Consultation bottleneck beckons.

THE COMING MONTHS WILL SEE a raft of documents pass between the music industry and ministers as the Government launches an unprecedented number of consultations and discussion papers, starting shortly with an options paper on the recently-mooted Rights Agency.

The agency, which will help rights holders ensure their copyrighted material is being legally used, was proposed by Minister for Communications Stephen Carter in his recent Digital Britain report.

Despite Digital Britain coming jointly from the Government's Department for Culture Media and Sport and the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR), the UK Intellectual Property Office will run the Rights Agency consultation.

It will ask the industry its views on whether the agency should be a statutory or voluntary body, or perhaps even run along similar lines to a collecting society.

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham says, "The thinking is for a body that can get the ISPs and industry together and work out fundamental principles."

BPI director of public affairs Richard Mollet adds, "It could be a beneficial forum to take forward policies to tackle copyright infringement online."

There is concern from some industry executives that they might be rushed into providing Rights Agency consultation feedback, with the ...