The legislation currently does not protect "foreign works". Protection of eligible works in SKN is limited to authors who are nationals or habitual residents of SKN or if it was first published in SKN (ss. 3 and 8 of SKN Copyright Act). In its ongoing legislative review the Government has already identified this provision as inconsistent with provisions of the TRIPS Agreement and will remedy this in the very near future since it is open to the Minister, under s. 145 to pass a statutory order that would declare that copyright protection extends to the works or authors of the countries that are Members of the Berne Convention, TRIPS or any other relevant international treaty on copyright and performers' rights to which SKN is a party. This approach would not require parliamentary intervention but a legislative amendment in parliament, though more onerous to achieve, is likely to carry a higher degree of practical prudence.
