January 1st – December 31st, 2002

CLM was established to advise IFLA and its constituent groups with respect to copyright and intellectual property, economic barriers to the acquisition of library materials, trade agreements effecting library services, disputed claims of ownership of library materials, authenticity of electronic texts, subscriptions and license agreements and other legal matters of international significance to libraries and librarianship.

The membership of the Committee is to be representative of all regions of the world. At present there are 20 members including the chairman, representing 17 countries. There are 2 official observers and 3 expert resource persons. (a list of members, observers and resource persons is attached.) The Secretariat of the Committee is provided by the UAP office at Boston Spa, England. The Chair is Marianne Scott, 119 Dorothea Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1V 7C6, Canada.
Tel: 613 733 4223; Fax: 613 733-8752; email: mfscott@rogers.com

The Committee held two formal business meetings during this period and worked electronically between business meetings using the CLM closed list serve, maintained by the Secretariat and regular email.

During the meetings in Glasgow, the Committee reviewed and provided further input to a document on fair use; discussed programme topics for Berlin; and most importantly exchanged information about national developments.

CLM issued two documents during 2002, which are available on the website. Tips for TRIPS is a brief guide for the library community to help in understanding the implications of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The second document was prepared for IFLA by CLM in response to a request from UNESCO for input into a study by UNESCO on Limitations and exceptions to copyright and neighbouring rights in the digital environment.

CLM had two succcessful programmes during the Glasgow Conference. The open session was on Repatriation of Cultural Heritage Materials. This was well received, as was the Update session on ever popular topics such as the European Copyright Directive and the WTO and GATS. There were also presentations on Circumvention technologies, Copyright in South Africa and the Public Lending Right.
During the period of the Report CLM worked on providing more translations of its documents into languages other than English. At the present time:

* the Position on Copyright is available in English, French and Russian
* the Licensing Principles are available in English, French, Russian and Polish
* the Position on WTO Treaty Negotiations is available in English and French
* the Position on the WTO is available in English and German

During this period CLM continued to monitor and to provide input to meetings and documents relating to copyright at WIPO, the Ministerial meeting of the WTO in Doha, Qatar, The Hague Convention, the IFLA/IPA Steering Committee as well as the more recent Free Trade of the Americas Agreement.

The CLM Strategic plan for 2002-2003 was approved by the Governing Board of IFLA, March 2002 and is the basis for CLM ongoing activities.

CLM continued to work closely with EBLIDA in IFLA’s representation to WIPO and the WTO.

It was also necessary during 2002 to review with Headquarters the implications for CLM of the closure of its Secretariat at the British Library effective March 31st, 2003

Prepared by Marianne Scott
Chair CLM