UK-India CETA: UK updates broadcasts, performers’ rights

Here’s the short version: to line up UK law with the UK–India trade deal, ministers have made a narrow Order that slots India into the UK’s copyright and performance‑rights regime. It was made on 3 February 2026, laid on 10 February 2026, and it only takes effect on the day the treaty itself starts. Source: Order in Council (S.I. 2026/103).

Why now? Because the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the UK and India was signed on 24 July 2025 at Chequers in Buckinghamshire. Trade deals often include intellectual‑property chapters, and domestic law then moves to match those promises. That’s what this Order is doing. (ft.com)

What actually changes on broadcasts? The 2016 Order’s article 8 is being updated so Part 1 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 will apply to broadcasts and wireless broadcasts coming from India, just as it already does for several other partner countries. In practice, if you retransmit or record an Indian TV or radio broadcast in the UK, the usual copyright rules apply.

Let’s decode the jargon. A broadcast, in plain English, is a scheduled transmission to the public-think radio or TV-delivered over spectrum or similar services. It isn’t the same as uploading a clip to a video site on demand. UK law draws these lines in the CDPA, and the 2016 Order tells us which countries are covered for foreign content. (gov.uk)

What about performers’ rights? The Order gives India reciprocal protection under Part 2, which is where UK law protects performers and people with recording rights. One important carve‑out applies: section 182D-the right to equitable remuneration when a sound recording is played in public or broadcast-is switched off for India. That is the rule behind the familiar ‘performer share’ paid via collecting societies. (wipo.int)

Why exclude that payment right? The UK has used similar carve‑outs before when extending protection to countries whose own laws don’t run the same payment system. Earlier ‘other countries’ Orders show section 182D being disapplied in those reciprocal arrangements too, so this is not a one‑off. (wipo.int)

When does any of this start? Not today. The Order has a switch‑on clause: it comes into force on the date the UK–India agreement enters into force for both sides. As of Thursday 12 February 2026, that start date has not been announced publicly because the treaty still needs ratification steps. (apnews.com)

If you work in a UK school, college or library, your usual exceptions and licences remain. Educational copying rules, the ERA scheme for broadcast use, and music licences continue to govern how you can use material. The point here is simply that when the treaty begins, Indian broadcasts and Indian performances ‘plug in’ to the same UK framework.

If you’re a performer whose performance is connected with India-for example by nationality or where it was recorded-most UK performer controls apply, such as consent to record and remedies against unauthorised uses. But you should not expect the section 182D payment in the UK for those recordings. For British performers looking to India, protection there will flow from India’s own implementing law once it gives effect to the treaty chapter.

What to watch next: look out for the government notice confirming the agreement’s entry into force and the Intellectual Property Office’s explanatory note. Until then, think of this as the wiring behind the wall-installed, tested, and ready to go when the switch is flipped.