Regulatory BurdenproposedMedium TermTrade, Industry and Competition

Copyright Amendment Bill — Fair Use and Digital Access Reform

Theme: Intellectual property

First raisedNov 2021Last discussedFeb 2024Dormant — not discussed in 12+ months

Generate Brief Compare Feasibility Matrix

Assessment

Growth Impact3/5

Responsible: Department of Trade, Industry and Competition / CIPC

Feasibility Assessment

Low-medium: Bill twice returned by President; constitutional and WIPO compliance concerns unresolved. Political will exists but legal redrafting is slow. No fiscal cost.

Stakeholder Landscape

Who backs this reform, who needs convincing, and which interests or red lines shape political feasibility.

Reviewer

Open review workspace

Backers

1 stakeholders

Negotiation weight

0 conditional actors

Opposition weight

0 opposing actors

Review coverage

0/1

All mapped stance notes are still draft

Provenance warning

Every mapped stakeholder stance for this idea is still draft. The coalition score is directional only until at least the high-influence actors are reviewed.

Coalition Read

100/100Coalition-ready

Anchor: Competition Commission.

Political Tractability

—Needs reviewed signals

No reviewed signals · 0% of mapped influence has been reviewed.

Backers1 stakeholder

Competition CommissionOperational backerdraftInfluence 7/10

Interest: Reducing market concentration and promoting effective competition across freight, telecoms, financial services, food retail, and healthcare. Statutory…

Concern: SOE concessioning that creates private monopolies rather than competitive markets; spectrum concentration in telecoms post-auction; banking sector bar…

Engagement path: Already actively engaging across sectors. Needs reform designs to address market structure, not just ownership change — concessioning must include com…

Description

The Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB), passed by Parliament in 2022 but returned unsigned after President Ramaphosa declined assent citing AGOA-related IP concerns raised by the US USTR, is South Africa's most contested intellectual property reform in two decades. The bill introduces a flexible fair use doctrine (replacing the closed fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act 98 of 1978), creates a digital copyright framework for online platforms, and establishes exceptions for education, research, and persons with disabilities in line with the Marrakesh Treaty. The AGOA complication: the USTR identified the CAB's fair use provisions as potentially inconsistent with the TRIPS Agreement three-step test, threatening preferential market access if signed. The PC on Trade BRRRs 2022–2024 document the tension between educational access advocates requiring fair use for digital learning and creative industry stakeholders (SAMRO, publishers) concerned about revenue loss. A revised CAB must satisfy TRIPS Article 13 while preserving meaningful educational fair use and implementing Marrakesh disability access commitments. The DTI and DIRCO are managing the diplomatic and legislative tracks in parallel.

OECD

Referenced in OECD Economic Surveys: South Africa

OECD SA Survey (2022, 2025). Digital transformation and broadband connectivity improvement recommended in 2022 and 2025.

Access to knowledge is not a luxury — the Copyright Amendment Bill is central to building a knowledge economy that includes rather than excludes. — DTIC Portfolio Committee, BRRR 2024

Implementation Roadmap

The Presidency and DTIC commission a revised legal opinion addressing USTR TRIPS-compatibility concerns, then reintroduce an amended Copyright Amendment Bill with a narrowed fair use clause and explicit Marrakesh Treaty exceptions. DCDT leads bilateral IP negotiations with the USTR, decoupling CAB concerns from AGOA renewal within a Q2 2025–Q4 2026 dialogue timeline. Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Trade holds public hearings before second reading to build a durable stakeholder record. Success is presidential assent to an amended CAB by end-2027 and AGOA benefit retention through the post-2025 extension period.