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Publishing and Copyright Guidance Notes

Reproduction of Acts of the Scottish Parliament, Explanatory Notes to Acts of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Statutory Instruments

Background

1. In the White Paper, The Future Management of Crown Copyright1, it was announced that copyright would be waived for certain types of material which are Crown copyright protected.

2. The purpose of this guidance is to describe how the waiver will be applied in relation to Acts of the Scottish Parliament, Explanatory Notes to Acts of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Statutory Instruments.

3. Crown copyright subsists specifically in Acts of the Scottish Parliament in accordance with section 164 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 88), as amended by the Scotland Act 1998. Crown copyright subsists in all other copyright works produced by officers or servants of the Crown in the Scottish Administration in the course of their duties in accordance with section 163 of the CDPA 88.

4. In setting out the means by which Crown copyright would be supervised and regulated The Future Management of Crown Copyright refers to the office of Queen’s Printer for Scotland (QPS) which was established by section 92 of the Scotland Act 1998. The QPS acts on behalf of Her Majesty and exercises Her rights and privileges in connection with Crown copyright in, among other matters, Acts of the Scottish Parliament and in any existing or future works made in the exercise of a function which is exercisable by any office holder in, or member of staff of, the Scottish Administration2. The QPS was specified a non-ministerial office-holder and member of the staff of the Scottish Administration with effect from 1 July 19993.

5. This Guidance Note supersedes those parts of HMSO’s Dear Publisher4 and Dear Librarian5 letters in relation to legislation. The policy set out in the Dear Publisher and Dear Librarian letters for other types of Crown and Parliamentary copyright material shall remain in force until replaced by further Guidance Notes.

Which Material is Covered?

6. The policy set out in this Guidance Note applies to the following Crown Copyright protected Material:

For ease of reference, the term Material as used in this Guidance Note should be taken to include the categories of material listed above. It covers not only the text but also the typographical arrangement of the text which is also subject to Crown copyright protection.

What is Meant by Waiver?

7. Waiver means that the Crown is not seeking to exercise its legal right to license formally, restrict usage or charge for the reproduction of the Material. However, Crown copyright is asserted to protect the Material against use in a misleading or derogatory manner. For further details, see paragraph 10.

What is Permitted Under the Waiver Conditions?

8. Provided that the obligations set out at paragraph 10 are complied with, there are no restrictions on how the Material may be reproduced. By way of illustration, users may undertake any of the following activities in relation to the Material:

  1. reproducing and publishing the Material in any medium;
  2. making multiple copies of the Material for distribution and sale;
  3. reproducing the Material in any medium for the purposes of news reporting;
  4. reproducing the Material on free and subscription web sites which are accessible via the Internet;
  5. establishing hypertext links to the official Scotland legislation web site (see paragraph 1) which features the complete text of current Acts of the Scottish Parliament, Explanatory Notes to Acts of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Statutory Instruments;
  6. downloading the Material featured on the Scotland Legislation web site to screen and printer;
  7. reproducing the Material on Intranet sites;
  8. making single or multiple copies, by photocopying or any other means, for the purposes of research and private study;
  9. the making of single or multiple copies by libraries (by photocopying or any other means) for the supply of copies to readers, subject to the overriding need for prescribed libraries to recoup their costs as set out in S.I. 1989 No. 1212;6
  10. copying by libraries for the purposes of supplementing or replenishing their stocks;
  11. making copies for circulation throughout an organisation whether in the public or private sector;
  12. reproduction within the context of seminar or training packs;
  13. reproduction within student theses and dissertations;
  14. translation into other languages;
  15. reproduction of forms set out within Acts of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Statutory Instruments for use and/or publication as free-standing forms.

The above list is by no means exhaustive, but it seeks to illustrate the majority of potential uses of the Material.

9. It should be noted that the value added pre-condition which was a feature of previous guidance on the reproduction of legislation as set out in the Dear Publisher4 letter has been removed.

