Friday 7 March 2014

Government moves forward on Exceptions

The IPO website is this morning displaying an update to the Hargreaves implementation.

It reads:

The Government has today 7 March provided an update on the progress of new exceptions to copyright regulations, in response to a written parliamentary question.

Following a technical review in the summer of 2013, the Government has made a number of technical [does the word "technical" encompass changes that allow the wording of the regulations to reflect what the Government says its intention is?] changes to the draft regulations. The regulations are now subject to final checking, and in accordance with routine practice the Department is currently consulting the legal advisers to the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. This advance scrutiny process usually takes a period of at least two sitting weeks [but presumably in no way fetters the Joint Committee's discretion to determine that whether the regulations are in fact lawful and intra vires, once they have actually been aired for public (and IP lawyers') scrutiny?]

The regulations will be laid before Parliament and published as soon as this process is complete. 

The Government also confirmed that it will be publishing a full response to the technical review, explanatory notes, guidance and other supporting documents alongside the regulations, and that all of these documents will be made publicly available on our website.  [This Blogger wonders whether the IPO has remembered that a revised Impact Assessment was also promised early in the process and whether that too will be published]

The full response to the Parliamentary question [from parliamentary IP champion, Mike Weatherley] can be read on the Parliament website.

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