Chapter IV: Special provisions relating to the digital exploitation of unavailable books

For the purposes of this chapter, “unavailable book” means a book published in France before 1 January 2001 which is no longer distributed commercially by a publisher and which is not currently published in printed or digital form. Unavailable book” means a book published in France before 1 January 2001 which is no longer distributed commercially by a publisher and which is not currently published in printed or digital form.

A public database is created, made available free of charge via an online public communication service, which lists unavailable books. The Bibliothèque nationale de France shall ensure that the database is implemented, updated and that the information provided for in articles L. 134-4, L. 134-5 and L. 134-6 is included. Any person may ask the Bibliothèque nationale de France to register an unavailable book in the database. The inclusion of…

I. – When a book is registered in the database mentioned in article L. 134-2 for more than six months, the right to authorise its reproduction and performance in digital form is exercised on behalf of the rightholders by a collective management organisation governed by Title II of Book III of this Part, approved for this purpose by the Minister responsible for culture. The collective management organisation thus approved is…

I. – The author of an unavailable book or the publisher holding the right to reproduce that book in printed form may object to the exercise of the right of authorisation referred to in the first paragraph of I of article L. 134-3 by an approved collective management organisation. This opposition is notified in writing to the organisation mentioned in the first paragraph of article L. 134-2 no later than…

Failing opposition notified by the author or publisher on expiry of the period provided for in I of Article L. 134-4, the collective management organisation shall offer authorisation for the reproduction and representation in digital form, on national territory, of an unavailable book to the publisher holding the right to reproduce this book in printed form. This offer shall be made in writing. It is deemed to have been refused…

The author and publisher holding the right to reproduce an unavailable book in printed form shall jointly notify the collective management organisation mentioned in Article L. The author of an unavailable book may decide at any time to withdraw from the collective management organisation mentioned in the same article L. 134-3 the right to authorise the reproduction and representation of the book in digital form. It shall notify the organisation…

The procedures for applying this chapter, in particular the procedures for accessing the database provided for in Article L. 134-2, the nature and format of the data collected and the most appropriate publicity measures to guarantee the best possible information for rightholders, the conditions for issuing and withdrawing the authorisation of collective management bodies provided for in article L. 134-3, are specified by decree in the Council of State. The…

As an exception to the provisions of the first three paragraphs of Article L. 324-17, the approved organisations mentioned in Article L. 134-3 use the sums collected for the exploitation of unavailable books and which could not be distributed because the recipients could not be identified or found before the expiry of the period provided for in the last paragraph of article L. 321-1. The amount and use of these…