In our capacity as accredited observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 47th session of the Committee, which is currently taking place in Geneva (1-5 December, 2025).
Yesterday, we made the following statement on Limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives/Limitations and exceptions for educational and research institutions and for persons with other disabilities (Agenda Item 6 and 7).
Dear Delegates,
At SCCR/47 you have, for the first time in many years, a set of proposals that clearly point in the same direction.
The African Group’s “Proposal on Limitations and Exceptions” (SCCR/47/5) and the Chair and Vice-Chair’s “Text Proposed in the Framework of Work Towards an Appropriate International Legal Instrument or Instruments on Limitations and Exceptions” (SCCR/47/8) — which COMMUNIA strongly welcomes —, together with the U.S. Objectives and Principles for Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Archives”, show that many of our core issues are not in dispute.
In fact, what is most striking among these documents is not their differences, but their overwhelming alignment on what can be done, by whom, and with what materials.
What remains disputed is form: whether the instrument will ultimately be binding or non-binding. But on the form the General Assembly mandate is absolutely clear – discussions must not prejudge the nature of the instrument. So we urge you to stop using form as an excuse for paralysis.
For more than a decade, this Committee has heard, session after session, about the growing pressures on researchers, educators, and cultural heritage institutions. The Committee must therefore not allow disagreements about form to block agreement on substance.
The existing proposals give this Committee exactly what it needs to finally move from circular debates to concrete progress. The Committee should immediately consolidate them into one working document. Only then can you begin substantive text-based negotiations that deliver for the public-interest institutions you repeatedly claim to support.
Thank you.
