1. PLS aims to distribute revenue from Collective Licences to Mandating Publishers fairly, transparently, efficiently and swiftly.
2. Revenue from Collective Licences is collected by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd (CLA) and distributed between PLS and the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society Ltd (ALCS) and, where appropriate, contractual partners such as the Design and Artists Copyright Society Ltd and foreign reproduction rights organisations, in accordance with agreements made between them from time to time.
3. PLS and CLA may each retain a proportion of the revenue collected to cover the cost of their operations including legal costs (administration fees) and may vary these proportions from time to time as determined by the Boards of Directors of PLS and CLA respectively.
4. The basic CLA administration fee is 11%. An administration fee of 25% is retained from revenue collected from new licences in their first year to reflect more closely the actual cost to CLA.
5. (a) The PLS s administration fee is currently 6%. PLS does not retain an administration fee from revenue collected from foreign Reproduction Rights Organisations where title specific distribution data is supplied. PLS accounts for the use of its administration fees annually at a meeting open to all Mandating Publishers.
(b) PLS may periodically review the administration fees it receives in order to determine whether the aggregate amount it has received during the period under review exceeds or falls short (as the case may be) of the amounts required by PLS for the proper functioning of its business. If on any such review PLS determines at its discretion that the aggregate administration fee that it has received during the period under review exceeds its anticipated funding requirements for the following year, or for any longer period following such review, PLS may at its discretion pay its Mandating Publishers on a fair and reasonable basis such amount as PLS determines represents the relevant excess. If, on the other hand, PLS determines at its discretion that the aggregate administration fee that it has received during the period under review falls below its anticipated funding requirements for a period following such review (whether for the next year or for any further period), PLS may increase its administration fee for the year following such review by such percentage amount (not exceeding an additional 5% on top of the existing administration fee) as the PLS Board deems fair and reasonable in order to reflect its anticipated reasonable costs for such following year or period.
6. Collective licence fee income is allocated to specific titles or Publishers in accordance with the CLA distribution policy and after CLA and PLS have deducted their respective administration fees (Net Fees). Net Fees can only be allocated to publications that carry an ISBN, an ISSN or a URL.
7. Net Fees collected are allocated to titles or Publishers in accordance with information supplied by CLA. This information may be gathered from information audits, record keeping surveys, or by other methods as determined from time to time by the Board of CLA.
8. Net Fees from transactional licences are allocated to the titles used under such licences.
9. Net Fees for which PLS does not have any adequate title specific data are allocated to Publishers in accordance with rules agreed from time to time by the PLS Board.
10.1. Net fees allocated to each title are allocated to the Publisher linked to that title on the PLSe repertoire database at the date of the relevant distribution notwithstanding that the Net Fees may relate, whether in whole or in part, to a period prior to such Publisher being linked to the title in question.
10.2. Publishers shall assist PLS in creating and maintaining an accurate database of the Repertoire.
10.3. If PLS is notified in writing of a dispute between Publishers as to who owns, at the date of the relevant distribution, a particular title, PLS shall withhold the distribution of all Net Fees allocated to that title until such time as the dispute has been resolved and the outcome has been notified to PLS in writing by all parties to the dispute. In the event that such dispute is not so resolved within six years of the date on which PLS is notified of the dispute , the Board may decide to reallocate the Net Fees so withheld to other Mandating Publishers.
10.4. Net fees shall not be allocated to titles expressly excluded from the repertoire database by Publishers or to works within the categories of works excluded from the scope of CLA licences.
11. PLS will distribute Net Fees allocated to Mandating Publishers promptly and in any event no later than in the calendar month following receipt of such monies from CLA as far as is reasonably practical and subject to the provisions of this Charter. PLS shall be entitled to retain any interest earned from money passing through its accounts and shall apply this towards the costs of its operation.
12. If PLS makes a distribution to a Mandating Publisher in respect of a title linked to that Publisher on the PLS repertoire database then such payment shall be deemed to be a good and sufficient discharge to PLS.
13. PLS will use its reasonable endeavours to make contact with non-mandating Publishers to whom Net Fees have been allocated and PLS shall encourage such Publishers to become Mandating Publishers.
14. Where a Publisher has ceased trading or refuses to accept Net Fees allocated to it or, in the view of PLS, is untraceable, the PLS Board may decide to reallocate such revenues to other Mandating Publishers.
15. In the event that a third party claims to be entitled to receive Net Fees in succession to a Mandating Publisher, PLS may demand evidence in writing to support such claim before releasing any Net Fees to such third party.
16. A Publisher is not entitled to any payment in respect of any accounting period if the amount accruing to it is less than £25 or, in the case of payments made by cheque, less than £200, or such other amount as the PLS Board may from time to time determine.
17. PLS shall determine whether or not specific publications belong to a category of works excluded from the PLS Mandate or from a specific collective licence according to rules determined by PLS.
18. Publishers may elect to be excluded from all collective licences operated by CLA or its licensees. Net Fees collected from UK blanket licences or from foreign Reproduction Rights Organisations shall not be allocated to such excluded Publishers.
19. A Publisher is not entitled to any payment if it fails to notify PLS in writing of any changes to its contact details and PLS cannot with reasonable effort make contact with such Publisher.
20. Net Fees allocated to individual titles or Publishers in accordance with this Charter may vary over time. Future Net Fees cannot reliably be forecast on the basis of current receipts.
21. Self-billing invoices are provided for all sums distributed by PLS and these include VAT where appropriate.
22. This Distribution Charter is reviewed by the PLS Board on a regular basis and may be amended from time to time.
Please click here to view the PLS mandate handbook
Updated 31 May 2011