Having looked at some of the ways of thinking about copyright that underpin an overly restrictive regime, in this chapter and the next we consider the barriers that users face in getting their voices heard during legislative and policy-making processes. We argue that at every level – international, regional and national – user groups face obstacles that limit substantially their opportunities to shape decision making in the copyright field. In this chapter we focus on international and regional fora and the particular difficulties that users have in getting their voices heard at a supranational level. The majority of our analysis is concerned with the European legislative process because the most concrete steps affecting the exceptions have been taken at this level. We argue that, for a variety of reasons, the interests of users have been inadequately represented at the European level. In part this is because of political, financial and institutional constraints, but we also argue that the logic that is driving the harmonisation process and the Commission's starting point have also played an important role.

Before turning to the above, it is important to explain what may seem like a contradiction in, on the one hand, our criticising the European legislative process as paying insufficient attention to the needs of users and, on the other hand, our insisting that the Information Society Directive provides an opportunity for fundamental reform that could provide the foundation for a much fairer system of exceptions.