HL Deb 02 November 1988 vol 501 cc304-6

131 Page 55, line 5, leave out 'their' and insert 'the'.

132 Clause 132, leave out Clause 132.

133 Clause 133, page 55, line 36, leave out 'representing' and insert 'representative of'.

134 Page 55, line 39, at end insert 'or oral'.

135 Page 55, line 41, at end insert '; and if any of them wishes to make oral representations, the Secretary of State shall appoint a person to hear the representations and report to him.'.

136 After Clause 133, insert the following new clause—

'.—(1) The owner of the copyright in a work which is the subject of an order under section 131 (order extending coverage of scheme or licence) may appeal to the Copyright Tribunal which may confirm or discharge the order, or vary it so as to exclude works from it, as it thinks fit having regard to the considerations mentioned in subsection (2) of that section.

(2) Where the Secretary of State has made an order under section 133 (order confirming, varying or discharging order extending coverage of scheme or licence)—

  1. (a) the person who applied for the order, or
  2. (b) any person or organisation representative of educational establishments who was given notice of the application for the order and made representations in accordance with subsection (4) of that section,
may appeal to the Tribunal which may confirm or discharge the order or make any other order which the Secretary of State might have made.

(3) An appeal under this section shall be brought within six weeks of the making of the order or such further period as the Tribunal may allow.

(4) An order under section 131 or 133 shall not come into effect until the end of the period of six weeks from the making of the order or, if an appeal is brought before the end of that period, until the appeal proceedings are disposed of or withdrawn.

(5) If an appeal is brought after the end of that period, any decision of the Tribunal on the appeal does not affect the validity of anything done in reliance on the order appealed against before that decision takes effect.'.

Lord Strathclyde

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 131 to 136 en bloc.

This is a group of amendments dealing with the provisions relating to reprographic copying by educational establishments. Amendment No. 131 is a simple grammatical correction. Subsection (4) of Clause 131 at present slides from the singular into the plural and the amendment rectifies this.

Amendments Nos. 132 and 136 replace the existing Clause 132 with a new clause. The purpose is to meet a point made to us by the Council on Tribunals. Where an order is made under Clause 131 for the inclusion of a work in an existing educational licensing scheme, the copyright owner can appeal to the Copyright Tribunal. If he is unsuccessful, he may, after at least two years have passed, apply to the Secretary of State under Clause 133 for the variation or discharge of the order. But there is no further right of appeal to the Copyright Tribunal in respect of the order of the Secretary of State on that occasion. We agree that such further appeal should be available and so the new clause to follow Clause 133 brings together the existing provisions of Clause 132 with a new right of further appeal.

This will mean that the copyright owner will be able to appeal to the Copyright Tribunal against an order made under Clause 131 and both the copyright owner and persons representative of educational establishments will be able to appeal against a subsequent order made under Clause 133. As a result of this, Clause 132 needs to be left out of the Bill.

Amendment No. 133 is a housekeeping amendment. Quite simply, the words "representative or appear in Clause 131(3) and the new clause to follow Clause 133 and it seems appropriate that they should appear in the equivalent provision in Clause 133.

Finally, Amendments Nos. 134 and 135 meet another point made to us by the Council on Tribunals. Clause 133 permits applications to be made to the Secretary of State to vary orders made under Clause 131 with regard to reprographic copying in educational establishments. If the Secretary of State decides to consider an application, he must give notice of the application to the licensing body in question and to the appropriate persons or organisations concerned. They then have the right to make written representations about the application. It has been put to us that these bodies might wish to make oral representations to the Secretary of State as can already be done under Clause 131, which is about the making of the original order. Amendments Nos. 134 and 135 therefore provide that oral representations may be made, and that a person can be appointed to hear them and then report to the Secretary of State.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 131 to 136 en bloc.—(Lord Strathclyde.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.