Vereniging van Educatieve en Wetenschappelijke Auteurs (VEWA) v Belgische Staat.
Date: 2011-06-30
25. Next, as regards the concept of remuneration, the Court has already held that the need for uniform application of Community law and the principle of equality require that the terms of a provision of Community law which makes no express reference to the law of the Member States for the purpose of determining its meaning and scope must normally be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the Community; that interpretation must take into account the context of the provision and the purpose of the legislation in question (see, inter alia, Case C-357/98 Yiadom  [2000] ECR I-9265, paragraph 26, and SENA , paragraph 23).
26. The same applies in respect of the concept of ‘remuneration’ in Article 5(1) of Directive 92/100, which is not defined by the latter (concerning the concept of ‘equitable remuneration’, see, by analogy, SENA , paragraph 24).
27. With regard to the context in wh ich the concept of remuneration arises, it must be observed that Directive 92/100 is not the only instrument in the field of intellectual property and that, regard being had for the requirements deriving from the unity and coherence of the legal order of the European Union, that concept of remuneration must be interpreted in the light of the rules and principles established by all of the directives on intellectual property, as interpreted by the Court.
28. In that connection, the Court has already held, when it interpreted the concept of ‘fair compensation’ in relation to reproduction for private use under article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (OJ 2001 L 167, p. 10), that the purpose of fair compensation is to compensate authors ‘adequately’ for the use made of their protected works without their authorisation, with the result that it must be regarded as recompense for the harm suffered by the author as a consequence of the act of reproduction (see, to that effect, Case C‑467/08 Padawan  [2010] ECR I‑0000, paragraphs 39 and 40).
29. It is true, in the context of Directive 92/100, that, when there is a derogation from the exclusive right of authors, the Community legislature used the word ‘remuneration’ instead of ‘compensation’ provided for in Directive 2001/29. However, that concept of ‘remuneration’ is also designed to establish recompense for authors, arising as it does in a comparable situation in which the fact that the works are being used in the context of public lending without the authorisation of the authors result in harm to the latter.
32. Lastly, as regards the amount of remuneration, it must be observed that the Court has already held, in connection with the concept of ‘equitable remuneration’ in Article 8(2) of Directive 92/100, that the question whether that remuneration is equitable in character has to be assessed, in particular, in the light of the value of the use of a protected work in trade (see, to that effect, SENA , paragraph 37).
35. As regards, more specifically, the criteria for determining the amount of the remuneration due to authors in the event of public lending, it must be recalled that there is no objective reason justifying the imposition by the Community judicature of specific methods for determining what constitutes uniform equitable remuneration, which would necessarily entail the Court’s acting in the place of the Member States, which are not bound by any particular criteria under Directive 92/100. It is thus for the Member States alone to determine, within their own territory, what are the most relevant criteria for ensuring, within the limits imposed by Community law, and in particular by Directive 92/100, compliance with that Community concept (see, by analogy, SENA , paragraph 34).
42. In those circumstances, that system may have the result that many establishments are, in effect, almost exempted from the obligation to pay any remuneration. Such a de facto  exemption is, however, at variance with Article 5(3) of Directive 92/100, as interpreted by the Court, according to which only a limited number of categories of establishments potentially required to pay remuneration pursuant to Article 5(1) are capable of being exempt from that payment (Case C‑36/05 Commission  v Spain , paragraph 32).