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6. IPA meeting in Berlin

The meeting took place on June 28th and here are the most important points from the minutes. We will have to find a space on the new EEPG website to present these word documents for members only. I have taken out the parts that are obsolete because new developments have superseded them.

Public affairs: IPA
WIPO SCCR
José reported some unexpected developments at SCCR in May. The report from the Chair proposed to go ahead with preparation for a diplomatic conference for a broadcasting treaty, despite the language still being vague and not agreed by the SCCR factions, so this is likely to stay on the agenda for another year or so. The exceptions debate is alarming, with shocking negativity towards copyright and publishers by some factions. The global south is still pushing for education and library exceptions. Sylvie is working heroically on her initiative, but this is not yet a done deal. IPA will continue to invite publishers from the south to explain that broadening exceptions undermines their business models and hence capacity to innovate and provide for local needs.
Despite the debates and disputes, no document on educational exceptions agreed by all factions yet exists. José recommended following the IPA blogs on SCCR.

WIPO Publishers Circle
Benôit Müller from WIPO had been scheduled to attend this meeting but in the end was unable to travel. An Action Plan for the Publishing Industry derived from the Yaoundé conference had been circulated, and it is hoped that this will spread the focus beyond Geneva to regional meetings and further studies. Recommendations for academics who might contribute reports and research papers supportive of our position would be helpful.

IPA Copyright Committee is looking for fresh issues to introduce into the SCCR debate if a broadcasting treaty is settled, especially relating to rights such as the resale right.

Vera Castanheira has been appointed as IPA Counsellor for International Copyright Policy and Programmes. Vera is a lawyer with considerable experience of WIPO and working with the Portuguese Government. Her role will be IPA strategy globally. Work on national submissions will remain with Lenz Caemmerer.

EPF position paper on educational exceptions resides with the Copyright Committee for ratification.

Public affairs: Europe
Regular contact between FEP and EPF now involves a program of monthly conference calls, and a regular meeting scheduled for the afternoon before future EPF meetings.

Copyright legislation in Ireland is threatening an outcome similar to Canada has progressed rapidly through two stages of four, despite lobbying efforts by ICLA whose recommendations have not been adopted by the government. Urgent support is needed from EPF and IPA.

Freedom to Publish
Kristenn urged that his FTP committee, IPA, and EPF all wanted to invest in this issue and to progress the concept of an Index to be applied to the status of educational publishing in different countries. After Reykjavik he had proposed a program of development, and with this in mind GT had circulated a list of criteria for discussion. Now we need feedback on this list, prior to more activity to survey for information and status reports. Iris pointed out that some of the issues identified may in fact be helpful to publishers and should not necessarily be used as criteria for a 'black list'. More discussion is needed on this point.

Outward communication by EPF
Wilmar raised the issue of whether EPF should gear up for more outward communication with third parties such as the international agencies, in the spirit of the 'value of publishing' exercise still ongoing with an EPF task force, or are we more about bringing members together for mutually beneficial discussion? What message do we want to bring, and to whom? We are the only association with extensive international connections representing the voice of educational publishers, and others have come to us on that basis. How do we build on this?
It was suggested that we should evolve a 'modest but reasonable' plan in time for discussion at the next meeting.