Background to the Copyright Act review

In 2013 the Government agreed that this review would be delayed until Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations were concluded.

Cabinet Paper - Delayed Review of the Copyright Act 1994 [PDF, 80 KB]

In June 2017 the Government (following the conclusion of the creative sector study) announced its intention to review the Copyright Act 1994 by releasing high-level terms of reference. It agreed that the first stage of the review would be to focus on problem identification through the development of an issues paper for public consultation in 2018.

Cabinet Paper - Review of the Copyright Act 1994: Terms of Reference [PDF, 33 KB]

In November 2018 the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs announced the release of an Issues Paper for the review of the Copyright Act 1994. This was the first stage of public consultation on the copyright regime.

Cabinet paper – Review of the Copyright Act 1994: Release of Issues Paper [PDF, 376 KB]

Terms of reference

The terms of reference outline the objectives, context and process for the review.

Review of the Copyright Act 1994 terms of reference(external link)

Review process

1. Development of an Issues Paper.
2. Public consultation on the Issues Paper, including public meetings.
3. Public consultation on an Options Paper - the options paper will be drafted using input on the Issues Paper.
4. Cabinet makes policy decisions on what changes to copyright are needed.
5. Possible public consultation on an Exposure Draft of Bill - an Exposure Draft of a Bill can assist if there are technical or drafting issues with the Bill that need to be resolved before the Bill is introduced to the House of Representatives.
6. Bill introduced to the House of Representatives (Parliament)
7. Select Committee seeks public submissions on the Bill.

Stages 2, 3, 5 and 7 represent opportunities for you to provide your input into the process.