§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has to introduce new Crown copyright licensing arrangements for the electronic reproduction of quasi-legislative material. [1496]
§ Mr. FreemanI am pleased to announce that from 1 November a new generic licence called QLM/3 will be available on a non-exclusive basis to cover the commercial reproduction in electronic and microform formats of Crown copyright quasi-legislative material—material which forms or explains the framework within which legislative provisions are administered and the regulatory practices followed by public servants within that framework. I am placing copies of the licence in the Libraries of the House today.
These new arrangements will make it significantly easier for publishers to gain rights to reproduce quasi-legislative Crown material in their electronic publications. Holders of the licence, which is renewable after seven years, will be able to reproduce material without seeking prior permission from the Crown and at a standardised royalty rate.
The Government are the largest producers of information in the country and this licence offers great benefits to the electronic publishing industry—in particular, the legal publishing sector. It will help to create a climate conducive to the growth of commercial electronic information services, both on open and closed networks. This accords both with the Government's aims of increasing the competitiveness of the UK information industry and with its open government objectives of encouraging the widest possible dissemination of official material.