48Material communicated to the Crown in the course of public business
(1)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.
(2)The Crown may, for the purpose for which the work was communicated to it, or any related purpose which could reasonably have been anticipated by the copyright owner, copy the work and issue copies of the work to the public without infringing any copyright in the work.
(3)The Crown may not copy a work, or issue copies of a work to the public, by virtue of this section if the work has previously been published otherwise than by virtue of this section.
(4)In subsection (1) “public business” includes any activity carried on by the Crown.
(5)This section has effect subject to any agreement to the contrary between the Crown and the copyright owner.