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 The copyright legislation in South Africa as we sit here is outdated and did not provide adequate protection; it did not provide adequate rights or exceptions and limitations.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: