Two documents have been introduced in connection to the Limitations and Exceptions agenda item for SCCR 47
- the African Group’s October 7, 2025, “Proposal on Limitations and Exceptions” (SCCR/47/5), and
- the Chair’s November 10, 2025, “Text Proposed in the Framework of Work Towards an Appropriate International Legal Instrument or Instruments on Limitations and Exceptions” (SCCR/47/8).
Previously we already had a third document
- Limitations for Libraries and Archives” (SCCR/44/5), previously proposed by the United States
Below are two tables. The first identifies common elements among the African Group Proposal, the Chair’s Text, and the US proposal. The second table identifies common elements addressed by the African Group Proposal and the Chair’s text, but not included in the U.S. document. (It should be noted that the African Group’s Proposal also includes provisions not in the U.S. document or the Chair’s text.)
As the attached tables demonstrate, there are significant areas of commonality among all three documents; and even more between the Chair’s text and the African Group Proposal. This suggests that further text-based work in the Committee towards an international legal instrument or instruments concerning exceptions and limitations can start with these documents.
PDF version below
Table 1: Common Elements in United States Objectives and Principles for Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Archives, African Group Proposal, and Chair’s Proposed Text
| U.S. Objectives and Principles | African Group Proposal | Chair’s Text |
| Encourage Member States to adopt well-focused exceptions and limitations in their national laws that are consistent with their international obligations, including the three-step test, and facilitate the public service role of libraries and archives, and maintain the balance between the rights of authors, artists and publishers, and the public interest, particularly in research, education, preservation, and access to information. (p. 2)Encourage Member States, when adopting or revising exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives, to consider adding museums and other non-profit institutions that function as a library, archives, or museum as eligible entities. (p. 2) | Contracting Parties shall take all appropriate measures to respect, protect and fulfill the right to receive education and conduct research through appropriate exceptions and limitations in their national laws, consistent with their international obligations, maintaining the balance between the rights of authors and the larger public interest. (p. 15)Member States shall provide an appropriate balance in their copyright and related rights system through limitations and exceptions for the public interest, including for education; research; freedom of expression uses such as for quotation, comment, criticism, review, caricature, parody and pastiche; access to information and news reporting; preservation of cultural heritage; and to facilitate access for persons with disabilities. (p. 15)Contracting Parties shall update, carry forward and appropriately extend into the digital environment limitations and exceptions in their national laws which have been considered acceptable under the Berne Convention, especially under article 10(1) and 10(2), and devise new exceptions and limitations that are appropriate in the digital environment to protect educational and research activities. (p. 15) | Limitations and exceptions are an integral part of a balanced copyright system and should contribute to quality preservation, access, education and research, as well as to expand opportunities for all persons with disabilities to fully participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts, and to benefit from scientific progress. (p. 6)Promote cooperation among institutions at national, regional and international levels. (p. 6) |
| Encourage Member States to enable libraries and archives to carry out their public service role of advancing research and knowledge by adopting exceptions and limitations for purposes of research and scholarship, and to consider adding museums and other non-profit institutions that function as a library, archives, or museum as eligible entities. (p. 3) | It shall be permissible to use a work or other subject matter for educational or research purposes to the extent justified by the purpose and provided such utilization is compatible with fair practice. (p. 19) | Facilitate access to works for cultural, educational and research purposes, including through digital and online tools, and across borders. (p. 5)Enable cultural heritage institutions as well as educational and research institutions to provide copies and enable access to works to researchers, teachers, students and the public, under appropriate conditions. (p. 5) |
| Encourage Member States to enable libraries and archives to carry out their public service role of preserving works by adopting exceptions and limitations for their preservation activities, and to consider adding museums and other non-profit institutions that function as a library, archives, or museum as eligible entities. (p. 3)Exceptions and limitations can and should enable libraries, archives, and museums to carry out their public service role of preserving works that comprise the cumulative knowledge, heritage, and culture of the world’s nations and peoples. (p. 3)[E]xceptions and limitations can and should enable libraries, archives, and museums to make copies of published and unpublished works, including highly ephemeral materials, for purposes of preservation and replacement, under certain appropriate circumstances. Those circumstances may include preservation and replacement in both analog and digital formats, or migration of content from obsolete storage formats to more stable formats on an ongoing basis, as reasonably necessary and as incidental to technology for a specific, limited preservation purpose. (p. 3) | Contracting Parties shall provide for a limitation or exception to the right ofreproduction in order to allow cultural heritage institutions to make copies of any works or other subject matter that are permanently in their collections, in any format or medium, for the purposes of preservation of such works or other subject matter and to the extent necessary for such preservation. (p. 29)For purposes of this Instrument, “cultural heritage institution” means a publicly accessible library or museum, an archive, or a film or audio heritage institution. (p. 31) | Support the preservation of cultural heritage by libraries, archives and museums and other not-for-profit entities performing equivalent functions. (p. 4)Enable cultural heritage institutions to make copies of works, whether published or unpublished, for the purposes of preservation or replacement, including highly ephemeral materials. Such copies may be made in analog or digital formats, and during technological migration, provided they are necessary and incidental to a specific preservation purpose. (p. 4)Enable the preservation of and remote digital access to works, including cross-border, under secure conditions and promote the respect of adequate and effective digital security measures. (p. 5)Enable libraries, archives, and museums to fulfill their public service mission of preserving the cumulative knowledge and heritage of nations and people. (p. 6)Allow cultural heritage institutions to proactively preserve materials at risk of deterioration, obsolescence and damage, as reasonably necessary for the purpose of preservation. (p. 6)Apply exceptions and limitations for libraries, archives, and museums solely to noncommercial activities, and not to activities undertaken for direct or indirect commercial advantage. (p. 6)Enable the preservation and migration of content, including from obsolete formats to new ones. Permit the making of copies of works for preservation and replacement, under certain appropriate circumstances, including digital conversion and format shifting. (p. 6)Cultural heritage institutions: libraries, archives, museums and other not-for-profit entities performing equivalent functions. (p. 4)Preservation: activities aimed at maintaining, stabilizing, restoring or migrating works, whether published or unpublished, to prevent their loss or deterioration, including the conversion of analog to digital formats and migration to stable technological formats. (p. 4) |
