International Council of Archives

The SCCR is WIPO’s forum for consideration by its member states of proposals for the reform of international law relating to copyright and related rights. Some of its work is conducted through plenary debate and the remainder in informal meetings. Member states have formed groups, such as the African Group, Latin American Group and Group B (developed nations) which seek to coordinate the approaches of their members. Meetings are also attended by representatives of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), including the ICA, who are sometimes invited to address the committee and can also approach member state delegations privately.

 WIPO recently concluded the Beijing Treaty on rights in audio-visual performances, recommended by the SCCR. The committee is currently working on a possible treaty on broadcasts and has agreed a programme of work on possible treaties on exceptions and limitations to copyright, concentrating on three areas: visually impaired people, libraries and archives, and education.
Less progress has been made on the exceptions and limitations agenda than the international library and archives community hoped for at the start of this meeting of the SCCR, and even the proposals for a broadcasting treaty have come up against difficulties.
Contrary to general expectations, the instrument for the visually impaired is not yet ready, even though it has been under discussion for some years. This means that no recommendation will yet be made to the General Assembly to call a diplomatic conference to agree a treaty. Indeed in some respects the text seems less close to agreement than it was six months ago, and there is even considerable doubt about its status. Some delegations to the committee would prefer a non-binding instrument rather than a binding treaty. Nevertheless, the conclusions of the meeting suggest that real progress might be made before long. They recommend an additional meeting of experts before the next SCCR meeting in November, followed by textual discussion at SCCR/25 and a request that the General Assembly be convened for an extraordinary session in December 2012 to consider a recommendation for a diplomatic conference in 2013.
An instrument on limitations and exceptions in favour of educational and research institutions was the other major feature of the agenda for this meeting. A working paper has been prepared but it is a long way from being in a form that could be recommended to the General Assembly. There is stiff opposition to it from rights holder NGOs and it is not helped by the absence of any significant presence from representatives of NGOs from the educational or research sectors. The conclusions of the meeting set a target of the meeting in June 2015 (SCCR/30) for a recommendation to the General Assembly.
Much less time was spent on libraries and archives than was indicated by the original agenda. In the event there was no substantive debate on the text. The one significant achievement was that the provisional paper was formally adopted by the committee. There appears to be some enthusiasm among delegations for detailed discussion at the next meeting of the committee in November. The adopted paper is SCCR/23/8; when published as an adopted paper it should include further proposals tabled by the African Group of member states. It should be published shortly on the SCCR web pages at:
http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/topic.jsp?group_id=62
The conclusions of the meeting set a target of June 2014 (SCCR/28) for a recommendation to the General Assembly. This is good news, even though the planned end is two years away, because it sets a timetable that (at least to some extent) commits future meetings of the SCCR.