HL Deb 02 November 1988 vol 501 cc319-20

185 Clause 177, page 78, line 33, after 'consent', insert 'or, in the case of a qualifying performance, that of the performer'.

186 Clause 178, page 79, line 2, after 'consent', insert 'or, in the case of a qualifying performance, that of the performer'.

10.45 p.m.

Lord Strathclyde

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 185 and 186 en bloc. I shall, with leave, also speak to Amendments Nos. 194, 195 and 196. At present the consent required by Clauses 177(1) and 178(1) has to be given by the person having recording rights. Amendments Nos. 185 and 186 will allow the consent to be given by the person with the recording right or, in the case of a qualifying performance, the performer. Amendments Nos. 194, 195 and 196 are consequential.

If your Lordships would like me to go more fully into the background I shall be happy to do so, but I must warn your Lordships that the explanation will be somewhat technical.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 185 and 186 en bloc.—(Lord Strathclyde.)

Lord Williams of Elvel

My Lords, I do not wish the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, to go into a very detailed, technical explanation of these amendments. However, as I understand it, a qualifying performance now inlcudes performers with rights who happen to be in the European Community and not simply in the United Kingdom. Therefore in talking about appropriate consent one is talking about the consent of a Sicilian tenor or a guitarist from Malaga, or whoever it might be. It seems to me to be stretching appropriateness, appropriate consent and consent being unreasonably withheld, which is understandable in United Kingdom law, rather more widely than we are used to. To get hold of the Sicilian tenor or the guitarist from Malaga in order to give consent might be more difficult than would normally be the case in the United Kingdom. I hope the Government have recognised that widening the consent procedure to the EC may well give rise to problems.

Lord Strathclyde

My Lords, I too would not wish to get too technical. It seems to us, if I might digress slightly, that the person making the recording should be able to go to the performer to regularise his position. We think this should be possible only when the performance is a qualifying performance. In that case the performer will have his own interests to protect and will therefore not give his consent lightly—

Lord Williams of Elvel

My Lords, if I may interrupt the noble Lord, I fully understand what he is saying. The performer will not give his consent lightly or easily. But the performer nevertheless has to give his consent. And he has to be found to give his consent. That is where I think the problem is going to arise.

Lord Strathclyde

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Williams, is quite right. Perhaps I could clarify the matter by saying that a qualifying performance may be a performance in a large number of countries. But this cannot really be a problem because if a recording has been made of a performance it must be possible to approach the performer for consent. Therefore I do not suppose that it is a problem any more to the noble Lord, Lord Williams.

On Question, Motion agreed to.