Uganda’s Parliament on Tuesday passed the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2025, concluding yearsof debate and speculation over reforms aimed at strengthening protections and earnings for the country’s creative industry.
The bill cleared its Third Reading, the final stage of parliamentary approval, and now awaits assent from the President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni before becoming law.
Its passage follows a tense week in which artists, producers and copyright organisations mounted an intense lobbying campaign to protect Clause 9, the provision widely seen as the economic backbone of the proposed reforms.
The turning point came during last week’s Second Reading debate in Parliament, where Hon David Kabanda supported by Anita Among, the Speaker of Parliament, raised concerns and opinions about Clause 9, triggering alarm across Uganda’s creative sector.
Clause 9 proposes a framework requiring broadcasters and commercial establishments such as bars, hotels and restaurants to compensate artists and rights holders when copyrighted music and other creative works are publicly used.
Many artists interpreted the Speaker’s remarks as a signal that the clause, and the financial protections it promises could be altered or removed before the bill’s final passage.
Within hours of the debate, leaders across the creative industry mobilised.
Artists and rights holders issued a joint statement through Collective Management Organisations (CMOs), urging Parliament not to tamper with the clause. Several individual artists and industry bodies also wrote letters directly to the Speaker explaining why the provision was essential to the survival of Uganda’s music and creative economy.
The pressure campaign intensified through the weekend, culminating in a closed-door meeting between sector leaders and the Speaker on Tuesday morning, hours before Parliament reconvened for the final session that would determine the bill’s fate.
Among those who attended the meeting were Martin Yoyo, chairperson of the Uganda Performing Right Society board; Eddy Kenzo, president of the Uganda National Musicians Federation and presidential adviser on creatives; Jeff Ekongot, chief executive of the Uganda Musicians Association; and Charles Batambuze, representing the Uganda Reproduction Rights Organisation, the collective management body for literary works.
Participants say the Attorney General briefed the meeting on the areas of contention over which they had reached an agreement including Clause 9. Issues that the CMO team raised included the protection of the monopoly status of collecting societies to ensure efficiency in the management of copyright in the country.
Industry insiders believe the engagement helped clarify concerns within Parliament and ultimately influenced the direction of the final debate that afternoon.
By the time MPs reconvened for the session, the bill moved forward and was passed at Third Reading.
The bill’s approval marks the culmination of a legislative process that began in May 2025, when Norbert Mao, the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, introduced it to Parliament as part of efforts to modernise Uganda’s copyright framework.
Like all legislation in Uganda, the bill moved through several stages before its final passage. With the completion of the Third Reading, the legislation is formally passed by Parliament.
The amendment seeks to overhaul key elements of the country’s copyright regime, including improving the management and collection of royalties, protections for online works including takedown orders, and strengthening enforcement against unauthorised use of creative works.
For artists and creators who have long argued that weak enforcement has deprived them of income from their intellectual property, the reform is seen as a potential turning point.
Once assented to and published in the Uganda Gazette, the new law could reshape how musicians, filmmakers, writers and other creators earn from their work — particularly in broadcast media, digital platforms and public performance spaces.
For many in the industry, however, the events leading up to Tuesday’s vote underscored the importance of sustained engagement between policymakers and the creative sector as Uganda attempts to build a more sustainable cultural economy.
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