Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also thank the committee members. We are pleased to appear before you this afternoon to give you an overview of the Canadian Copyright Act, as well as the international obligations that it entails.
Today's presentation is purely technical. You have read the presentation that was handed out to you. This presentation describes the current Canadian Copyright Act. This presentation makes no reference at all to the history of this legislation over the past few years, nor does it refer to anything that might happen to this legislation in the future. This afternoon, our aim is to describe the legislation as it stands today. We are really confined to the present.
I gather that there will be a second sitting next week. At that time, we will be pleased to deal with the issues that might have to do with the history of the Copyright Act. This afternoon, we will give a 101 course on the current legislation.
The presentation will last more than 10 minutes. As it will be rather long, we beg your indulgence. If you have any questions, we will be pleased, Albert Cloutier, my colleague from Industry Canada and myself, to answer them during the presentation.
Let me begin without further ado. I invite committee members to turn to page 5, as the first pages give a quick view of the table of contents in which today's subject matter is covered quite exhaustively.
Page 5 deals with—