§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what consultation he has had with the higher education sector about the implications of the EU Copyright Directive; and if he will make a statement. [97750]
§ Dr. Howells[holding answer 8 November 1999]: We have consulted a number of organisations in the educational field on the draft EC Directive on copyright and related rights in the Information Society, including bodies representing the higher education sector such as the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom and the Standing Conference of National and University Libraries. We have received many submissions from individual institutions in the sector as well as from representative bodies, and we fully appreciate their concerns about the draft Directive, particularly as regards its provisions on exceptions to rights for the benefit of users of copyright material. From the outset, we have seen these provisions as unnecessarily prescriptive and restrictive, and we are continuing to press strongly for greater flexibility in the Directive in order to allow a fair and reasonable balance to be maintained between the interests of rights owners and those of educational and other users.