Public Lending Right in the European Community
Public Lending Right in the European Community

cultural policy or political tool?

Summary/Abstract: In a knowledge based economy, PLR is an usefull means of cultural, recognition and economic support for authors as long as is not coming from library bugets, but from the State budget, and libraries functionning as an trustful intermediary. Almost almost two decades after publication of the Council Directive 92/100/EEC on “Rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property” (in November 1992), there are a number of Member States still failing to implement it. This article describes the birth and development of the PLR system and seeks to explain its special features by putting it in the larger cultural historical context. The controversy concerning the right of non-fiction writers to receive compensation is also described, as well as the PLR situation in Romania.

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