WIPO Members Meet To Advance Treaty Text On Visually Impaired

Following the recent approval by the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly of a work plan toward a diplomatic conference in 2013, WIPO members are gathering this week to advance work on a draft treaty on exceptions to copyright for visually impaired readers.

An intersessional meeting on limitations and exceptions for visually impaired persons and persons with print disabilities is taking place from 17-19 October.

Delegates are working on a revised working document [pdf] issued on 26 July, at the 24th session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) (IPW, WIPO, 26 July 2012).

Today, after a brief plenary session, delegates went into closed informal discussions, excluding stakeholders, for the rest of the day. A revised version of the working document should be available tomorrow morning and discussions will continue, most likely in informals.

Negotiations will continue at the next SCCR meeting from 19-23 November.

The working document contains a long preamble presenting several alternative texts proposed by a number of delegations, such as Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India, Mexico, and the United States, followed by a set of articles.

Among the issues to discuss are the definition of accessible format copy, and of authorised entities, which refers to entities that address the needs of visually impaired persons including providing those persons with services relating to education, and information access.

Article D defines the conditions of cross-border exchange of accessible format copies, the absence of which has been described as a major factor limiting access for visually impaired persons.