Obligations of Users of the Material

10. The waiver of Crown copyright in relation to the Material as described in paragraphs 7 and 8 is conditional on the following terms being complied with:

  1. all reproduction of the Material should be made from an official version. This means either the authorised QPS published versions of the Material, or alternatively the text featured on the official Scotland Legislation web site, see paragraph 8 e);
  2. the Material must be reproduced accurately. In the case of translations into other languages, a competent translator must be used where the translation is to be issued to the public;
  3. care should be taken that the Material reproduced is from the current or up to date version, and that out of date Material is not presented as though it was current. Where out of date Material is being reproduced for the purposes of drawing comparisons with current Material or similar analysis, it should be made clear that the Material in question has been superseded, with appropriate cross references to the current Material;
  4. the Material should not be used in a derogatory or misleading manner, nor should it be used for the purposes of advertising or promoting a particular product or service or for promoting particular personal interests or views;
  5. the reproduced versions of Material should not be presented in a way which could imply it has official status or that they are endorsed by any part of government;
  6. all publisher imprints which are featured on the Official versions of the Material should be removed from any copies of the Material which are issued or made available to the public. This includes use of the Material on the internet and on intranet sites;
  7. Royal Arms may only be reproduced when they form an integral part of the Material being reproduced and are used in that context. For example, you may reproduce the cover of an Act of Parliament featuring the Royal Arms in a compendium or database product if the rest of the Act is being reproduced. The Royal Arms should not otherwise be used without permission;
  8. the Material is acknowledged appropriately as indicated in paragraph 11 below. For translations into other languages, the copyright acknowledgment should be given in both English and in the language in which the Material is being translated.

11. Where the reproduced version of the Material is being published, circulated or issued to others - including Internet and Intranet use - one of the following Crown copyright acknowledgments should be featured in a prominent position:

  1. Where one specific item of the Material is being reproduced: ** [Title of Publication] is reproduced under the terms of Crown Copyright Policy Guidance issued by the Queen’s Printer for Scotland
  2. Where a range of Material is being reproduced: Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Queen’s Printer for Scotland

12. You may find the summary of permitted uses and the corresponding obligations set out in the Annex to this Guidance Note helpful.

Sources of the Material

13. As stated in paragraph 10 a), users are permitted to reproduce the Material as it appears either in the official published version or by downloading it from the legislation web site. Under this Guidance Note users are not authorised to copy the Material from other sources, such as commercial products published by law publishers, for example. Nor do users have an automatic right to reproduce the Material from the UK Statute Law Database product or any other value added legislation product or service which may be provided by the Scottish Administration. Such use would be the subject of separate and specific licensing arrangements.

Data Supply

14. The Material can be obtained in computer readable form from The Stationery Office Ltd which currently publishes the official versions of the Material under contract from the QPS. For details as to which Material is available in electronic form, the formats in which it can be supplied and the costs of providing the data in electronic form, please contact:

The Stationery Office Limited
c/o The Scottish Parliament
Room B5 Committee Chambers
George IV Bridge
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

Tel: 0131 348 5061
email: centraldistributionoffice@scottish.parliament.uk

CAROL TULLO
Queen’s Printer for Scotland

Annex

Reproduction of Legislation and related Works

Obligations of Users (see paragraphs 12 & 13)

Key

Range of Permitted Uses A B C D E F
Reproducing / Publishing in any medium x x x x x x
Multiple copies for distribution and sale x x x x x x
News reporting x x x x - x
Internet and Intranet x x x x x x
Hypertext Links x x x x - -
Downloading from legislation websites x x x x - -
Private Study/Research x x x x - -
Copying by libraries for readers x x x x - -
Copying to supplement or replenish library stocks x x x x x x
Making circulation copies x x x x - -
Training x x x x x x
Student use x x x x - -
Translations into other languages x x x x x x

Footnotes

1 Cm 4300 published 26 March 1999. The full text of this publication can be accessed at www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/future-management-of-crown-copyright.pdf or is available from The Stationery Office Ltd. Price £9.50

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2 See section 92 of the Scotland Act 1998 for a full definition of the functions of the QPS. Under section 92(5) of the Act, the Queen’s Printer holds the office of QPS.

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3 Statutory Instrument 1999/1127 The Scottish Administration (Offices) Order 1999

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4 Dear Publisher letter dated 2 February 1997: Reproduction of Crown Copyright Material

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5 Dear Librarian letter dated 2 February 1997: Reproduction of Crown Copyright Material

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6 The Copyright (Librarians and Archivists) (Copying of Copyright Material) Regulations 1989

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