Mr. Chairman, page 5 refers to another document that has played a very important role in copyright reform. I am of course referring to a government interim report tabled in March 2004 in response to requests from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for an update on the status of copyright reform.
This document sets out and discusses all of the issues relating to new technologies and Internet that have been debated over the past few years. You will note that we opted not to address certain issues as we considered them to have been dealt with in the report that was tabled with your committee.
This report, which Albert spoke about earlier, focuses on a four-pronged reform.
The first area addressed is the implementation of the WIPO treaties. The second is the issue of photographers, a question that is analyzed in detail and which is still subject to much debate. Thirdly, it focuses on clarifying the role and liabilities of service providers in the context of new technologies and Internet. The fourth area addressed is access to exceptions regarding rights holders' rights.
The report tabled in March 2004 addresses all of the above issues and sets out Canada's obligations.
Page 6 of our presentation refers to the report that this committee tabled in May 2004. The report was approved by the then members of the committee for a second time in November 2004. It revisits some issues raised in the interim report, but not all of them, as some were deemed to have been resolved. The committee chose not to reopen the debate or hear witnesses on issues deemed to have been resolved. Page VII contains the list of issues on which the committee made recommendations to the government following its discussions.
I am going to ask my colleague to walk you through page 7, which deals with the government's response to the standing committee's interim report. He will provide you with the list of proposals set out at the time.