4 - Sector-Specific Exceptions

Summary

This first chapter on institutional practices focuses on sector-specific exceptions: provisions that are directed at certain activities of cultural institutions, and which by and large may be invoked only by such entities. The aims of this chapter are to describe the history and content of these provisions and to consider the role they have played in institutional practices. As will be seen, there is overlap in the classes of activity to which the sector-specific exceptions of different jurisdictions relate, reflecting a degree of international consensus regarding the areas where cultural institutions should be afforded special privileges. That said, each statute adopts its own form of drafting, which at times particularise these areas with considerable specificity. Whether institutional practices correspond with the statutory language, and whether that language is clear, are further questions this chapter will address. The chapter therefore draws from the fieldwork to understand how institutional users engage with the law in books.