On Thursday, 10 December 2015 South Africa made the following general intervention on copyright limitations and exceptions at WIPO’s 31st session of the Standing Committee on Copyright Right and Related Rights (SCCR).
SOUTH AFRICA: Thank you Mr. Chairman. South Africa would like to support the statement made by Nigeria on behalf of the Africa Group. South Africa would like to work on the exceptions and limitations both in libraries and archives and research institutions. We appreciate the critical role played by exceptions and limitations in bridging the gap through the dissemination and diffusion of knowledge. The public remains the main medium through which education is promoted and human development takes place.We believe restrictive copyright laws can hamper this resource which shrinks the public domain. Research has shown that the stronger we have copyrights, the higher the level of noncompliance and in this regard there needs to be a balance between private rights and public rights through the adoption of appropriate exceptions and limitations. South Africa is making limitations to the Copyright Act. We should be cognizant that the digital world has changed the way people access information, and the current piecemeal approach to exceptions and limitations is not sustainable.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. ((Taken from WIPO SCCR31 transcript)