The Copyright Coalition of South Africa (CCSA) has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa not to sign into law the Copyright Amendment Bill, which was passed in parliament in 2019.
The CCSA is urging the president to send the Bill back to parliament for reconsideration. The reason for this is that the Office of the United States Trade Representative is to hold public hearings on 30 January in Washington D.C. into South Africa’s eligibility to continue to participate in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) under the US Trade Act.
South Africa’s continued eligibility is under threat as a result of the passing of the Bill. If South Africa loses its eligibility, according to the CCSA, it stands to lose up to R34 billion in export revenue, and, potentially, thousands of jobs.
South Africa’s current GSP designation allows it duty-free access to US markets for selected export products. If the US’s review finds the Bill does not adequately protect American intellectual property, South Africa will lose its GSP designation.
The GSP and the African Growth and Opportunity Act allow duty-free access for over 6 000 products, including meat, fruit, vegetables, precious metals, chemicals, iron and steel products, and a range of manufactured goods.
Critics say the Bill is unconstitutional as it violates the right to property, arbitrarily depriving content creators of their intellectual property rights.
The CCSA says the passage of the Bill has been marked by inadequate public consultation, a flawed parliamentary processes, and the absence of a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment. Consequently, the Bill is ‘irretrievably deficient’.
IRR analysts caution that the Bill as it stands is a further impediment to South Africa’s ability to stimulate meaningful investment, local or foreign.