.
The National Book Council will be responsible for managing the process of transferring the said funds to the Malta Reprographic Rights Organization, which will then pass them on to publishers and authors who are in the scheme.
