COPYRIGHT, PERFORMERS’ PROTECTION AMENDMENT BILLS REFERRED TO CONCOURT

COPYRIGHT, PERFORMERS’ PROTECTION AMENDMENT BILLS REFERRED TO CONCOURT

• 15 October 2024
• Presidency
• SA Legal Academy

President Cyril Ramaphosa has referred the Copyright and Performers’ Protection Amendment Bills to the Constitutional Court for a ruling. This is according to a media statement among other things noting the President’s ongoing reservations about the constitutionality of certain provisions in both Bills – despite Parliament having reconsidered and, in some cases, redrafted them over a period of nearly four years.

The President’s original concerns were spelled out in a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly in June 2020, when both Bills were remitted. A link to the letter is provided at the end of this report, with links to all other relevant documentation.

Memoranda on the objects of the two Bills note that, between them, they seek to:

• address issues raised in the 2011 Copyright Review Commission report regarding ‘power imbalance, vulnerabilities and abuse … in the music industry’ manifest, among other things, in
  • unjust contractual arrangements
  • disregard for performers’ moral and economic rights, and
  • the non-payment of royalties
• enable South Africa to accede to various international treaties and conventions, among other things facilitating access to copyright protected works for:
  • education
  • research
  • the blind and otherwise print disabled, and to
• align the legislation with ever-evolving technological developments and the ‘digital space’.

The President’s decision to approach the Constitutional Court for a ruling was issued nearly three weeks after the expiry of a deadline set by the same Court in its September 2022 Blind SA judgment, requiring Parliament to remedy defective sections of the Copyright Act,1978. The sections concerned were found to have obstructed access to print material for conversion into alternative format for the blind and otherwise print disabled.

Six days before the official announcement of the President’s decision to approach the Constititutional Court for a ruling on the two Bills, non-profit organisation Section 27 (acting on behalf of Blind SA) issued a press release stating that it had ‘launched an urgent application in the Constitutional Court against President Cyril Ramaphosa for failing to sign the Copyright Amendment Bill’. 

To provide context to this move:

• a revised version of that Bill was passed by Parliament in February 2024
• the revised Bill’s sub-clause 40(3) seeks to ensure the immediate commencement of provisions believed by both Houses to remedy defective sections in the principal statute identified by the Constitutional Court – but only once the President assents to the Bill and signs it into law
• this appears to have been on the assumption that the President would sign the Bill before the Constitutional Court deadline expired.

Please click the links below for more information:

• Presidency media statement
• Copyright Amendment Bill’s ‘F’ version (passed by Parliament in February 2024)
• Copyright Amendment Bill’s ‘B’ version (passed by Parliament in March 2019 and remitted by President in June 2020)
• Performers’ Protection Amendment Bill’s ‘F’ version (passed by Parliament in February 2024)
• Performers’ Protection Amendment Bill’s ‘B’ version (passed by Parliament in March 2019 and remitted by President in June 2020)
• 2011 Copyright Review Commission report
• President’s June 2020 remittal letter
• September 2022 Constitutional Court Blind SA judgment
• Section 27 media statement

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

Follow us on X @SALegalAcademy (you can also join us on LinkedIn and Facebook)

0 COMMENTS

LEAVE A COMMENT