Simplicity, flexibility, equity – IFLA submits comments on South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill

IFLA has responded to a call for comments on the South African Copyright Amendment Bill, highlighting the need to reject proposals that will have a chilling effect on the work of libraries, and deepen divisions in terms of access to education, knowledge and culture.

Well over forty years since the last major reform Africa, and five years since the start of a formal legislative process, South Africa continues to debate changes to its copyright laws.

The origins of the legislation are in scandals concerning the treatment of creators by collecting societies, as well as the outdatedness of analogue provisions in a digital world, with libraries taking a key role in bringing these issues to the attention of the government.

However, despite agreement of text by South Africa’s parliament, the Bill was returned for further discussion by the President on vague grounds, under pressure from rich country governments and dubious claims about the impact of measures such as introducing more flexible exceptions into the law.

With a new draft of the law open for comment, IFLA therefore has made a submission, in support of South African colleagues, and the communities that rely on their services.

In particular, the submission highlights how a number of proposed changes to the legislation appear calculated to add complexity and confusion, with the effect that libraries are afraid to make use of the provisions in law for fear of making mistakes.

Examples include an effort to oblige anyone seeking to use education exceptions to carry out three different assessments of fairness, as well as steps to implement the Marrakesh Treaty which place unreasonable responsibility on libraries for the actions of those receiving accessible format copies of works.

Such complexity not only has a chilling effect, but can also be a driver of inequality, favouring those able to purchase the legal expertise necessary to negotiate the system. Smaller players – including individual educators, researchers and library users – are ill-placed to do this.

IFLA therefore strongly hopes that South Africa’s parliament will dismiss all proposed measures which will only harm access to education, knowledge and culture. Instead, we trust that it will act swiftly to pass a bill which, had it already been voted through pre-COVID, would have enabled far greater continuity of public interest services than otherwise.

Read our submission here: