Re: New Canadian Law

Bernard Katz <bkatz[_at_]uoguelph.ca> has asked, re the Canadian Bill C-32 amending the Copyright Act:
>
> Perhaps Lesley Harris or Howard Knopf, or others could confirm that
> although the bill has received Royal Assent, it has not yet been
> proclaimed and therefore is not yet actually in force as law. Am I
> incorrect about this? There are several sections of the Act to Amend...
> that require special regulations, etc. and may not come into force for
> some time yet, as I understand it.

Yes, Bernard Katz is right. The amendments are not yet in effect because the law cannot be proclaimed unless Parliament is in session (or at least exists, which it now does not since it was dissolved on Sunday). A number of laws passed in the last few days of the late Parliament have be caught by this, including some tax/budget items. (Aren't we all waiting for that full GST rebate on books bought by libraries which starts from last October but still is not being paid by the government?)

I have been told that the word in Ottawa is that a new (short) session of Parliament will be called shortly after the election (i.e., June?) to allow the proclamation of this back-log of bills.

Others may have more details.

Ron B. Thomson, Chair,
Canadian Copyright Institute.
<thomson[_at_]chass.utoronto.ca> Received on Thu May 01 1997 - 17:28:37 GMT