Public Lending Rights (PLR) Extended to All Forms of E-Lending

The Government has announced that it is committed to extending Public Lending Right (PLR) to all forms of e-lending following its recent consultation on the matter.

Provisions to extend PLR to e-books and e-audiobooks were originally contained in the Digital Economy Act 2017, but further secondary legislation was required before the changes could be implemented. After many months of silence from the government and pressure from the writing and publishing worlds,  a consultation on the proposals was launched at the start of May this year.

The Department of Digital Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has now released the results of the consultation and the Minister for DCMS has already signed the necessary statutory instruments required to extend PLR to include remote lending of e-books and e-audiobooks. 

The changes will come into force from the beginning of July, in line with the start of the new PLR year (1 July to 30 June). This means that e-lending will be reflected in the PLR for 2018/19 year onwards.

Nicola Solomon, Chief Executive of the Society of Authors, said “We are thrilled that the extension of PLR to e-lending has finally been given the green light. PLR is a vital source of income for many authors, and it is only right that the same rules apply to e-lending as to the lending of physical books.

“Today’s announcement follows years of lobbying and campaigning alongside authors, booksellers, libraries, agents and publishers. All this work has finally reached fruition, and I know that authors will be delighted by the news.”