The German Act on the Adaption of Copyright Law to the Requirements of the Digital Single Market (DSM-UrhR-AnpG) came into force on 7 June 2021 as a step towards implementing the European Union Directive on Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market (EU 2019/790; DSM-RL) in German law.

The regulations on licensing out-of-commerce works are based on sections 51b, 52, 52a, 52b of the German Collecing Management Organisations Act (VGG). The representative collecting management organisations (see section 51b VGG) VG WORT and VG BILD-KUNST manage the rights for the use of out-of-commerce works in printed publications under section 52b subsection 3 VGG.

Legislation on the internet: section 51b ff. VGG

In order to implement the legal bases, especially as they relate to remuneration and the IT processes necessary for licensing purposes, the federal and state administrations and the collecting management organisations have concluded a framework agreement that allows cultural heritage institutions to procure usage licences for out-of-commerce works in printed publications. VG WORT is accomplishing this in cooperation with the German National Library, which established the Licensing Service for Out-of-commerce Works for this purpose.

Section 61d of the German Copyright Act (UrhG) is understood as a default regulation that allows cultural heritage institutions to manage the corresponding rights for out-of-commerce works and provide legally compliant access to digital collections of such works even in the absence of a (sufficiently representative) collecting management organisation.

Legislation on the internet: section 61d VGG

The Licensing Service for Out-of-commerce Works (VW-LiS) does not provide any such services. The cultural heritage institutions alone are responsible for checking availability, identifying representative collecting management organisations and posting information about works on the European Out-of-commerce Works Portal (EUIPO).

Under section 61e of the German Copyright Act and section 52d of the German Collecting Management Organisation Act, the Federal Ministry of Justice has issued – inter alia – supplementary regulations regarding duties to post information about out-of-commerce works on the European Out-of-Commerce Works Portal (EUIPO) and determine the (non-)availability of works. These regulations also define the legal consequences of an objection.

Legislation on the internet: Verordnung über ergänzende Bestimmungen zur Nutzung nicht verfügbarer Werke nach dem Urheberrechtsgesetz und dem Verwertungsgesellschaftengesetz 1 (Nicht-verfügbare-Werke-Verordnung - NvWV) (Out-of-commerce Works Regulation)

Where necessary, the supplementary provisions in the NvWV (Out-of-commerce Works Regulation) are taken into account in the framework agreement on the use of out-of-commerce works in printed publications concluded by the federal and state administrations, VG WORT and VG BILD-KUNST; specifications are also provided for the IT processes used during the licensing procedure.

The federal and state administrations and the collecting management organisations have concluded a framework agreement to facilitate the practical implementation of the legal bases, especially as they relate to remuneration and the IT processes necessary for licensing purposes. This allows cultural heritage institutions to acquire usage licences for out-of-commerce works in printed publications (books, specialised journals, newspapers, journals, other press releases and other publications).

Rahmenvertrag zur Nutzung von nicht verfügbaren Werken in verlegten Schriften (21.03.2025) 575kB, PDF - Not barrier-free file.

VG WORT is accomplishing this in cooperation with the German National Library, which established the Licensing Service for Out-of-commerce Works (VW-LiS) for this purpose. VW-LiS consolidates the licensing processes and facilitates their integration into the (mass) digitisation processes carried out by cultural heritage institutions.

VW-LiS is the service interface for cultural heritage institutions which want to digitise and provide public access to their collections. It enables them to obtain usage licences for out-of-commerce works from the collecting management organisations.

Cultural heritage institutions can research out-of-commerce works, submit licence applications and manage their data in their VW-LiS account. The German National Library has developed its own (automated) processes with which the availability status of works in library collections can be determined quickly and in a legally compliant manner. Along with the necessary technical infrastructure, VW-LiS also offers specialist library support for users conducting searches and filing applications.

After submission, VW-LiS automatically forwards licence applications to VG WORT for posting in the European Out-of-commerce Works Portal (EUIPO).

VW-LiS thus consolidates all the processes involved and is the first port of call for cultural heritage institutions.

Licences can be requested for printed publications (i.e. works issued by publishing companies):

1) provided full versions of these publications are not offered through any standard distribution channel (e.g. the book/newspaper trade),
2) and at least 30 years have passed since they were last published in Germany.

Printed publications are …:

• books,
• specialised journals,
• newspapers,
• journals,
• other press releases and printed publications.

Licences are not granted for musical works (notes) and art books classified as originals, directories of works, sketchbooks, exhibition and auction catalogues not classified as printed publications, (exhibition) posters and signs, or (artist) postcards.

