Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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7. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the development of new copyright legislation; if he is taking on board the key recommendations or legislative suggestions published by the Copyright Review Committee in 2013 in the development of new legislation; when the draft legislation will be ready; if he is conscious of continuing rapid developments in European copyright regulations and likely technological developments in designing his proposals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41419/15]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Report of the Copyright Review Committee entitled “Modernising Copyright” was published in October 2013. The Committee was tasked with examining the Irish copyright framework to identify any areas that might be considered to create barriers to innovation and, to recommend a resolution to any problems identified in terms of how any barriers identified might be overcome. The report contains in excess of 60 recommendations covering a diverse range of copyright issues.

Following extensive analysis of the recommendations contained in the Report, my Department is currently in the process of developing legislative proposals for consideration by Government in the copyright area. This follows from an in-depth assessment of the complex legal issues involved in certain of the proposals with the Office of the Attorney General as well as examination of the proposals from a policy perspective. Where recommendations involved issues under the remit of other Government Departments, these Departments have also been consulted. I expect to be in a position, over the next number of weeks, to bring to Government my Department’s response to the Committee’s Report on copyright seeking approval also for legislative proposals responding to a number of proposals recommended by the Committee.

The context for consideration of the Committee’s recommendations in the copyright area must indeed, as highlighted by the Deputy, be seen also against the background of a progressive and evolving framework on copyright at EU and international level. The Deputy rightly points also to the issue of technological developments in this area which is an issue that presents a constant challenge for legislation in a number of areas and is not limited to copyright. I can assure the Deputy that I am very aware of developments in the EU copyright context with imminent proposals expected from the European Commission either before year end 2015 or early 2016 and, a further set of proposals expected in Spring 2016. Indeed, my officials have been active in seeking to influence the development of EU proposals in the copyright area for example in the context of the 2013 EU Commission consultation on copyright modernisation and in the context of the Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy published on 5 May 2015.