On 1 January 1998, The Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997 came into force, which implemented the provisions of the parallel EU Database Directive. These regulations made a number of amendments to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 with respect to databases, with a database being defined as "a collection of independent works, data or other materials which are
1) arranged in a systematic or methodical way, and
2) are individually accessible by electronic or other means"
The regulations extend existing copyright law to databases, to the extent that they constitute "the author's own intellectual creation".
