The Work of the Copyright Review Committee

The terms of reference of the Copyright Review Committee are available here.

The Copyright review Committee was set up by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton T.D., in his press release of 9 May 2011, the Minister said:

‘I am determined that government will make whatever changes are necessary to allow innovative digital companies reach their full potential in Ireland. These companies make an enormous contribution to jobs and economic growth, and government must do everything it can to allow them to flourish and expand in Ireland.’.

In his press release of 23 June 2011, the Minister for Research and Innovation Mr. Sean Sherlock T.D. emphasised that we "are particularly interested in ensuring that submissions are received from users of digital content and from start-up companies in the digital environment".

On the 9 May 2011, the Committee issued a call for submissions on the current Copyright legislative framework. The Committee has received over 100 submissions in response to this call.

The Committee held a well-attended and particularly fruitful public meeting on 4 July 2011 in Trinity College Dublin.

The Committee issued a Consultation Paper (PDF, 1.4MB) which sets out issues and concerns which were expressed to the Committee in submissions from a broad spectrum of interested parties on foot of a consultation, including a public meeting, held last summer. The Committee explores various options to address these concerns in the light of the Terms of Reference and the Paper also poses questions on these matters.

The Committee is establishing a further consultation process based on the issues and concerns addressed in the Consultation Paper and are inviting further submissions from all affected or concerned by the issues raised in the Paper including information providers and ISPs, innovators, rightsholders, consumers and end-users. The Committee will then evaluate the further submissions and prepare a Final Report to be submitted to the Government.