There is a need for exceptions. Must be left for National Treatment. AMJ Everybody needs access to databases. One should be careful not to make the world so that we cannot live in it. ISCU recognised that database producers need to have their investments protected, but argued that the balance between producers' interests and the public interest is endangered.
Science is a global enterprise and full and open access to information is essential.
He recommended that the exceptions should be modelled in the spirit of the Berne Convention rather than the EU directive. The Chair concluded that the subject matter of the protection of databases will be carried forward to the agenda of the third session of the Standing Committee. The statements of the national delegations can be summarised that the process is still in its initial stages. There was a general agreement that there is a need for better protection, but it is at this stage not possible to comment on specific questions. The interventions of the non-governmental organizations showed that there is still much work to be done in terms of defining the concepts.