There is some hoopla happening right now about that law saying balikbayans can’t bring in movies, TV shows and coloring books anymore when they return to the Philippines.
That “law” would be House Bill No. 3841, 15th Congress, making some amendments to current Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.
To put it plainly: No, it’s not bawal. What is bawal now is how many your tita can bring home, and in fact this law says your tita or any balikbayan relatives can bring in more than they did before according to the change in law.
Yes, more.
Don’t be scared, because I will now be posting some legal stuff in the next few paragraphs to illustrate this. Scroll down a bit if you want to skip it.
The now-to-be-deleted provision reads like this:
SEC. 190. Importation for Personal Purposes
190.1. Notwithstanding the provision of Subsection 177.6, but subject to the limitation under the Subsection 185.2, the importation of a copy of a work by an individual for his personal purposes shall be permitted without the authorization of the author of, or other owner of copyright in, the work under the following circumstances:
b) When such copies form parts of libraries and personal baggage belonging to persons or families arriving from foreign countries and are not intended for sale: Provided, That such copies do not exceed three (3).
The soon-to-be-public provision will be like this:
SEC. 190. Importation and exportation of infringing materials
Subject to the approval of the Secretary of Finance, the Commissioner of Customs is hereby empowered to make rules and regulations for preventing the importation or exportation of articles, the importation or exportation of which is prohibited under this Act and under treaties and conventions to which the Philippines may be a party and for seizing and condemning and disposing of the same in case they are discovered after they have been imported or before they are exported.
Continue reading at Yahoo! By Rod Vera, JD, Special to Yahoo! Philippines
