Canadian Copyright Amendments

Canadian Copyright Amendments
Coming into Force

In an earlier posting I made an incorrect statement about the coming into force of Bill C-32 which amends Canada's Copyright Act.

It is the Cabinet which sets the day in which the Act comes into force, and the Cabinet continues to function even during an election period. Therefore, the Cabinet can at any time set a date.

I believe the confusion in the advice I received from one section of the civil service stems the fact that some of the revised Act depends on the creation of regulations; until these regulations can come into force, those sections of the Act so affected would not be proclaimed.

However, as of yet, no date for coming into force has been decided on (or should I say, announced) by Cabinet, and therefore the general statement that the revised Act is not yet in effect is true.

The government is probably now looking at an appropriate timetable for proclaiming the various sections of the Act, and considering what regulations are necessary for implementation.

Ron B. Thomson, Chair,
Canadian Copyright Institute
thomson[_at_]chass.utoronto.ca Received on Fri May 09 1997 - 13:27:47 GMT