| Reasonable exceptions and limitations can and should establish the framework enabling libraries, archives, and museums to supply copies of certain materials to researchers, scholars, and other users, directly or through eligible intermediary institutions, and accessible either on premises or, with effective digital security measures, remotely, under certain appropriate circumstances. Those circumstances may include access by a single user at a time, for a limited time, and only where the library, archives, or museum has no notice that the copy would be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. (p. 4)Encourage Member States to enable libraries and archives to carry out their public service role in the digital environment by adopting exceptions and limitations for providing public access to their digital collections, and to consider adding museums and other non-profit institutions that function as a library, archives, or museum as eligible entities. (p. 4)Limitations and exceptions should appropriately ensure that libraries, archives, and museums can preserve and provide access to information and materials developed and/or disseminated in digital form and through networked technologies, while implementing reasonable and effective digital security measures. (p. 4) | Contracting Parties shall provide for a limitation or exception to the right of reproduction, the right of distribution, and the right of making available in order to allow cultural heritage institutions to provide access to preserved works and other subject matter in their collections as follows:a. Cultural heritage institutions shall be permitted to provide on the premises access to copies in any format or medium.b. Cultural heritage institutions shall be permitted to provide copies in any format ormedium to persons for the purpose of private study, scholarship, or research.c. Cultural heritage institutions shall be permitted to reproduce and make available to the public any work or other subject matter which is out of commerce, where no suitable licences covering the needs and specificities of cultural heritage institutions are easily available on the market. (p. 29) | Facilitate access to works for cultural, educational and research purposes, including through digital and online tools, and across borders. (p. 5)Enable cultural heritage institutions as well as educational and research institutions to provide copies and enable access to works to researchers, teachers, students and the public, under appropriate conditions. (p. 5)Enable the preservation of and remote digital access to works, including cross-border, under secure conditions and promote the respect of adequate and effective digital security measures. (p. 5)Access: on-site or remote availability to use works for the purposes of private study, cultural enjoyment, and education or research. (p. 4) |
| Member States should recognize limitations on the liability of certain types of damages applicable to libraries, archives, and museums, and their employees and agents authorized to act on behalf of the institution within the scope of their employment, that act in good faith, believing or having reasonable grounds to believe that they have acted in accordance with the copyright law. (p. 4) | Any person using a work or other subject matter for a purpose promoted by this Instrument shall be protected from claims for damages and from criminal liability when the action is performed in good faith in the belief, and where there are reasonable grounds for believing, that the use is permitted by law or by an applicable license. (p. 43)When a Contracting Party provides for secondary liability regimes, educational, research and cultural heritage institutions shall be exempt from liability for the actions of their users. (p. 43) | The relevance of good faith should be considered when assessing liability for the application of limitations and exceptions by institutional beneficiaries. (p. 7)Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms should be implemented as an option to resolve disputes concerning the use of works under limitations and exceptions. (p. 7) |
Table 2: Common Elements in the African Group Proposal and the Chair’s Proposed Text but not in the U.S. Document
| African Group Proposal | Chair’s Text |
| It shall be permissible to produce, distribute, and make available accessible format copies of works for the benefit of people with any disability that requires such format to enjoy the work on an equitable basis with others. (p. 33) | Facilitate access to published works in accessible formats for persons with disabilities other than those covered by the Marrakesh Treaty (p. 5)Facilitate access to published works in accessible formats for persons with disabilities other than those covered by the Marrakesh Treaty, under appropriate conditions that may include: (a) use solely for the purpose of producing material in accessible formats (b) the respect of adequate and effective digital security measures (p. 7)Interoperability of systems should be encouraged to facilitate (i) access to works for persons with disabilities and (ii) controlled cross-border uses (p. 7)Persons with disabilities: includes those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. (p. 4) |
| Limitations and exceptions adopted pursuant to this Instrument shall permit cross-border uses. (p. 35)Contracting Parties shall provide that if a copy is lawfully made under a limitation or exception, that copy may be distributed or made available to or from another Contracting Party for the same purposes for which the copy was lawfully made. (p. 35) | Facilitate access to works for cultural, educational and research purposes, including through digital and online tools, and across borders (p. 5)Enable the preservation of and remote digital access to works, including cross-border, under secure conditions and promote the respect of adequate and effective digital security measures (p. 5)Promote cooperation among institutions at national, regional and international levels. (p. 6)Digital and cross-border uses should become normal and standard, subject to conditions ensuring respect for rights and digital security. (p. 7)Interoperability of systems should be encouraged to facilitate (i) access to works for persons with disabilities and (ii) controlled cross-border uses. (p. 7)Cross-border: the provision or distribution, communication, or making available of a copy of a work or other protected subject matter, in physical or digital form, from one country to users located in another country. (p. 4) |
| Contracting Parties shall ensure that legal remedies against the circumvention of effective technological protection measures do not prohibit or prevent the uses enabled by the limitations and exceptions provided by the Contracting Parties consistent with this Instrument. (p. 41) | Ensure that appropriate measures provide adequate legal protection and effective remedies against the circumvention of technological protection measures, while such protection does not prevent beneficiaries from enjoying the limitations and exceptions provided. (p. 5) |
Jonathan Band is from The Library Copyright Alliance, which is part of the A2K Coalition.
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