Bermuda is set to get its own copy right legislation says Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister. He said an Order In Council extending Part One of the UK Copyright Act 1988 was pending.

He told the House in the Home Affairs budget debate yesterday: "This is a necessary step in our efforts to enact our own copyright legislation.

And the Fire Service will get a 16 percent increase to pay for more staff and better equipment in 2003.

Mr. Lister told the House in yesterday's budget debate that $836,000 would go to the salaries of 12 civilian emergency medical dispatchers to allow fire fighters to return to the front line. More telephone equipment will be brought in to improve the dispatch centre.

Speaking about the copyright changes, Mr. Lister said: "Bermuda and other UK territories are currently unable to enact equivalent copyright legislation in their own right because of a legal technicality which only came to light when Bermuda requested transitional provisions for its copyright legislation from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

He said as soon as the Order in Council is passed by the Privy Council, a copyright bill incorporating provisions covering new rights in performances, databases and design will be laid before the House. The Minister also said the Registry General was looking to revise the 1974 Trademark Act and its regulations followed by a review of the Patents and Designs Act.

Turning to the Fire Service, Mr. Lister said an exhaust extraction system to remove harmful exhaust fumes from fire stations will cost $355,000 while $185,000 has been set aside for new breathing apparatus.

Mr. Lister said: "Existing equipment is outdated and in some cases does not meet current international safety specifications."

Another $119,000 has been allocated to replace emergency medical equipment, fire fighting equipment, security cameras and computer hardware. A computer aided dispatch system will be introduced followed by a computer network and additional hardware.

Mr. Lister said the estimated loss of property damage due to fire had been halved in 2002 to $639,00 from the previous year's $1.3 million. He said the fire department had 1,620 meetings with architects and consultants to give safety advice.

Training was a big investment said Mr. Lister as the department encouraged the service to remain 100 percent Bermudian. The Minister also said money would be spent on promoting the 911 emergency number after noting people were still ringing the individual emergency services direct.

Opposition Home Affairs spokeswoman Patricia Gordon-Pamplin supported the 911 service but said some people were put off by all the questions they get asked.The Registry General is set to launch its own website within the next few weeks.

It will have information about registering intellectual property and have downloadable application forms. Mr. Lister said it was the first step to developing electronic searching of the Registry General database, electronic filing of documents and electronic fee payments.

He said the Registry was running out of space and $9.300 was being spent on training a staff member to work out a plan to computerise deed, mortgage and voluntary conveyance forms to enable online searching.

Mr. Lister said: "This will enhance the preservation of registers as it will eliminate the need for human contact with them.

"Once the records are on line it will also allow them to store the hard copies outside the office."