WIPO’s proposed treaty on broadcasting

KEI’s timeline of WIPO negotiations on the treaty from 1961 to 2023 is available here.

For SCCR 43, March 13 to March 17, 2023

  • Meeting documents. (link)
  • English version of Second Revised Draft Text for the WIPO Broadcasting Organizations Treaty,prepared by the SCCR Chair in cooperation with the SCCR Vice-Chairs and facilitators, SCCR43/3.
  • KEI Briefing document: The Trouble with the WIPO Broadcast Treaty, February 28, 2023 (link)
  • Tech industry letter, December 6, 2022. Link
  • P. Bernt Hugenholtz. University of Amsterdam Institute for Information Law. The WIPO Broadcasting Treaty: Comments on the Second Revised Draft (link).

Still relevant:
Between October 3-4, 2018, KEI convened a seminar on Appraising the WIPO Broadcast Treaty and its Implications on Access to Culture. This seminar was webcast; presentations and videos can be found here. The written remarks of the keynote address by Professor Bernt Hugenholz can be found here.


These negotiations have been going on for many years, certainly as early as the 1997 WIPO World Symposium on Broadcasting, New Communication Technologies and Intellectual Property, in Manila, and arguably earlier. Beginning in 2017, there has been a new push to conclude the negotiations, although countries are miles apparent on substantive issues.

The 2014 KEI testimony before the House Judiciary Committee provides some historical context.

See in particular the 11 page written testimony.

On November 27, 2018, KEI convened a side event at SCCR 31 – “Civil Society Views on the proposed WIPO Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations”. More information about the event can be found here.

October 3-4, 2018, KEI seminar on Appraising the WIPO Broadcast Treaty and its Implications on Access to Culture. This seminar was webcast; presentations and videos can be found here. The written remarks of the keynote address by Professor Bernt Hugenholz can be found here.

Older blogs on the broadcast treaty negotiation.

For more up-to-date information, see the pages for recent meetings of the WIPO SCCR.

Thursday, 24 October 2019, KEI side event on the margins of SCCR 39: The broadcasters right and the new streaming services: who benefits from the new rights?