S.I. No. 16 of 2004 
European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2004 
I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in exercise of the 
powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 
1972), and for the purposes of giving further e ffect to Directive 2001/29/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 20011, as amended by Corrigendum2, hereby make 
the following Regulations: 
 
1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Copyright and 
Related Rights) Regulations 2004. 
 
 (2) In these Regulations, “Act of 2000” means the Copyright and Related Rights 
Act 2000 (No. 28 of 2000). 
 
2. Section 2(1) of the Act of 2000 is amended in the definition of “protection-defeating device” by inserting the following after “measure”: 
 
“or which is promoted, advertised or mark eted for the purpose of circumvention of 
any rights protection measure, or which has only a limited commercially significant 
purpose or use other than to circum vent any rights protection measure”. 
 
3. The Act of 2000 is amended by subst ituting for section 87 the following: 
 
Temporary acts of reproduction. 
 “(1) It is not an infringement of the rights conferred by this Part to 
undertake or conduct temporar y acts of reproduction whic h acts are transient or 
incidental and which are an integral and essential part of a technological process and whose sole purpose is to enable - 
 
(a) a transmission in a network between third parties by an 
intermediary, or 
 
(b) a lawful use, 
 
of a work or other subject-matter to be  made, and which acts have no independent 
economic significance. 
 
(2) Where a copy, which would otherw ise be an infringing copy, is made 
under this section and is subsequently sold, rented or lent, or o ffered or exposed for 
sale, rental or loan, or otherwise made avai lable to the public, it shall be deemed to be 
an infringing copy for those purposes  and for all subsequent purposes.”. 
 
 
 
                                                 
1 OJ No. L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10 
2 OJ No. L 006, 10.1.2002, p. 70 4. The Act of 2000 is am ended by subst ituting for section 244 the following: 
 
Temporary acts of reproduction. 
“(1) It is not an infringem ent of the rights conferred by this Part to 
undertake or conduct temporar y acts of reproduction whic h acts are transient or 
incidental and which are an integral and e ssential part of a technological process and 
whose sole purpose is to enable - 
 
(a) a transm ission in a netw ork between third parties by an 
intermediary, or 
 
(b) a lawful use, 
 
of the subject-m atter to be m ade, and which acts have no independent econom ic 
significan ce. 
 
(2) Where a copy, which would otherwis e be an illicit recording, is m ade 
under this section and is subsequently sold, rented or lent, or o ffered or exposed for 
sale, rental or loan, or otherwise m ade avai lable to the public, it shall be treated as an 
illicit recording for those purposes and for all subsequent purposes.”. 
 
5. The Act of 2000 is am ended by subst ituting for section 374 the following: 
 
Non-interference of Rights Protecti on Measu res w ith Permitted Acts.  
 “(1) Nothing in this Chapte r shall b e construed as operating to prevent any 
person from  undertak ing the acts perm itted - 
 
(a) in relation to works protected by copyright under Chapter 6  of 
Part II , 
 
(b) in relation to perform ances, by Chapter 4 of Part III , or 
 
(c) in relation to databases, by Chapter 8 of Part V . 
 
(2) Where the b eneficiary is  legally entitled to access  the pro tected work 
or subject-m atter concerned, th e rightsholder shall m ake av ailable to the b eneficiary 
the m eans of benef itting f rom the per mitted act, s ave where s uch work or other 
subject-m atter has been m ade available to the public on agreed contractual term s in 
such a way that m embers of the public m ay access the work o r other subject-m atter 
from  a place and at a time individually chosen by them . 
 
(3) In the event of a di spute arising, the benefici ary m ay apply to the High 
Court for an order requiring a person to do or to refrain from  doing anything the doing 
or refraining from  doing of which is nece ssary to ensure com pliance by that person 
with the provisions of this section.”. 
 
 
 
 2  3 6. The Act of 2000 is amended by the insertion in section 50 after s ubsection (5) of the 
following subsection: 
 
“(6) The exemption provided for in this section shall not apply to 
reproductions of sheet music, on paper or a ny similar medium, effected by the use of 
any kind of photographic technique or by some  other process having similar effects.”. 
 
 
   
 
L.S.     GIVEN  under my Official Seal, 
       This  19th day of  January, 2004. 
        
       M A R Y  H A R N E Y  
 
Minister for Enterprise , Trade and Employment. 
 
Prn. 1681 
 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
 
(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation ). 
 
This Order completes the transposition into  Irish law of Directive 2001/29/EC on the 
Harmonisation of Certain Aspects of Copyright and Related Rights in the Information 
Society.  While Ireland was already in substan tial compliance with this  Directive through the 
enactment of the Copyright and Related Right s Act 2000, the Order makes a small number of 
amendments to the 2000 Act to ensure it fully achieves the result intende d by the Directive.  
 
 
Published by the Stationery Office, Dublin 
 
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