Section 48

This section applies where a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work has in the course of public business been communicated to the Crown for any purpose, by or with the licence of the copyright owner and a document or other material thing recording or embodying the work is owned by or in the custody or control of the Crown. The Crown may, without infringing copyright in the work, do an act specified in subsection (3) provided that— the act is done for the purpose for which the work was communicated to the Crown, or any related purpose which could reasonably have been anticipated by the copyright owner, and the work has not been previously published otherwise than by virtue of this section. The acts referred to in subsection (2) are— copying the work, issuing copies of the work to the public, and making the work (or a copy of it) available to the public by electronic transmission in such a way that members of the public may access it from a place and at a time individually chosen by them. In subsection (1) “public business” includes any activity carried on by the Crown. This section has effect subject to any agreement to the contrary between the Crown and the copyright owner. In this section “the Crown” includes a health service body, as defined in section 60(7) of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, NHS England , an integrated care board established under section 14Z25 of the National Health Service Act 2006, ... , the Care Quality Commission ... , the Health Services Safety Investigations Body, the Health Research Authority and a National Health Service trust established under section 25 of the National Health Service Act 2006, section 18 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 or the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 and an NHS foundation trust and also includes a health and social services body, as defined in Article 7(6) of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, and a Health and Social Services trust established under that Order , and the reference in subsection (1) above to public business shall be construed accordingly.

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Source: legislation.gov.uk · retrieved 2026-09-04