In February 2009, the Cultural Ministers Council (CMC) released a progress report on 'Building a Creative Economy'. The progress report follows the release of the CMC's report 'Building a Creative Economy', released on 29 February 2008 with an invitation to respond to the recommendations in it by 1 August 2008. The CMC received responses from five organisations, two of which were the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney) and the Australian Copyright Council. The other three are not named, but the progress report says that they were 'coordinated on the same topic' and that they 'commented that the report’s definition of "digital environment" was too narrow and medium based. All argued that there are many opportunities for practitioners in the creative sector to utilise digital tools in the making of physical objects and these opportunities need to be recognised in any policy decisions about the creative sector and the digital environment.'

More:

• progress report

• CMC report: 'Building a Creative Economy'

• CMC Roundtable on Creative Innovation Economy

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On 20 February 2009, the report of the House Standing Committee on Climate Change, Water, Environment and the Arts on the Resale Royalty for Visual Artists Bill 2008 was released.

The Bill entitles artists to a 5% royalty each time their work is resold. There are similar schemes in other countries, including the United Kingdom and all other members of the European Union.

Clause 11 of the Bill excludes the first resale after the legislation comes into force. In the course of public hearings before the Committee, officers from the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) said that clause 11 resulted from legal advice DEWHA had received relating to provisions in the Australian Constitution.

The Committee had before it advice obtained by the Arts Law Centre of Australia that the Bill, with clause 11 omitted, would meet with all requirements of the Constitution.

The Committee recommended that the Minister for the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts seek further legal advice about the necessity for clause 11.

The Committee also recommended that the Bill be amended so that the royalty is only collected by the organisation that is appointed and monitored by the government, but that the option for an artists to forgo the royalty on a case by case basis remain.

More:

• Committee's report

• Resale Royalty for Visual Artists Bill 2008

• resale right background information

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The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in the UK have presented to the British Parliament an interim report on the development of the digital economy in Britain.

In the foreword, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform notes that the interim report seeks to address issues such as the availability of high quality UK content and of impartial news from a wide range of sources and to increase relevance, accessibility and ease of access to digital services.

The interim report proposes 5 Objectives and 22 Actions to be undertaken by govenment in relation to: digital networks; digital content; “universal network connectivity”; and digital media literacy.

The final report is due to be published late in the northern hemisphere spring.

More:

• http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/broadcasting/5631.aspx

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In early June 2008, representatives from a range of developed and developing nations (including Australia) met to discuss an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

According to a note released after the meeting, the goal of ACTA is “to provide a high-level international framework that strengthens the global enforcement of intellectual property rights”.

More:

• www.dfat.gov.au/trade

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The Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Bill 2008 provides for artists to receive a percentage of the sale price of their work each time it is resold.

Based on the government’s election promise to introduce a resale scheme, artists expected the scheme to return royalties from resales that take place from the time the legislation takes effect. However, under the Bill introduced to the House of Representatives on 27 November 2008, artists will not be entitled to royalties until works acquired by the seller on or after 1 July 2009 are later resold.

The Coalition for an Australian Resale Royalty (CARR) has launched a petition to the government to amend the Bill so that artists can begin receiving royalties on resales sooner.

CARR is a group of organisations representing around 100,000 visual artists, designers, creators and copyright owners: Australian Copyright Council, Viscopy, Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), Arts Law Centre of Australia and International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).

The petition is open for signature at www.copyright.com.au/resale

More:

• background information on resale royalty

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