29 November 2011

WIPO: Written comments on limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives until end of February 2012

The 23rd Meeting of the SCCR finished debating its agenda item on copyright limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives on Tuesday morning, 28 November. The SCCR Chair, Manuel Guerra from Mexico, gave a deadline of midnight on the 29th February 2012 for written comments on the 'Draft Compilation on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives’ and allocated time to discuss next steps for this document.

Following an hour's debate, during which there was disagreement between Member States about whether or not the Compilation document could be adopted as a 'Working Document' by the SCCR, the Chair asked Member States to come to a compromise by the end of the SCCR meeting on Friday, when the conclusions of the meeting will be published. At stake is the official status of the compilation document within SCCR – Member States must decide whether to adopt it as a working document, let it remain as it is, pending written comments; or adopt it as a provisional working doc, to be revised on basis of future inputs.

The library delegations at WIPO will monitor the discussions closely in the run up to the publication of the meeting's conclusions.