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The Select Committee on Trade and International Relations is satisfied with the broad public participation of stakeholders in the drafting of the Copyright Amendment Bill and the Performers Protection Amendment Bill.

The Chairperson of the select committee, Mr Eddie Makue, said the process has been ongoing since 2009 and that any claims of insufficient time for inputs is not justified. “The committee will be considering the adoption of the bills later in the month, but it should be pointed out that they will not result in job losses, as some seem to suggest,” Mr Makue said.

The committee is satisfied with the clarity provided as to the constitutionality of the bills.

The Department of Trade and Industry (Dti) was in Parliament to brief the committee on its responses to the inputs and submissions received during the public hearings into the bills.

“The interesting phenomenon is that the performers and artists who the bill seeks to cover are happy, but that experts have somehow expressed dissatisfaction on some aspects of the bills.

“The situation where artists have been denied their copyrights and royalty payments of their intellectual property has gone on for too long. This piece of legislation will hopefully improve that, if and when it becomes law,” Mr Makue said.

Issued by The Parliamentary Communication Services On Behalf Of The Chairperson Of The Select Committee On Trade And International Relations, Mr Eddie Makue