# Copyright (Libraries) Regulations 1973

Date of Commencement: 1 June 1973 (reg. 1) Saved by virtue of paragraph 43, Schedule 2 of Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528)
* A verified copy of this enactment exists on Hong Kong e-Legislation since 20 June 2019.
Layout 2
Legal Supplement No. 2
to the
HONG KONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE
Published by Authority
L.N. 103 of 1973
COPYRIGHT ACT 1956 (1956 c. 74) COPYRIGHT (HONG KONG) ORDER 1972 (S.I. 1972 No. 1724) COPYRIGHT (LIBRARIES) REGULATIONS 1973
In exercise of the powers conferred by sections 7 and 15 of the Copyright Act 1956, as extended to Hong Kong by the Copyright (Hong Kong) Order 1972, the Governor in Council has made the following regulations—
Citation and commencement. 1. These regulations may be cited as the Copyright (Libraries) Regulations 1973 and shall come into operation on the expiration of the day next preceding the day on which they are published in the Gazette.
Interpretation. 2. In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
“Act” means the (1956 c. 74.) (S.1. 1972/1724.)Copyright Act 1956, as extended to Hong Kong by the Copyright (Hong Kong) Order 1972; and
“work” means a published literary, dramatic or musical work.
Prescribed classes of library under subsections (1) and (3) of section 7. First Schedule. 3. Each of the classes of library specified in the First Schedule shall be a class prescribed for the purposes of subsections (1) and (3) of section 7 of the Act:
Provided that this regulation shall not apply to any library established or conducted for profit.
4. (1) Each of the classes of library specified in the First or Second Schedule shall be a class prescribed for the purposes of of the Act and, for the subsection (5) of section 7 of the Act and, for the purposes of paragraph (a) of this subsection (which relates to the librarian to whom a copy is supplied), and any class of library so specified shall, where appropriate, be deemed to include any library of a similar class situated outside Hong Kong.
(2) This regulation shall apply to any library of a class so specified whether established or conducted for profit or not.
Prescribed classes of library under subsection (4) of section 15. First Schedule. Second Schedule. 5. Each of the classes of library specified in the First or Second Schedule shall be a class prescribed for the purposes of subsection (4) of section 15 of the Act.
Prescribed conditions under subsections (1) and (3) of section 7. 6. (1) The following conditions shall be conditions prescribed for the purposes of subsections (1) and (3) of section 7 of the Act (which relate, respectively, to copies of articles in periodical publications and copies of parts of other works)—
    (a) no copy of any work or any part of a work shall be made for or supplied to any person unless he has delivered to the librarian concerned, or to some person appointed by the librarian for that purpose, a declaration and undertaking in writing in relation to that work or part, substantially in accordance with the form set out in the Third Schedule.Third Schedule and signed in the manner therein indicated;
    (b) for the purposes of subsection (1) (which relates to copies of articles in periodical publications) no copy extending to more than one article in any one publication shall be made;
    (c) for the purposes of subsection (3) (which relates to copies of parts of other works) no copy extending to more than a reasonable proportion of a work shall be made;
    (d) persons to whom copies are supplied shall be required to pay for such copies a sum not less than the cost (including a contribution to the general expenses of the library) attributable to their production.
(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph (1)—
    (a) a reasonable proportion of a work means—
       (i) in the case of a single extract, not more than 4,000 words; ​
       (ii) in the case of a series of extracte not more than 3,000 words per extract, with a total of not more than 8,000 words; and
       (iii) in any case, not more than 10 per cent of the work; and
    (b) poems, essays and other short literary works shall be regarded as whole works and not as parts of the volume in which they are published.
Prescribed conditions under subsection (5) of section 7. 7. The following conditions shall be the conditions prescribed for the purposes of subsection (5) of section 7 of the Act, (which relates to the making and supplying of copies of any works or parts of works to librarians)—
    (a) no copy of a work or a part of a work shall be made for or supplied to the librarian of any library, if a copy of that work or that part has already been supplied to any person as a librarian of that library, unless the librarian by or on behalf of whom the copy is made is satisfied that the copy already supplied has been lost, destroyed or damaged;
    (b) librarians to whom copies are supplied shall be required to pay for such copies a sum not less than the cost (including a contribution to the general expenses of the library) attributable to their production; and
    (c) no copy shall be supplied to the librarian of a library that is established or conducted for profit.
