The role of libraries in the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty for persons with a print disability

Abstract

On 27 June 2013, the Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons With Print Disabilities adopted the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled, with the aim to allow ― without the authorization of the rightholder ― the production and distribution to said beneficiaries of accessible format copies at a national level, as well as to permit the cross-border exchange of those accessible format copies. Seven years earlier, in 2006, the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (UN CRPD) was adopted by the UN General Assembly. The former would not have been possible without the latter, and the latter needs the former – and as many other similar treaties and legal instruments as possible – to fulfil its objectives.

The UN CRPD obliges State Parties to take all appropriate measures to provide persons with disabilities with the same information, at the same time, and in the form of communication of their choice that their peers without a disability have access to. The Marrakesh Treaty was designed to make this true by providing signatory countries with the mechanisms required to allow for exceptions and limitations to the rights of production, distribution, and making available of information in accessible formats, at both domestic and international level.

This paper analyses the links and the close relationship between the UN CRPD and the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty insofar as their mutual dependency and their common objective.