Periodicals (specialised journals, newspapers, journals, other press releases) cannot be licensed at present owing to technical constraints. We are currently working on the necessary technology with the aim of enabling the application functions for periodicals as soon as possible.

The German National Library allows cultural heritage institutions (libraries, museums, archives and film/audio heritage institutions) to search and submit licence applications for out-of-commerce works free of charge through VW-LiS.

Licences for out-of-commerce works must be paid for in accordance with the framework agreement on the use of out-of-commerce works in printed publications. Please take note of the compensation regulations in sections 7 and 8 of the framework agreement .

The following tiered price tables apply plus VAT charged at the applicable rate:

It is not possible to file licence applications for out-of-commerce periodicals at this time. We are currently working on the necessary technology with the aim of enabling the application functions for periodicals as soon as possible.

The availability status of a work is determined by consulting relevant industry and/or material-specific availability directories, using online services for publishers, and implementing procedures agreed with the collecting management organisations

Availability status – and thus the possibility of applying for licences for single-volume monographs – is determined by means of automated data comparison. The availability status of multi-volume monographs is determined intellectually by the institution filing the application. The data base used by the collecting service consists of the holdings of the German National Library, the legal mandate of which is to collect all German and German-language publications from 1913 onwards and catalogue them bibliographically.

VW-LiS: Feststellung des Verfügbarkeitsstatus 399kB, PDF - Not barrier-free file.

As a registered cultural heritage institution, the Licensing Service for Out-of-commerce works (VW-LiS) offers you multiple functions for researching out-of-commerce works. You can choose which search function to use depending on your collection, the number of works and your system's technical constraints:

• Data package upload: uploading a MARC-21.xml file from your holdings enables you to have the availability status of up to 1,000 bibliographic data sets for monographs (books) determined fully automatically within 24 hours.
• Catalogue search: you can research out-of-commerce works in the German National Library's catalogue and transfer the data to your VW-LiS account. Out-of-commerce works are marked as such in the German National Library's catalogue (status: out-of-commerce).
• Union ID search: when researching single-volume monographs published before 1913 and works not indexed in the German National Library's catalogue, data can be imported from union catalogues so that the work's availability status can be determined automatically.
• Multi-volume works (monographs): cultural heritage institutions submitting applications for multi-volume monographs are required to determine their availability status intellectually: VW-LiS: Feststellung des Verfügbarkeitsstatus 399kB, PDF - Not barrier-free file..

More information and tips on researching works and submitting applications are provided in our VW-LiS FAQ.

VG WORT cooperates with VG BILD-KUNST to issue licences for out-of-commerce works, allowing cultural heritage institutions to reproduce them ( section 16 UrhG ), distribute them (section 17 UrhG) and present them in public, particularly by providing public access (sections 19, 19a UrhG).

Rights to out-of-commerce works are only granted if the work is a permanent part of the cultural heritage institution's physical collection. The rights are granted solely for purposes of non-commercial use in digital libraries such as the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library, DDB) and the European digital library Europeana or on other non-commercial websites operated by the institutions. The collecting management organisations reserve the right to use the data for commercial text and data mining purposes under section 44b subsection. 3 UrhG on behalf of the rights holders they represent.

As a rights holder, you can object to the use of your work at any time. Objections may only be lodged through the EUIPO Out-of-commerce Works Portal.
Please contact VG WORT if you are a rights holder and have questions about objections: nvw@vgwort.de

As soon as an objection has been received, VG WORT determines whether it is justified. If you have already submitted an application as a cultural heritage institution, or if you are already in possession of a licence for a work for which an objection has been lodged, VG WORT will notify you of this development without delay.

If the objection is justified and you have already started using the work, you must stop using it within one month and refrain from using it in the future. The rights granted by the collecting management organisations will become void when you stop using the work, i.e. no later than the end of the one-month grace period.

All other conditions and regulations are set forth in section 4 of the Out-of-commerce Works Regulation (NvWV) and sections 6, 7(4) and 8(3) of the Rahmenvertrag zur Nutzung von nicht verfügbaren Werken in verlegten Schriften (21.03.2025) 575kB, PDF - Not barrier-free file.

No. Under section 61d subsection 3 UrhG, works which do not come under the provisions in the framework agreement on the use of out-of-commerce works in printed publications and/or for which no collecting management organisation is authorised to manage the rights must be posted in the EUIPO Out-of-commerce Works Portal by the cultural heritage institution wishing to use them.