Chairperson, earlier during the day when we had more energy because it was still early, we looked at the treaties that we presented to the House and appreciate the assertion of this House to those treaties. The Copyright Amendment Bill as well as the Performance Protection Bill that we have presented separately to this House are very closely linked to the treaties. It is a very important piece of legislation that has taken many years of deliberation and thorough consultation, serious deliberation and also seeking legal opinion on it from the department as well as from our legal advisors within Parliament.
Whilst this Bill is highly complex and contentious, it is long overdue and rights holders should not be made to wait any longer to reap the benefits of their creative works. The copyright legislation in South Africa as we sit here is outdated and did not provide adequate protection; it did not provide adequate rights or exceptions and limitations. Therefore it severely impacted core industries and institutions relating not only to the creators of works but to those who have disabilities and learning challenges.
This present situation, if we look at the amendments that we are bringing through in this Bill before us, will impact on the access that our people will have to education, information and knowledge. And, we
know that we are living within an era of the knowledge economy, the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We therefore looked very carefully as members of the committee on what contributions this Bill will make to the economy. We looked at the pair use debate that has happened internationally. We looked at the development of the Bill and the role that the Department of Trade and Industry has placed. They had to particularly mention that over an extended period of time, more than two years, the Department of Trade and Industry has been talking to stakeholders and getting their inputs on the Bill.
We as the committee looked at the content of the Bill and we looked at what is going to be the prospects of implementation and we are convinced that indeed this is not a Bill that is going to get dust, it is implementable. On the overall potential and impact of the Bill, I want to say that it will be positive. The department has also embarked on processes of exceeding to several court treaties that I have mentioned before which have been incorporated in to these Bills, they are tied. The Bill will foster and enabling environment to allow creators to receive economic rights for their work and allow fair access to works particularly, for the disabled community and the like. It is therefore my humble privilege to present the Bill to this House as 76 piece of legislation. Thank you, Chair.
Debate Concluded.
Declarations of vote:
Hon Chairperson, hon members and fellow South Africans, copyright law is a complex subject that requires a careful approach with valuable understanding. The Bill before us today, in principle, is much needed as it aims to modernise many of the clauses as set out in the Copyright Act of 1978. However, a fundamental factor of copyright protection is that it should not outweigh the right to freedom of expression, which is a basic characteristic of a democracy.
The Bill grapples with two approaches - fair use and fair dealing. Both are aimed to enhance creativity. Fair use provides a principles-based test to see if a use is permitted or not, while fair dealing specifies permissible uses in legislation.
Nonetheless, some of the flaws in the Bill include terminology that will only lead to great uncertainty. The ownership by the state of state-funded works is also problematic. This deprivation of a person's right to property could be viewed as unconstitutional while there are also other unconstitutional aspects of the Bill that allow the Minister of Communications to take on the role of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, Icasa, in prescribing local music content
for television and radio broadcasting - possibly opening such a function to political manipulation.
Furthermore, the Bill clearly does not consider the economic consequences on local copyright owners, publishers and innovation. Therefore, considering the negative effect this Bill could have on copyright law and the industries concerned, the DA cannot support this Bill. I thank you, Chairperson.
Hon Chairperson, he Copyright Act of 1978 is outdated and has not been effective in a number of areas. The key objective of the Copyright Amendment Bill is to modernise South Africa's copyright law taking into account the development needs of South Africa, the specific circumstances of the country and global developments. There have been gaps identified in the access for libraries, archives, museum, education sector and for people living with disabilities.
The nonpayment of royalties for copyright works remains a concern as well as the unfair terms of contracts that affected right holders particularly authors. This necessitated the amendments to the legislation to be aligned with the ever evolving digital environment, to allow reasonable access to education, to ensure access to information and make resources available for persons with disabilities
and to ensure that artists do not die as paupers due to ineffective protection.
The Bill is aligned to development at a multilateral level, international standards and introduces improved exceptions and limitation into copyright law. The proposed amendments to the Act are to protect the economic interests of authors and creators of copyright works against infringements and to promote innovation and creativity. The Bill provides for the sharing of royalties and prescribes standard terms of contract for protection of contracting parties.
South Africa has adopted hybrid model of fair use which takes into account the list of exceptions that seeks to create access to education, libraries, archives, computer programs and making learning materials accessible to the disable and visually impaired.
The Bill provides for the availability of accessible format copies of work to accommodate persons with disability. This provision extends beyond matters pertaining to the blind and includes other disabilities such learning disabilities, dyslexia, etc. The Bill introduces a resale royalty right. This resale right means that an artist could be entitled to a royalty even when their original work is resold commercially. The Bill proposes the strengthening of copyright tribunal to address
disputes in copyrights. The Bill introduces provisions which deal with matters pertaining to collecting societies. Collecting societies will only be allowed to collect for their registered members. [Time expired.] The ANC supports the Bill.
Question put: That the Bill be agreed to.
Bill accordingly agreed to, in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.