Germany, Italy Leading Resistance To EU Ratification Of Marrakesh Treaty, Blind Union Says

Two and a half years after an international treaty was adopted to facilitate access to special format literary works for blind and visually impaired people, the European Blind Union blames the failure of the European Union to ratify it as a failure to implement the right to read in the EU.

The World Intellectual Property Organization Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled was adopted on 27 June 2013. In a press release today, the European Blind Union (EBU) said “while a range of countries such as India, Mexico, El Salvador, Argentina, Paraguay, Mali and others have already ratified the Marrakesh Treaty, the EU and its members are still failing in doing so.”

Some 14 months after the Copyright Unit of the European Commission presented a proposal, the Council has not reached an agreement on the EU ratification of the treaty, the EBU said, “although the legal services of EU Commission, Council and European Parliament have insisted on the clarity of exclusive EU competence which is supported by ample European Court jurisprudence.”

According to the release, 21 EU member states have expressed their consent for a proposed compromise, while seven members “led by Germany and Italy,” have rejected the compromise and “are forming a blocking minority which stalemates the ongoing ratification negotiations.”

Quoted in the release, German EBU President Wolfgang Angermann said: “Germany’s delaying tactic demonstrates an appalling ignorance of Europe’s blind people’s right to read. Their unsubstantiated arguments and diverting strategy is a stab in the back for blind readers all over the world, and prevents their prosperity and equal social participation.”

This week, WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), which negotiated the Marrakesh Treaty, is meeting for discussions on further exceptions and limitations to copyright, this time for the benefit of libraries, archives, research and educational institutions, and people with other disabilities than visual impairment (IPW, WIPO, 7 December 2015).