Last Updated on April 5, 2021, 1:54 pm ET
Today, June 30, 2016, the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled Reached its 20th ratification and will enter into force on September 30, 2016.
Yesterday, WIPO received the ratification documents from Ecuador and Guatemala and today Canada deposited its instrument of accession to the Marrakesh Treaty. With these three ratifications, the treaty now has twenty ratifications and countries from nearly every region have ratified including: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, India, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Mongolia, North Korea, Paraguay, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay. The twentieth ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty occurred just over three years from when WIPO concluded the diplomatic conference and adopted the treaty.
The Marrakesh Treaty sets forth minimum standards for limitations and exceptions to facilitate access to accessible format works. It would also permit cross-border sharing of these accessible formats, allowing countries to avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts and resources in the creation of these accessible works. Additionally, the Treaty would facilitate importation of works created in other languages.
WIPO’s press release on this historic moment is available here.
