National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 63 | June 2003


Copyright Amendment Digital Agenda Review  Commences

The Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act (or ‘DAA’) came into force in March 2001, introducing into the Copyright Act (‘the Act’) measures which provide protection of electronic information and media. The DAA was the largest single piece of legislation amending the principal Act, and placed Australia in the forefront of initiatives to adapt law to new digital information environments.

The Government is now about to undertake its first review of the DAA legislation. The review will be limited to specific issues that have proved problematic or controversial in the three years of the DAA’s existence. The law firm Phillips Fox has been retained as an external consultant to report to the Government on the specified issues. In brief, the terms of reference for analysis include operation of:

The terms of reference encompass issues crucial to the work of libraries. While the Government has indicated that changes would only be made where the effects of the current law are evidently unsatisfactory, the review again opens the debate for some of the hard-fought library and ‘fair-dealing’ provisions. As well as the operation of the libraries and archives exceptions, the review will specifically consider the question of whether corporate libraries should be differentiated from public libraries in the Act, and will also examine the effects of the exceptions to a copyright owner’s markets.

The reference to the library and archives exceptions seems to be of priority in the review—and indeed the passage leading to the inclusion of the exceptions in the current Act has, to date, been difficult. Forceful lobbying is anticipated from private interest groups who will no doubt seek to limit at least some aspects of the libraries and archives exceptions during the review process.

Phillips Fox is currently preparing a number of issues papers due for release in mid-July. Submissions will be accepted from that date, and public consultations will follow before Phillips Fox presents its findings to the Government at the end of the year. The report by Phillips Fox will form part of a broader review by the Government.
—Miranda Lee

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