UPSC Exam PIB Summary & Analysis

Article II and III of the Appendix to the Paris Act (1971)

• On March 28, 2018, the World Intellectual Property Organization has notified a declaration referring to the deposit by the Government of the Republic of India, on October 7, 1974, of its instrument of ratification on the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of September 9, 1886, as revised at Paris on July 24, 1971 (see Berne Notification No. 59) and to its subsequent deposits, on February 1, 1984 and June 7, 1984 of declarations according to which the Government of the Republic of India availed itself of the faculties provided for the Article II and III of the Appendix to the Berne Convention (see Berne Convention Nos. 108 and 110, respectively) during the 10 years period that will expire, on October 10, 2024.
• The said declaration shall enter into force, with respect to the territory of the Republic of India, on March 28, 2018.
• The Article II of the Appendix would enable the Republic of India to substitute for the exclusive right of translation of a work, which has been published in printed or analogous forms of reproduction, granted by the competent authority, only for the purpose of teaching, scholarship or research.
• The Article III of the Appendix would enable the Republic of India to Substitute for the exclusive right of reproduction of a work, which has been published either in printed or analogous forms of reproduction, or in audio-visual form of lawfully made audio-visual fixations, to publish an edition which has not been distributed / on sale for a period of six months, except when either the translations is not published by the owner of the right of translation or with his authorization, or when the translation is not in a language general in use in India.
• India has been the Member of Berne Convention since 28^th April, 1928 and has been submitting the declaration as per Article II & III of the Appendix from time to time.

Compilation of a database of shell companies by SFIO

• The Task Force on Shell Companies has met 8 times since its constitution and has taken pro-active and coordinated steps to check the menace of shell companies. 
• The major achievements of the Task Force include the compilation of a database of shell companies by SFIO. This database, as on date, comprises of 3 lists, viz the Confirmed List, Derived List and Suspect List. The Confirmed List has a total of 16,537 confirmed shell companies on the basis of the information received from the various Law Enforcement Agencies of the companies found to be involved in illegal activities. 
• The Ministry of Corporate affairs will also be launching a public awareness campaign soon to make the public aware of the need to get the registrations of their defunct companies cancelled themselves.
• The mechanism for sharing of documents and information amongst all the Law Enforcement Agencies has been put in place. Standard Operating Procedure regarding ‘Sharing of Documents’ has been finalised and circulated amongst all the Law Enforcement Agencies for compliance.
• The Task Force is the appellate authority for this purpose. The Standard Operating Procedure for sharing of information amongst the various Law Enforcement Agencies has also been finalized and circulated by Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, which is the Nodal Agency for this purpose.

• The Government expects that it’s efforts to clean up the registry will create a transparent and compliant corporate ecosystem in India, promote the cause of ‘ease of doing business’ and enhance the trust of the public.

 Background

The existence of black money creates imbalances in the economy, finances terror and crimes like money laundering etc., puts the honest at a disadvantage, deprives the State of the much-needed revenues and ultimately adversely affects the poor of the country.