Restriction on the making of copies. 8. Nothing in regulation 6 or 7 shall be taken to authorize the librarian of any library to make or supply a copy of any work or part of a work (other than an article in a periodical publication) for or to any other person (whether that person is the librarian of another library or not) if at the time when the copy is made the librarian knows the name and address of a person entitled to authorize the making of the copy or could by reasonable inquiry ascertain the name and address of such a person.
Prescribed conditions under subsection (4) of section 15. 9. (1) The provisions of paragraph (2) of this regulation shall be the conditions prescribed for the purposes of subsection (4) of section 15 of the Act (which relates to reproductions of the typographical arrangements of published editions of works).
(2) A reproduction of the typographical arrangement of a published edition of a work or a part thereof may be made or supplied in pursuance of subsection (4) of section 15 only in the circumstances and upon the conditions in and upon which a copy of that work or part may, by virtue of the provisions of Part I ​of the Act, be made or supplied without infringing the copyright in that work under Part I:
Provided that for the purposes of subsection (4) of section 15 of the Act a reproduction of the typographical arrangement of a published edition of a work may be made without infringing the librarian by or on behalf of whom the reproduction is made copyright in the published edition notwithstanding that the knows, at the time it is made, the name and address of a person who is entitled to authorize the making of such a copy or such a reproduction or could by reasonable inquiry ascertain the name and address of such a person.
I. Any library in Hong Kong to which section 15 of the Copyright Act 1911 applied until the Copyright Act 1956 was brought into operation in Hong Kong.
II. Any library of a school (as defined by section 41(7) of the Act), university, college of a university or university college.
III. Any library administered under the (Cap. 132.)Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance.
IV. Any library administered as part of a Government Department.
V. Any library conducted for, or administered by any establishment or organization conducted for, the purposes of facilitating or encouraging the study of all or any of the following religion, philosophy, science (including any natural or social science), technology, medicine, history, literature, languages, education bibliography, fine arts, music or law.
Any library which makes works in its custody available to the public free of charge.
Form of Declaration and Undertaking
To
The Librarian of theLibrary
(Address)
1. I of hereby request you to make and supply to me **Delete whichever is inappropriate.[a copy of (particulars of article)] *[a copy of (particulars of a work of which a part is required to be supplied and particulars of that part)] which I require for the purposes of research or private study.
​2. I have not previously been supplied with a copy of *[the said article] *[the said part of the said work] by any librarian.
3. I undertake that if a copy is supplied to me in compliance with the request made above, I will not use it except for the purposes of research or private study.
Signature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Date. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[Note: This must be the personal signature of the person making the request. A stamped or typewritten signature or the signature of an agent is NOT sufficient.]
B. G. Jenney, Clerk of Councils.
Council Chamber,
29th May 1973.
Explanatory Note. (This Note is not part of the regulations, but is intended to indicate their general purport).
These regulations prescribe the classes of library entitled to the exemptions provided for in the Copyright Act 1956 as extended to Hong Kong, with regard to making copies of copyright works for the purpose of research or private study or for the purpose of supplying other libraries. Libraries established or conducted for profit may not make copies except for supply to other libraries. The regulations also prescribe the conditions which must be complied with in order to enjoy these exemptions. Similar provisions are made in relation to copying typographical arrangements of published editions, which now enjoy copyright independently of any copyright in the work itself.
一九五六年版權法（英國法例一九五六年第七四章） 一九七二年版權（香港）令 （英國法規一九七二年第一七二四號） 一九七三年版權（圖書館）規例 註釋 （本文並非規例之任何部份，而衹係以簡述規例之大意為目的）。
本規例規定若干類圖書館可獲享英國一九五六年版權法內適用於香港之條文中所載的豁免權，以便其可複製任何享有版權之作品以供研究、自修或供其他圖書館之用。凡為牟利而設立或經營之圖書館，均不得複製此類作品，但如係供其他圖書館之用，則屬例外。本規例並規定凡欲享有此項豁免權者所應遵守之條件。關於對已出版刊物在印刷上之編排形式，加以複製一事，亦有類似規定；按此種印刷上之編排形式所享有之版權已於作品本身所享有者有別。
This work is a Hong Kong ordinance, which is copyrighted in Hong Kong for 50 years after publication pursuant to section 183(2) and paragraph 36 of Schedule 2 of the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528). However, as an edict of a government, it is in the public domain in the U.S.
According to Section 3 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1), the term "ordinance" also includes any subsidiary legislation made under any ordinances of Hong Kong that does not contravene with the Hong Kong Basic Law.
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