Copying Guidelines for Elementary and Secondary Schools

The Access Copyright Elementary and Secondary School Tariff, 2005-2009 gives you permission to copy from a vast repertoire of commercially published books, magazines and newspapers. As long as you adhere to the terms and conditions of the tariff, you can copy what you need worry-free.

Access Copyright has filed a proposed tariff with the Copyright Board for every elementary and secondary school outside Quebec for 2010-2012.

Under the 2010-2012 tariff, you can also:

  • Scan and save.
  • Post scanned materials to a secure network.
  • Copy consumables and reproducible.
  • Copy portions of sheet music.

This tariff has not yet been certified by the Copyright Board of Canada.

YOU CAN ALWAYS COPY

  • anything with the permission of the copyright owner, including works which already come with permission to copy
  • all or part of a work for private study, research, criticism, review or news reporting, if what you do is "fair dealing"
  • insubstantial parts of a work
  • works published during the author's lifetime, if the author died more than 50 years ago (but not recent translations or annotations of such a work)
  • if an exception in the Copyright Act applies

UNDER A TARIFF CERTIFIED BY THE COPYRIGHT BOARD OF CANADA

You MAY make paper copies, for school purposes, of

  • excerpts of up to 10% of books, journals, magazines and newspapers.
  • The 10% limit may be exceeded if required to copy:
  • an entire chapter that comprises 20% or less of a book
  • an entire article or page from a newspaper, magazine or journal
  • an entire short story, play, essay or poem
  • an entire entry from a reference work
  • an entire reproduction of an artistic work from a publication

You MUST

  • ensure that the author's name and the source appear on at least one page of your copies. If necessary, write them down on one of the pages
  • respect the moral rights of authors
  • limit the number of copies to one per student, two for the teacher and a reasonable amount for administrative purposes, to contact parents and the community and to allow on-site consultation or loan at a library

The tariff does NOT authorize you to

  • intentionally "split" copying runs to exceed the limits mentioned above
  • copy published work cards and material designed for one-time use (e.g., workbooks, some assignment sheets, commercially produced tests and examination papers, activity books)
  • copy instruction manuals or teachers' guides
  • make course packs (a set of copies totalling fewer than 20 pages or coming from fewer than four sources is not a course pack)
  • copy publications containing a notice prohibiting reproduction under a licence with a collective society
  • copy sheet music