REPEALS, ETC. (Hansard, 5 February 1985)

§ Mr. Trippier
I beg to move amendment No. 23, in page 6, line 1, before 'is' insert 'a film which'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this it will be convenient to take Government amendment No. 24.

§ Mr. Trippier
The purpose of these amendments is technical. It is to meet the concern expressed by some hon. Members that this part of the Bill is ambiguous and may not achieve the desired result. The use of the past tense might be interpreted as meaning that all new films made after the Bill came into force would not have a 50-year copyright. The effect of the amendments is that all films which are published after the Bill will fall under section 13(3)(b) of the Copyright Act 1956 which provides that in the case of films not registered under part II of the Films Act 1960 copyright shall run for 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the film was first published.
That brings United Kingdom legislation into line with the Berne convention, which by article 7(2) provides a minimum term of copyright of 50 years from first public showing. The change complies with the recommendation made by the Whitford report on the law of copyright and design 1977 at paragraph 50(iii)(a). These amendments improve and clarify the current drafting in the Bill, and I invite hon. Members to support them.

§ Mr. Trippier
I beg to move amendment No. 25, in page 6, line 23, leave out from 'would,' to end of line 24 and insert `but for the repeal by this Act of the Films Act 1960 and the Films Act 1970, be—'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this it will be convenient to take Government amendment No. 26.

§ Mr. Trippier
The purpose of these amendments is to meet an assurance given during the discussion of the Bill in Committee. I explained that the Government were 820 concerned that film makers who were already making films should not be disadvantaged by the changes to the law proposed by the Bill. One problem which we identified, and which the amendments seek to resolve, concerns films completed after enactment of the Bill but exhibited in a cinema before the Eady levy is abolished by an order made under clause 2(4). On enactment the provisions concerning registration in the Films Acts 1960 to 1980 will be repealed. Thus no film may be registered as a British film after that date. Such a film—there may be many—would thus be deprived of the opportunity to receive any moneys from the final Eady distribution, although it may be shown during the final levy period and achieve a large box office success.
Clause 6(4) as presently drafted provides for films eligible for payment from the Eady fund to be entitled to such payment after the enactment of the Bill. We wish to go further and to extend the provision to include all films which, but for the repeal of the registration provisions in the Films Acts of 1960 to 1980, would have qualified for registration and thus have been entitled to a share of the distribution of the Eady fund. All hon. Members will share our view that this step will give benefit to film makers. I invite the House to support these amendments.

§ Mr. Gould
Opposition Members are grateful to the Minister for carrying out his undertaking in this way.

§ Mr. Trippier
I beg to move amendment No. 27, in page 6, line 40 at end insert— '(5A) Where—

(a) a contract for the production or acquisition of a master negative, master tape or master disc of a film has been entered into before the commencement of section 5 of this Act; and

(b) any person, having incurred expenditure in pursuance of the contract (before or after that commencement) on the production or acquisition of the negative, tape or disc, makes an application under paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to this Act with respect to it,

that person may by notice in writing require that the question whether the negative, tape or disc ought to be certified as a qualifying film, tape or disc for the purposes of section 72 of the Finance Act 1982 shall be determined by the Secretary of State in accordance with the law in force immediately before the commencement of section 5 in like manner as if his application had been a request for certification made under section 72(8). Any expression used in this subsection has the same meaning as it has in paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 1 to this Act.'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this it will be convenient to take Government amendments Nos. 28 and 29.

§ Mr. Trippier
The purpose of these amendments is to fulfil an assurance given during our discussions in Committee to introduce a transitional provision to cover films completed after the enactment of the Bill but where the contract for the making of the film was entered into before the Bill came fully into force.
We are concerned to avoid any disadvantage or hardship that might be caused by the timing of the Bill. The amendment is therefore drafted to cover the circumstances of a film that would have been entitled to certification and so to tax relief under section 72 of the Finance Act 1982 if it had been completed before the Bill became law but is in fact completed after the Bill is enacted and cannot meet the criteria in schedule 1 and so is not eligible for certification.
821 There will be few cases, if any, where that may happen, because the criteria in schedule 1 are generally similar to those under the existing law. However, an instance could arise in relation to paragraph 5(1)(c) of the schedule, which provides that a film should be excluded from entitlement to certification if more than 20 per cent. of the photographs taken or sound recordings made were made outside the United Kingdom. Under existing law such films are eligible as British films to reduced payments from the Eady fund, but under paragraph 5(1)(c) of schedule 1 they will no longer be regarded as British films and will not be entitled to the benefit of United Kingdom tax allowances.
The amendment is needed to cater for such rare but possible circumstances. It provides that, where a contract for the production or acquisition of a film is entered into before the Bill is in force in its entirety, the maker or acquirer of the film may opt for certification for tax relief to be based either on the old law or on schedule 1 to the Bill. The amendment makes clause 6(7) unnecessary and, as indicated in Committee, it can be removed. Hon. Members on both sides of the House will wish to ensure that, in the circumstances I have outlined, film makers do not suffer financial disadvantages as a result of the enactment of the Bill, and I therefore invite them to support the amendments.