CLA Higher Education Licence - Guide to Reporting and Managing Digital Copies 2024-2027

Guide to Reporting and Managing Digital Copies 2024 - 27

This guide is intended to help Higher Education Institutions understand the requirements for reporting and managing Digital Copies that are made in connection with Courses of Study under the CLA HE Licence. However, we will be pleased to help with any specific questions you may have; please send these to us at [e-mail]. There are also further support resources for the Licence on our website.

If your HEI subscribes to our Digital Content Store (DCS) – and is using it to manage the creation and distribution of all Digital Copies made in connection with Courses of Study under the Licence - then the processes outlined in this guide will be automated. In addition, we also have a Third Party Technology Partners (‘TPTP’) Licence, which enables licensed technology providers to automate these processes for their customers as well. If either scenario applies to your HEI, you do not need to report manually as outlined in this guide.

If your HEI is not using the DCS (or an appropriate platform provided by a licensed TPTP) to manage the creation and distribution of all relevant Digital Copies, you must report and manage them as set out in this guide.

Reporting of Digital Copies

CLA needs to collect certain data from HEIs regarding Digital Copies, to inform the fair distribution of Licence fees to rightsholders.

Data received from UUK/GuildHE members is also shared on an anonymised basis with the UUK/GuildHE Copyright Negotiating and Advisory Committee (CNAC), to help inform Licence negotiations. By Digital Copies, we mean scans made from printed material and copies made from digital originals, in both cases where copying is done under the CLA Higher Education Licence (and where the items copied are covered by the Licence). We will be reverting to annual reporting of ‘All’ Digital Copies (as outlined above), and the cyclical arrangements will cease.

Reporting Period 1 June 2024 – 31 May 2025

For this period only, the reporting cycle continues along similar lines as previously, with HEIs reporting either ‘New only’ or ‘All’ Digital Copies on or before 15 June 2025:

• ‘New only’ refers to all Digital Copies made within this reporting period

• All’ refers to all Digital Copies made within this reporting period, plus any that were used during this reporting period but made during a previous one (i.e. ‘carried over’).

You can check where your HEI falls in the reporting cycle by viewing our Schedule.

Reporting Periods 1 June 2025 – 31 May 2026 and 1 June 2026 – 31 May 2027

Following discussions with CNAC, we will be reverting to annual reporting of ‘All’ Digital Copies (as outlined above) for all HEIs, and the cyclical arrangements will cease. Therefore, for each of these two reporting periods, you should declare ‘All’ Digital Copies to us. 

How to report to us

• Reporting applies to Digital Copies that are made for students and staff in connection with a Course (or Module) of Study. Digital Copies made for any other purpose under the Licence do not need to be reported to us.

• Your report should be submitted to CLA on or before 15 June (or nearest preceding working day) each year.

• Reporting is done via the Digital Copy Record Form (DCRF). This, together with a guide to completing it, is available on our website; however, please also note the following.

- If a Digital Copy has been used in connection with more than one Course of Study, each use must be reported on a separate line on the DCRF.

- Please don’t reference any cohort of students that has completed a listed course but still has access to its content for the remainder of that particular cohort’s degree programme.

- There’s no need to report the copying of individual disembedded images where this use is covered by the Licence terms rather than an exception.

- Remember there is no need to specify where you have used embedded images (for example: if you have copied a chapter consisting mainly of text, but which also includes an image, just report the chapter).

- Any Digital Copies that have been made in accordance with Clause 8 of the Licence (regarding print disabled persons) should not be reported to CLA.

- Printouts of Digital Material are Paper Copies and therefore should not be reported to CLA under the arrangements set out in this guide.

- If for any reason your HEI has not made any Digital Copies available during the relevant reporting period, you still need to tell us, by completing a ‘nil return’.

Management of Digital Copies

Excluded Works

If a work becomes Excluded, it is no longer covered by the Licence, and you must delete from your secure network any Digital Copies made from that work by the end of the academic year. Remember this applies to any Digital Copies made in connection with a Course of Study, including those that may not be in use for a current course, but where students still have access under the Licence until the end of their degree programme. You should check for new exclusions at least once annually. Please note the following:

• If, at the time of checking, any affected Digital Copies are being used in connection with a current Course of Study, they may be retained until the end of the academic year for which they were made but must then be deleted.

• Any other Digital Copies made from such repertoire must be deleted within one calendar month checking or notification.

• To confirm, by deleting we mean removing from your VLE completely - not simply archiving.

• Remember this applies to any Digital Copies on your VLE, including those that may not be in use for a current course, but where students still have access under the Licence until the end of their degree programme.

• Remember that the above requirement to delete does not apply to Paper Copies of items that are no longer covered by the Licence (including printouts of Digital Material) – only to Digital Copies.

Requirement Checks

Once a course is no longer running, and any students who have taken it are no longer enrolled at your HEI, any Digital Copies made for it must be deleted – or, if the course is likely to run again in the future, archived (with access restricted to those people responsible for maintaining the archive). If the course commences again in the future, and you would like to re-use Digital Copies you have archived, you will need to check that they still comply with the Licence terms and conditions.

This resource is provided for guidance only. Please note that it does not substitute for the terms and conditions of the Licence, and that, in the event of a conflict between the two, the Licence prevails.