Towards ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty in the European Union: Update on the current status of transposition of the Marrakesh Directive in Europe on the occasion of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 12-14 June

Abstract

Following the adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty by WIPO in 2013, the European Union legislated for the ratification of the treaty in its Member States. A Directive (2017/1564) setting out the rules for Member States, and a Regulation (2017/1563), extending their application to exchanges of accessible format works with countries outside of the Union, were published in the Official Journal on 12 October 2017. Member States have until 11 October 2018 to complete transposition. Some have already taken action to move in this direction and have even adopted the changes (such as Spain), and in many other discussions are still underway. In turning these provisions into national law, member states have a limited amount of flexibility. IFLA and EBLIDA published a guide for implementation of this European legislation into national law. This highlights our preferred means of transposing the law, notably as concerns supplementary remuneration, record keeping and registration requirements, as well as application to people with other disabilities. Ratification in Europe will not only mean 28 more countries covered by the Marrakesh Treaty, bringing with them important collections in major world languages. This will benefit people around the world. This document offers an update of where things stand in several European member states on the 14 June 2018, four months before the legislation enters into force. For each of the countries for which we have information, the table highlights the degree to which Member States are making the right choices in their implementation.