Vol. 467 No. 7
341 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the current position with regard to copyright law of Irish composers, Irish performers and Irish record companies in view of the most recent GATT Agreements. [14420/96]
The Deputy will be aware that the intellectual property unit of my Department has recently undertaken a comprehensive review of Irish copyright law, taking into account, inter alia, changes in technology, international legal developments, the need to counteract piracy and changes in EU law and that the Department is currently in the process of preparing draft heads of legislation to give effect to necessary changes identified by the review. The review involved examining the Copyright Acts, 1963 — 1987 and the Performers Protection Act, 1968, which are the current legislative instruments giving effect to protection for Irish composers, Irish performers and Irish record companies, and was undertaken with the aid and assistance of the composers, performers and record companies representative organisations.
Changes required on foot of the most recent GATT agreements will be incorporated in the text of the new Copyright Bill which is currently being prepared by my Department. These involve signing up to the Paris Act of the Berne Convention, amongst other things, and I can assure the Deputy that I will bring forward this comprehensive, consolidating Bill as soon as possible.
