The International Authors Forum held its Annual General Meeting on 14 March 2017.
The meeting heard reports on the ongoing work of the IAF with the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations. The IAF also set out plans to expand its work with the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) and its continued partnership with International Public Lending Right. Issues the IAF will continue to focus on also include educational exceptions and other measures of authors’ remuneration such as artists’ resale rights.
The AGM heard from a range of IAF members sharing the situation of authors in their countries and more will be done to share information about how authors are increasingly seeing declining earnings. A resolution was passed to demand that the Canadian government protect its cultural workers by repairing copyright, this can now be found on the IAF website. The IAF also adopted position statements on taxes on books and public library closures: two issues the IAF will continue to lobby on. These have now been made public.