Under certain exceptions, it is permitted to use copyrighted materials on Canvas. One of these exceptions is due to the Easy Access Agreement, which governs the educational use of copyrighted materials. The University of Twente participates in the Easy Access (EA) Agreement along with 13 other Dutch Universities – with each university paying a percentage of a total lump sum according to the number of students that their university has. The agreement specifies when teachers are allowed to use an excerpt of a copyrighted work for educational purposes, without needing permission from the copyright holder represented by UvO (Uitgeversorganisatie voor Onderwijslicenties).
What are the conditions for using EA?
The right to use a copyrighted work for education (i.e. uploading it to Canvas) under the Easy Access agreement is subject to the following:
- The copyright holder of the excerpt needs to be represented by UvO. This includes not only Dutch publishers but also international publishers. It typically does not include the copyright of individuals or commercial companies.
- The copyrighted excerpt needs to be used as part of the university curriculum and be supporting the teaching content (instead of just entertainment for example).
- The maker needs to be credited, by correctly citing the source. This applies to both printed and electronic copyrighted materials.
- The Easy Access Agreement is not for commercial education, such as Life Long Learning Programmes. Commercial education needs to gain permission from copyright holders or purchase the materials for their education.
- Making use of the Easy Access Agreement should be the last resort.
Every year the UT reports on the number of excerpts used, and a new price is estimated for the UNL Universities for the next year. It is therefore not "free". If the work is not openly available (as shown in the flowchart below) and it cannot be purchased by the the UT, it’s best to use a work that you can link to.
When to use the EA (flowchart)
See below the flowchart for when you can consider to make use of the Easy Access agreement. Note that other options that are first considered: linking, open licensing, or purchasing.
If you need to use a copyrighted book for your course, you should list the book as mandatory material in Osiris timely before the course starts. If possible, the University Library will purchase full access to the book, and be added to the course reserves in FindUT. For more information about purchasing copyrighted literature visit Purchase Literature.
How many pages can the EA excerpt be?
Excerpts for Education under the Easy Access agreement specify that upto 20%, but no more than 40 pages can be used.
Two examples:
- 300 page book: 20% of this is 60 pages.
However, the upper limit is set to 40 pages.
This means you are allowed to use 40 pages. - 150 page book: 20% of this is 30 pages.
This is less than the upper limit of 40 pages.
This means you are allowed to use 30 pages.
When sharing excerpts, always use the minimum amount of pages needed. Although 40 pages is the current maximum covered by the Easy Access agreement, the contract is periodically renegotiated, and the page limit is subject to change. On the other hand, the “short excerpt” limit of 25 pages is defined by the Auteurswet and therefore this limit will not change. Using more than 40 pages can lead to serious fines and also increase the annual cost of the Easy Access Agreement. Blank pages are included in the document page-count when checked by the Copyright Check tool. Removing blank pages prevents unnecessary fines.
EA and images
Also for Images, the conditions apply as stated under “What are the conditions for using EA?”.
This means that this is only applicable for images in a work that is represented by UvO and not any image that you wish to use for education.
Under “images” it is understood to also include graphs, tables, or frameworks.
Under the Easy Access Agreement, a maximum of 25 images of an original work is permission and a maximum of 10 images from a single maker.
For any questions about this, please contact the CIP.
EA and the Bonus Malus Regulation
From the 1st of July 2026 a new Easy Access contract was signed. This contract contains a “Bonus Malus” Regulation which is a financial incentive for universities to better regulate the number of copyrighted materials being used at their university. Until now, all UNL Universities paid a percentage of the collective fee for Each Access according to the number of students that they have. With the Bonus Malus Regulation, Universities that actively educate about copyright at their university, take down materials that are being illegally used, and regularly report to UvO about actual use can get up to a 4% discount (bonus). Universities that illegally place copyrighted materials on Canvas and do not have a take-down policy face up to a 4% penalty.
Together, we can help the UT reach the bonus status of the regulation making sure we do not infringe copyright by unlawfully using copyrighted materials. This means:
- Linking to (open and legally available) copyrighted materials instead of uploading them to Canvas.
- If linking is not an option, contact your faculty information specialist to check if the material can be purchased or if (open access) alternatives can be found.
- If linking or purchasing is not an option, you can use the Easy Access agreement if they excerpt is below 40 pages or 20% of the whole work.
- If you cannot use the Easy Access agreement, seek (paid) permission to use the excerpt. Either attach the permission to the work or email the permission to cip@utwente.nl