Society of Swedish Authors in Finland (FSF)

Background - The Swedish language minority in Finland
Finland is a bilingual country. 5.6 % of the population is Swedish-speaking. Most of the Swedish-speaking population is living in the coastal areas of southern and western Finland. The national identity of the Swedish-speaking Finns is tied to Finland, not to Sweden.
The principle of equality between the two languages is of fundamental importance, especially in meeting the cultural needs of the Swedish minority.

The founding
FSF was formed in 1919. The society was described as "purely a professional union of fiction writers, critics and essayists". The main aim of the FSF was, and still is, to safeguard the interests of the Swedish-language writers in Finland, and to promote Swedish-language literature in Finland. Problems confronting us then, as well as at present, were mostly economical, in addition to questions concerning copyright.
The new society faced a number of tasks: The drawing up of a basic contract between authors and publishers, exercising proper influence on copyright legislation, and the creation of a system by which the writers receive compensation for the free lending of their books in public libraries (nowadays known as the Public Lending Right-system, PLR).

In 1947 the Nordic writers' and publishers' organisations could at last agree on formulating a publishers contract common to all Nordic countries. The only unsolved items left to negotiations on a national level were clauses concering royalties.
In Finland the authors agreed to royalty-payments of 10-20 % of the retail price, excluding sales tax, per soft cover copy of the book. A special clause was introduced which stipulated that "a royalty under 15 % is allowed only in cases of light entertainment literature". In Finland as in Sweden standard royalty-payment was later fixed at 16 2/3 %. In addition to the payment of royalty proceeds the publisher was also legally bound to give a statement within September each year, concering the number of books sold the previous year.
This basic contract has been modified as recently as 2002.

Since 1943 the FSF has received Government support. From having been a modest sum at first, it now covers almost 40 % of our budget. Other sources of income include membership fees, commissions from copyright fees paid by the broadcasting company to our members and fees collected for the management of funds. The society is managing a number of funds, some of which have been founded in honour of a prominent writer, while others have been donated to us by testament. The proceeds from these funds are distributed in the form of stipends to writers.

Membership
The FSF can be joined by a Swedish-language writer in Finland who has published at least two literary works or works of literary value. Membership can also be granted to persons whose contribution to Swedish-language literature in Finland is notable. At present, the FSF has 177 members; 93 men (53 %) and 84 women (47 %).

Co-operation
The FSF closely co-operates with other similar organisations, such as the Union of Finnish Writers; in negotiations to reach agreements with various counterparts we also co-operate with for example translators' and dramatists' unions. Questions of interest to all artists are dealt with within Forum Artis (The Joint Organisation for Associations of Finnish Artists), which is a union of 19 different associations. In addition, there is close contact with for example Kopiosto, the Finnish Literature Information Centre (FILI) and the so called Reading Centre, an agency arranging writers' visits to schools, libraries etc. International co-operation is channelled through The Nordic Writers´ and Translators' Council, the European Writers' Congress, the Baltic Writers' Council and the International Writers' and Translators' Center of Rhodes.

The Finnish copyright law
The first Finnish "Law on copyright" was enacted on August 1, 1927, thus enabling Finland to join the Bern Convention. In 1961 a new law replaced the old one. The new law was in almost every respect identical with similar laws in other Nordic countries. It also included stipulations concering publishers' contract, which to a great extent were based on the Basic contract of 1947.
A new copyright law was enacted in 1995. And as a result of the implementation of the EU-directive concering "Copyright in the Information Society" Finland, as well as the other EU-countries, got a new Law on Copyright in 2003.

The Public Lending Right System
Until 1961 there was no law in Finland concerning the rights of writers to receive compensation for the lending of their books free of charge through public libraries. This new "Law on certain stipends and grants to writers and translators" was enacted in 1963. Amendments of this law has been made in 1967, 1978, 1983 and 1993.
According to the current legislation the total annual compensation should be equal to 10 % of the appropriation that the public libraries spend on new acquisitions. Of the total amount 90 % goes to writers and translators of fiction while 10 % goes to writers and translators of non-fiction (not including scientific reports, school text books and other similar works). Writers and translators have to apply for the scholarships.
Each year 76 % of the total amount is granted to creative writers and 16 % to translators, 8 % is used as assistance to elderly writers and translators living in precarious economic conditions and writers and translators who, owing to illness or inability to work, find themselves in a difficult economic position.
In 2002 2,55 million euro was allotted for this purpose. The stipends are tax free and the amounts vary between 1 000 and 12 000 FIM euro (2003). The receivers of the stipends and grants are chosen by a board subordinate to the Ministry of Education.