Under Section 183A of the Copyright Act 1968, government departments and/or agencies are required to enter into an agreement with Copyright Agency to pay fair compensation to its creator or rightsholder.

Copyrights Agency must collect Statutory Government Licence fees from the government departments and/or agencies and distribution these as copyright royalty payments.

From time to time, some departments and agencies may be selected to take part in sampling. This sampling help identify works that are used within the Government and enables the distribution of licence fees. The sampling method is agreed between Copyright Agency and the relevant State and Territory or Commonwealth Government.