Industry Press Releases

This year has been almost non-stop lobbying for BAPLA

Jul 18. 2012
12:07
by
CEPIC_2
Tags
© Robert Harding

Here is an up-date on the latest developments in the UK.

The copyright consultations to which BAPLA and members contributed earlier in 2012 were expected to produce reports leading to legislation in 2013. However, the report from the copyright consultation which has just been released indicates that the issues consulted upon will be fitted into legislation already going through Parliament as amendments to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill. The amendments are expected to be announced in the next few days before Parliament retires for the summer. They are expected to cover issues such as Orphan Works, Extended Collective Licensing and Codes of Conduct for Collecting Societies; all things which could have a significant impact on our industry. BAPLA will spend the summer reviewing the amendments and arriving at a plan of action for September when Parliament sits again and debates the potential legislation.

BAPLA is also following other areas of the ERR Bill and lobbying hard for changes to Clause 56 which deals with copyright exceptions. BAPLA and many other industry groups are opposed to the clause as it stands as the legislation proposed does not achieve the purpose for which the Government has said it is intended. It proposes secondary legislation which is not appropriate for such matters. The clause should be replaced by one which is limited to the Government stated aim of regulating penalties for copyright infringement.

Discussions around the Digital Content Exchange and its development into a Copyright Hub continue, as well as discussions around an industry solution to Orphan Works.

There are not going to be any quick fixes, but it does look like the Government is keen to push through as much legislation as possible as soon as it can even if that means adding amendments to a Bill which is not really suitable to deal with the issues. This could cause problems if not monitored very closely. Fortunately BAPLA is well involved with the right people and talking to the right groups to ensure that member interests are well represented, and we will do our best to ensure that any legislation meets the needs of our industry as best it can and does not destroy our business models or give away much needed business to those outside our industry.