Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will not take my full time as I will speak to only one aspect of the Bill. It relates to the Minister of State's opening comment that the Bill is the result of detailed analysis and examination of the recommendations contained in the copyright review committee's report of 2013, Modernising Copyright. While the Bill is said to take account of certain of these recommendations, I have been briefed that the problem is that the Bill only takes account of those recommendations in favour of big content and does not implement the balancing recommendations made in that report in favour of users. The concern is that the Bill is unbalanced because it seems to ignore the copyright review committee's main recommendations relating to users. This means that current common practices, like private copying and format shifting, are infringements of copyright, which should not be the case. Committee Stage is fairly soon, and this matter has only been brought to my attention in the past 24 hours. I hope to introduce amendments on Committee Stage based on the copyright review committee recommendations to give effect to normal user expectations.

The report states:

if the exceptions are too narrow, this could stifle user innovation, to say nothing of freedom of expression...  Accommodating basic and genuine user expectations alongside the legitimate interests of rights owners makes copyright law stable and sustainable, thereby contributing generally to cultural and economic development and innovation.

It subsequently states:

the main argument in favour of private copying exceptions relates to users' reasonable assumptions and basic expectations. Users now commonly assume and expect that, if they buy content for personal (as opposed to commercial) use, they should be able to access it in various formats and across multiple devices. As a consequence, many users routinely make copies for private use, and do not believe that this is or should be against the law. Failure to acknowledge this would diminish respect for the system of copyright and undermine the credibility of copyright legislation.

That is a critical quote relating as it does to the real, day-to-day practice of many users and the impact that copyright law has. The point is that users routinely copy materials for private use without believing that this in any way breaches copyright legislation. This should be in some way recognised in law, as the review committee recommended. Exceptions could include amending the definition of fair dealing, providing for reproductions on paper for private use, permitting format shifting and back-ups, and facilitating non-commercial, user generated content.

There are a number of ways the Bill could be strengthened. I am not opposing it in any way but I am drawing the attention of the Minister of State, his colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Business and Innovation, Deputy John Halligan, and his officials to the concerns many stakeholders have about the way in which the Bill purports to implement the recommendations of the copyright review committee. I know the Minister of State indicated the regulatory impact assessment outlining particular reasons certain recommendations were not implemented, but a crucial question, one which hope will be explored in more detail on Committee Stage, is why the Bill appears to have a lack of balance in terms of the recommendations that are being implemented and those that are not. I do not necessarily expect a response from the Minister of State today as it is more a matter for Committee Stage. I am simply highlighting my intention to return to the issue on Committee Stage next week.