Copyright licences
The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) licenses the official DSA theory test revision banks and 16 simulated hazard perception test video clips for use by other publishers by way of a Crown Copyright Licence Agreement. This ensures that appropriate learning material is available to support learner drivers.
Royalty based Crown copyright licence
This category of licence is required when an applicant wishes to reuse any DSA Crown copyright material within a product that is to be offered for sale on a commercial basis.
Sample crown copyright licence (PDF, 94K)
Royalty rates
Royalty rate payable:
13 per cent of net sales revenue for each product sold (electronic and paper-based)
This rate varies if the DSA copyright material used in the publication constitutes less than 50 per cent of the entire product. ‘Net Sales Revenue’ means the income to the licensee after tax has been deducted.
Certified Royalty statements are to be submitted within 30 days of the end of each financial quarter. DSA will then issue an invoice within 30 days after receipt of the certified statement. Each payment of royalty will be due and payable within 30 days after the date of DSA’s invoice.
Crown copyright licences for translated material
Translation licences are available on application for anyone wishing to translate DSA Crown copyright material into languages other than English. Any type of product can be produced and royalties are payable on net sales revenue (see above under Royalty rates).
Sample translation licence (PDF, 97K)
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
MoUs are issued to other governments or governmental departments who use the official DSA theory test question banks. MoU will generally be under the same terms and conditions as a Crown copyright licence agreement.
Educational, Research and British Sign Language Crown Copyright Licences
An Educational Crown Copyright Licence Agreement is available to educational establishments where pupils are not charged for access to the material and there is no commercial gain involved. There is no fee for this licence and it is valid for three years. With this licence a PDF containing the revision bank(s) is provided free to the educational establishment to allow the pupils an insight as to what to expect on their theory test.
A Research Crown Copyright Licence Agreement is available should you wish to use copyright data for a research project or coursework purpose. This licence is free and is valid for three years provided the student or researcher can confirm that the finished item / course work is not:
- copied
- sold
- published electronically
- passed off in any way as being available for sale
A copy of the said work must be delivered to the Driving Standards Agency within a reasonable time before any results are published.
An acknowledgement regarding the use of Crown Copyright material must be provided in the body of the text as follows: “Crown Copyright material has been reproduced by permission of the Driving Standards Agency which does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of the reproduction”.
Theory test revision banks
All the theory test revision banks are available for reuse under the Crown Copyright Licence Agreement and can also be purchased by licensees in electronic format.
The official theory test revision banks are:
- car
- motorcycle
- large goods vehicle (LGV)/passenger carrying vehicle (PCV)
- approved driving instructor (ADI) Part 1
The individual revision banks (one to four above) are available in PDF format for free, or to purchase in Filemaker Pro on CD-Rom including gif and high-resolution images. Price: £350 + VAT per category or if more than one category is required there are discounts available:
- 1 x category £350 + VAT
- 2 x categories £600 + VAT
- 3 x categories £800 + VAT
- 4 x categories £1,000 + VAT
Licensees are given approximately six months notice of any changes, together with a publication embargo date if applicable. There can be exceptions to these arrangements, however all licensees are informed accordingly.
Hazard perception test simulated video clips
In addition to the theory test question banks, licensees can also purchase a maximum of 16 simulated hazard perception test video clips.
These licensed clips will not be used in the live test but are provided for licensees to include within their products. The reason for not releasing ‘live’ clips is because unlike the multiple choice element of the theory test there is no right or wrong answer.
A hazard perception test is based on measuring the speed of a candidate’s response to developing situations as a measure of their scanning techniques and anticipation skills. If a candidate frequently reviews a clip the validity of that measurement is dramatically reduced. Consequently, if candidates were given the opportunity to rehearse on live clips in learning products, when confronted with these clips within the test it would not be giving a true measure of the time the candidate would take to identify a developing hazard. Releasing live clips would therefore unacceptably compromise the objectives and validity of the test.
A licensee may purchase eight or the maximum of 16 clips, however in order to protect the integrity of the hazard perception part of the theory test only 10 clips can be used in a single product. Fees for the clips are as follows:
- Eight clips £150 plus VAT
- 16 clips £300 plus VAT
Paying royalty and licence fees
To pay by credit card please telephone 0115 936 6271/6123 and have your credit card to hand.
DSA accept MasterCard, Switch, Visa and Delta Cards only.
Failure to pay royalties can incur a two per cent charge per annum above the base lending rate. A nil statement should be submitted if no sales took place during that financial period.
