EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
COPYRIGHT TRIBUNAL (PROCEDURE) REGULATIONS
(AMENDMENT)
1987 No 35
Section 249 of the Copyright Act 1968 (‘the Act’) provides that the Governor-General may, among other things, make regulations that are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Sub-section 166(1) of the Act provides, among other things, that the regulations may prescribe the fees and expenses of witnesses in proceedings before the Copyright Tribunal (‘the Tribunal’).
Regulation 47 of the Copyright Tribunal (Procedure) Regulations (‘the Procedure Regulations’) and the Third Schedule thereto make provision with respect to, and prescribe, witnesses fees and expenses for the purposes of sub-section 166(1).
The Copyright Amendment Act 1986 came into effect on proclamation. Among other things, it amended section 174 of the Act so that, in effect, costs taxed or settled by the Tribunal or a taxing officer shall be so taxed or settled in accordance with the Federal Court Rules which contain a scale of witnesses fees and expenses.
The difficulty which led to the amendment of the Procedure Regulations was that the amounts specified in the Third Schedule to those Regulations did not correspond to the amendments applicable under the Second Schedule to the Federal Court Rules which dealt with costs upon the commencement of the amendments to section 174. Sub-regulation 47(1) and the Third Schedule were, therefore, inconsistent with those Rules and the amendments to section 174 of the Act.
Regulation 1 of the regulations provides that, in those regulations, ‘Principal Regulations’ means the Copyright Tribunal Procedure Regulations.
Regulation 2 of the regulations repeals regulation 47 of the Principal Regulations and substitutes a new regulation which specifies who must pay witnesses fees and expenses in Tribunal proceedings.
Regulation 3 of the regulation repeals the Third Schedule to the Principal Regulations.