42A.—(1) The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government may by regulation establish a scheme, to be known as the Public Lending Remuneration Scheme, to remunerate authors, out of moneys voted by the Oireachtas for the purpose, for the lending by public libraries of qualifying works.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a work is a qualifying work in relation to a particular period if—

(a) in relation to that period, it is a work included in a class of works declared by regulations made for the purposes of that subsection to be a class of works to which the scheme applies, and

(b) the author of the work (or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, any one or more of the joint authors) is a citizen or subject of, or is an individual domiciled or ordinarily resident in, a Member State of the EEA.

(3) Regulations made for the purposes of subsection (1) shall make comprehensive provision for the operation of the Public Lending Remuneration Scheme, and may include, in particular, provisions relating to—

(a) the manner of participation in the scheme by individual authors, including, but not limited to—

(i) a requirement for the registration of authors and their works as a condition of participation in the scheme, and

(ii) in the case of works of joint authorship, provision for distinguishing, between those of the joint authors who are citizens or subjects of, or are individuals domiciled or ordinarily resident in, Member States of the EEA and those who are not,

(b) in relation to any requirement for the registration of authors—

(i) the manner of maintaining the register, and

(ii) the form and particulars of entries in it,

(c) the manner of calculating the entitlements of participating authors, including, but not limited to—

(i) the manner of calculating, or estimating, the number of instances of lending of the works of individual authors or of individual works of individual authors,

(ii) the rate of remuneration, including—

(I) differential rates of remuneration for particular classes of work, and

(II) in the case of works of joint authorship, differential rates of remuneration for the individual joint authors,

(iii) the periods in respect of which payments may be made under the scheme, and

(iv) minimum and maximum amounts payable, in respect of a specified period, to individual participating authors,

(d) the manner in which payments under the scheme are to be made,

(e) the establishment or designation of one or more persons or bodies to exercise powers and perform duties in respect of the administration of the scheme or any part of it (including the making of payments under the scheme), and

(f) the making of arrangements with authorities in other countries for—

(i) reciprocal registration of authors and works, and

(ii) the sharing and exchange of data relating to the operation of the scheme and similar schemes in those countries.

(4) A person who contravenes a provision of regulations made for the purposes of subsection (1) that is expressed to be a provision contravention of which attracts the operation of this subsection is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding €5,000.

(5) In this section—

"author" includes, in relation to a recording of a performance, the performer;

"public library" means a library to which members of the public have access that is operated by or under the direction of a library authority within the meaning of section 77(1) of the Local Government Act 2001.]