The Canadian Government has now deposited instruments of ratification as the final steps to ratifying the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) and the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT). Most of the amendments to implement the treaty provisions went into effect in November 2012 when The Copyright Modernization Act was proclaimed into force. Some of the provisions pertaining to the WPPT including the making available right for sound recordings will only come into effect when the treaty ratification process is final. This will occur on August 13, 2014, 90 days after the deposit of the WPPT instruments of ratification with WIPO.
The ratification process completes the Government’s commitment to implementing the WIPO Treaties which were signed by Canada in 1997, one year after they were adopted by WIPO. The Canadian reform process starting in 2005 with Bill C-60 and after successive attempts at reforms C-61 (2008) and C-32 (2010), culminated in Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act.
For more information about the Copyright Modernization Act or Bill C-11 or copyright reform, see Change and the Copyright Modernization Act.