Section 92A Amended

Simon Power, the Minister of Commerce, who has responsibility for copyright policy, issued the following press release on Monday 23 March 2009:

----------------------------------Government to amend Section 92A

Cabinet today decided that section 92A of the Copyright Act 1994 will not come into force on 27 March as scheduled, but will be amended to address areas of concern, Commerce Minister Simon Power said today.

Section 92A requires internet service providers (ISPs) to have a policy to terminate the internet account of repeat copyright infringers in appropriate circumstances.

"This legislation was put in place to combat unlawful file-sharing which facilitates copyright infringement on a large scale. Section 92A traverses an important issue in an emerging area of copyright law reform both in New Zealand and internationally," Mr Power said.

"This behaviour is very costly to New Zealand's creative industries and needs to be addressed."

Mr Power acknowledged efforts by ISPs and rights holders to negotiate an effective policy for the section's implementation.

"Allowing section 92A to come into force in its current format would not be appropriate given the level of uncertainty around its operation.

"These discussions have exposed some aspects of section 92A which require further consideration," Mr Power said.

"While the government remains intent on tackling this problem, the legislation itself needs to be re-examined and reworked to address concerns held by stakeholders and the government.

"The government will begin a review to amend the section immediately to address areas of concern.

"I am confident that amendments to section 92A, which builds on the work of ISPs and rights-holders to date, will lead to a more workable piece of legislation," Mr Power said.

*Contact: Brent Webling (press secretary) ph 04 8179819 or 021 6746419*

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Rick Shera, Lowndes Jordan ICT lawyer, has been working since early 2007, first with InternetNZ and then as consultant to the Telecommunications Carrier's Forum, on issues with respect to s92A.

A very interesting timeline on the s92A saga has been published by Richard Hulse of RadioNZ here http://tinyurl.com/d5xmm8

For further information contact Rick at rjs@lojo.co.nz or +64 21 612 713.