asked the President of the Board of Trade what steps have to be taken before this country can ratify the Universal Copyright Convention, signed at Geneva on 6th September, 1952; and whether he is now prepared to proceed towards ratification at the earliest possible time.

Legislation would be necessary to enable copyright protection to be conferred on the published works of nationals of Convention countries irrespective of the place of first publication of those works. I cannot say when it will be possible to introduce such legislation.