In March, EIFL responded to two public consultations on proposed new copyright laws. The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) invited stakeholders to submit written comments on the Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 2026, while in Zambia, the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) encouraged stakeholders to review and send proposals on the Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 2025 (extended deadline 31 March 2026). The bills seek to modernize the copyright frameworks in Kenya and Zambia in line with technological developments and international best practices. EIFL welcomes the introduction of new exceptions for text and data mining among other provisions, while cautioning against restrictions on activities permitted in other countries in Africa and the global North.

Kenya: multiple concerns with the 2026 Bill

EIFL and the Geneva Centre on Knowledge Governance (GCKG) jointly submitted comments on Kenya’s Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 2026. 

From the perspective of research, education, and cultural heritage institutions, provisions on fair dealing and text and data analysis are more straightforward than the previous Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 2025, and easier for libraries and researchers to understand and apply.

However, other amendments would have a negative impact. For example, fair dealing, that was unambiguously open in the previous version, appears to have been converted into a closed list limited to the stated purposes. This removes the flexibility needed to accommodate emerging technologies that will underpin the advancement of national policies on science, research and innovation.

Two provisions have unfortunately been deleted: contract override (that safeguards exceptions from contract terms), and the exception for the making of temporary, cache copies (integral to using a computer or transferring information over a computer network). 

Two new tests have been introduced. First, a new subsection inserts the three-step test into the law. The three-step test is an abstract formula that guides the application of certain copyright exceptions, and is properly viewed as a directive for legislatures to employ when they are formulating exceptions, rather than a standard to be applied by the ordinary user. How is an individual in Kenya expected to determine whether the exercise of a specific exception "conflicts with the normal exercise of the work" or "unreasonably prejudices the legitimate interests of the rights owner"? Second, a commercial availability test has been added to the exception for the making of accessible format copies for persons with print disabilities. EIFL, the GCKG and other prominent analysts, including the World Blind Union, strongly oppose commercial availability, a requirement to check if a work is available on the market before an accessible format copy can be made. As a practical matter it would be difficult, and in some cases impossible, to determine if a particular work is available commercially in a particular format at any given time, especially in cross-border situations, and as a result libraries may decide it is too burdensome and legally risky to offer the service. A commercial availability requirement undermines the objective and the spirit of the Marrakesh Treaty which is to end the global ‘book famine’ for persons with print disabilities. Kenya successfully implemented the Marrakesh Treaty for persons with print disabilities in 2019, and this change is really unwarranted.

For these negative amendments, EIFL and GCKG urge KECOBO to reinstate the provisions in the previous draft.

Read the response to Kenya’s public consultation by EIFL and GCKG.

Zambia: new exceptions for text and data mining, people with print disabilities

EIFL, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the Geneva Centre on Knowledge Governance (GCKG) jointly submitted comments on Zambia’s Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 2025.

EIFL, IFLA and GCKC welcomed several positive provisions from the perspective of libraries, education and research, including new exceptions for text and data mining, and for people with print disabilities, provisions that implement the Marrakesh Treaty into national law. We look forward to Zambia’s accession to the Marrakesh Treaty that will open up a world of accessible reading material for blind and visually impaired people in Zambia.

We also offered some technical comments and recommendations to help clarify certain provisions, future-proof the law for technological developments, and more generally to advance access to knowledge for people in Zambia. For example, the cross-border exchange of accessible format copies, as required by the Marrakesh Treaty, should explicitly be permitted. Fair dealing in the current law (the 1994 Copyright and Performance Rights Act) and eliminated in the Bill, should be reinstated and expanded as other jurisdictions, such as Nigeria, Singapore and Canada, have done. A provision on contract override, that safeguards exceptions from contract terms, should be introduced to ensure that digital content can avail of the exceptions. Provisions on exhaustion of the distribution right and library lending should be clarified to avoid confusion, and termination of copyright assignment should be broadened to grant authors a right to terminate, in order to create a level playing field for creators.

In our comments, we also responded to a submission on the Copyright Bill by the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO) and the International Confederation of Societies of Authors (CISAC). IFRRO and CISAC raised many objections to the Bill based, they claimed, on international copyright treaties and best practices. However, on closer examination, several of these assertions are in fact just a reflection of their preferred policy outcomes.

Read the response to Zambia’s public consultation by EIFL , IFLA and GCKG.