I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
In October, 1961, an International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations was concluded at Rome. The Convention was drafted under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, the International Labour Office and the Bureau of the International Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. It was open for signature until 30th June, 1962, by which date it was signed by 36 countries, including Ireland. In accordance with the provisions of Article 25 the Convention entered into force on 18th May, 1964, following ratification by six countries, one of which was Britain.
So far as the requirements of the Convention relate to Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations, they are already met by the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1963, which came into operation on 1st October, 1964. The present Bill is designed to meet the requirements of the Convention in relation to the protection of performers and, if it is enacted, we shall be in position to ratify the Convention.
The Performers' Protection Bill, 1964, was introduced in Dáil Éireann on 30th June, 1964, with the object of enabling us to ratify the Convention and it had its second reading on 25th November, 1964. A number of official amendments aimed at bringing the Bill into complete conformity with the Convention had been drafted for proposal on the Committee Stage, but the Bill lapsed on the dissolution of the Dáil in March, 1965, without reaching that stage. Following representations from interested parties the amendments proposed at that time were further examined and revised and they are incorporated in the Bill.
One of the essential features of the Convention is set out in Article 4, which requires that a Contracting State shall grant national treatment, i.e., broadly the same treatment as is given to nationals of the State, to performers whose performance takes place in another Contracting State or is incorporated in a phonogram or a broadcast made or published in or broadcast from that other Contracting State. Section 11 of the Bill will enable the Government to satisfy this requirement.
Article 7 of the Convention sets out certain acts in relation to performances which would infringe the rights of the performers or which would be contrary to the interests of the performers and requires that the protection to be given to performers shall include the possibility of preventing those acts. It is not proposed to create a property right in a performance, in the nature of a copyright, which a performer could enforce by civil action or which he might assign for enforcement to any group such as a performers' union. It is proposed to meet the requirements of Article 7 in sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Bill. The proposals in those sections provide for protection of performers by making it a penal offence to do certain acts in relation to performances. It will, for instance, be an offence, punishable by fine on summary conviction or conviction on indictment, to make a record or a film of a performance without the consent of the performer, to sell or hire such a record or film, or to use it for the purpose of giving a public performance.
Article 12 of the Convention provides that where commercial records are used for broadcasting purposes or for public performance, the user shall make a payment to the performers or the producers of the records or both. Under the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1963, payment is required to be made to the owners of copyright in sound recordings, that is to the makers of recordings, when their records are broadcast or used for public performance. It is understood that, under an agreement made between the recording companies and the various performers' union, a percentage of the money which these companies receive for this use of their records is paid over to the performers' unions for the benefit of their members. The proposals in the Bill will not interfere with this arrangement.
The initiation of proceedings under the Act will be the responsibility of the person aggrieved.
I recommend the Bill for the approval of Dáil Éireann.