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November 2021: on 12th November 2021, the Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar signed into law the EU (Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market) Regulations 2021 (SI No. 567 of 2021). The Regulations transpose Directive 2019/790/EU into national law and amend the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (as amended). "The new Regulations strengthen the rights and protections afforded to various categories of rightsholders in order to reflect the impact of technological advances and increased digitisation. They also provide for wider access and use of copyright protected works to the potential benefit of the creative sectors, press publishers, researchers, educators, cultural heritage institutions, and citizens".
May 2021: on 25 May, the IP Unit published the draft amendments, and announced they are working towards transposition by the deadline of 7 June 2021. The government intends to implement by Statutory Instrument, which is a Ministerial order, a form of delegated legislation. This means there will be no debate in Parliament (the Oireachtas).
September-November 2019: The IP Unit issued a series of consultation papers (4 in total) which have all now closed. A total of 96 submissions were received.
31-12-2019: The department expects the deadline for transposition to be met.
11-3-2020: Caretaker government in place since the general election on 8 February. Until a new coalition is formed, developments are unlikely.
22-04-2020: The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation shared a non-paper on Out-of-Commerce works sharing its preliminary views after it received 20 submissions by stakeholders. According to the document, the Department does not consider it necessary to define "reasonable effort" or provide for specific requirements or procedures. Instead it believes it would be best to require CHIs to conduct a search of appropriate and reasonably-accessible sources.
27-06-2020: Coalition government formed. The new programme for government states: "Work with relevant government departments and external stakeholders to guarantee the protection of intellectual property rights and digital rights for the creative sector, and to ensure the full implementation of the new EU Copyright Directive". (p. 88)
24-05-2021: The Irish Government’s Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment issues an ‘information note’ to clarify its DCDSM transposition approach. The Department explains that it is working towards the 7 June implementation deadline and that a draft Statutory Instrument is currently with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for formal drafting.
12-11-2021: The European Union (Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market) Regulations 2021 (Statutory Instrument No. 567 of 2021) was signed into law by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar on 12th November 2021 and came into force on date of signature.
Ireland implementation structure
May 2021 EU Copyright Directive - Information Note.pdf