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Irish Copyright Licensing Agency

Language Schools Licence

If your language school needs an efficient way to obtain and manage copyright for a breadth of resources, the Language School Licence is here to ensure copyright access is simple.

About the licence

ICLA offers a licence to language schools to assist with copyright compliance. The licence provides blanket permissions to copy and reuse content from millions of books, journals, magazines and newspapers published in Ireland and abroad. The licence covers content from print and digital publications.

This means teachers and other staff can:

  • make print and digital copies from print and digital books, magazines, journals and newspapers.
  • make print and digital copies from websites and other legitimate sources available on the internet.
  • copy and distribute up to 5% OR one chapter, one article, one short story or poem from an anthology – whichever is greater – to students on a single course of study.
  • copy and distribute the equivalent amount from a digital/online publication organised in a non-traditional manner to students on a single course of study.
  • share copies with students and staff in person or remotely, by email or virtual learning environment (VLE).
  • use copies with digital whiteboards, VLEs and presentation software programmes including Zoom, GoWebinar and equivalent.
  • Books (print and digital)
  • Journals (print and digital)
  • Magazines (print and digital)
  • Newspapers (Irish and UK – print and digital)
  • Websites and other legitimate sources available on the internet
  • Maps and charts
  • Assignment sheets
  • Printed music (including the words)
  • Some ‘Open Access’ publications
  • Copyright-free publications
  • Copy-paid publications (the price of making copies is included in the original price)
  • Any work that has been specifically excluded*

*Refer to the Excluded Works List for works which are not included in the blanket licence and therefore can be reproduced only in so far as copyright educational exceptions (which are more restrictive than the ICLA licence) allow, and otherwise only with explicit permission from the rightsholder.

The licence fee is based on the average student numbers per annum, and the licence period is 1st January to 31st December each year. Year-round schools are sent renewal notices in January, and summer schools are sent renewal notices in June of each year.

A data collection exercise takes place on a regular basis to enable us to distribute the licence income to the relevant copyright owners. Learn more about how ICLA collects data.

If your school does not use multiple copies of copyright material, please contact us to receive a No Photocopying Declaration for your records.