RECOMMENDATION

Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled ``An Act to establish the Library and Archives of Canada, to amend the Copyright Act and to amend certain Acts in consequence''.

SUMMARY

This enactment creates the Library and Archives of Canada as the successor to the National Library and the National Archives of Canada and provides for the appointment of its head, the Librarian and Archivist of Canada.

This enactment provides for functions and powers of the Librarian and Archivist that are a modernization of the present functions and powers of the National Librarian and National Archivist of Canada and integrates their formerly distinct missions. The regime for legal deposit of publications has also been updated to provide for the deposit of electronic publications. A new power to preserve the documentary heritage of Canada as found on the Internet has also been introduced.

This enactment amends the Copyright Act by providing for a longer term of protection for unpublished or posthumously published works of authors who died before 1949. The new terms of protection are extended for varying periods, depending on the date of the author's death and whether or not the work is published during the particular periods in question. Furthermore, requirements for archives holding unpublished works in their collections that were deposited before 1999 to obtain consents from copyright holders for the making of certain copies of those works and related recordkeeping or owner-tracing requirements have been removed.

This enactment makes several consequential amendments to relevant legislation and contains transitional provisions and coordinating amendments.