§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will make a statement on the effect of recent developments in Common Market copyright law upon English law.
§ Mr. Clinton DavisThere have as yet been no Common Market legislative measures in copyright. However, the Commission has proposed certain measures covering a wide range of subjects including harmonisation of copyright laws in their paper entitled "Community Action in the Cultural Sector". The paper was considered by the House of Lords European Communities Committee (Subcommittee C), which concluded that there was no good reason for EEC action in the cultural sphere. It was subsequently debated in the House of Commons on 23 June 1978, when my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs stated that in the Government's view the Community enjoyed no automatic competence in the cultural sector under the provisions of the EEC Treaty, but that the Government were ready to discuss with their Community partners specific proposals in the cultural field. It follows that should any such proposals relating to copyright become the subject of Community legislation, they will be taken into account in any revision of our domestic law.