Kulturudvalget 2010-11 (1. samling)
KUU Alm.del Bilag 134
Offentligt
Greens/EFAEuropean ParliamentApril, 20th, 2011
Subject:WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other
Reading Disabled Persons. Question to the government.
Dear colleagues,Blind, visually impaired and other reading disabled people faced what is called a“book famine": only some 5% of books are published in formats accessible to them.In many countries outside the EU even less than 1% of the books are published insuch formats. For many years now organizations of blind people have asked for asolution allowing them to access to books.A treaty for visually impaired and other print-disabled persons is presently beingconsidered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The World BlindUnion, the European Blind Union and many national organisations call for this treatyas a means of defending the "right to read" of blind and other disabled persons asguaranteed by the UN Convention on the rights of the persons with disabilities.At present reading material formatted for the visually impaired cannot cross bordersdue to the national nature of copyright laws. While limitations and exceptions tocopyright do exist for the visually impaired in many EU countries, there is nointernational legal norm in this respect that facilitates overcoming this barrier for theaccess to reading material.The Greens/EFA group strongly supports the demands of the organizations of blindpeople and the adoption of the legally binding Treaty for the visually impaired andother print-disabled persons at WIPO. Key meetings will soon take place at the EUCouncil and at the WIPO in May and June 2011.To our knowledge many governments of EU Member States so far have opposed thetreaty within the discussions being held by the EU Council on this issue to coordinatea common EU position before a decision be taken at WIPO in June. We believe it isessential to standby the organizations of blind people and to bring a legally bindingsolution to this problem without wasting any more time. This is why we would like toask you if you could put an urgent question to the government regarding this issue.Please find below elements that you may find useful in order to table this question.With our best regards,
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WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other
Reading Disabled Persons.
Question to the government.
Blind, partially sighted, dyslexic and other disabled people who need books in“accessible formats” such as large print, braille or audio formats are faced with a“book famine” in which only some 5% of books are published in these formats. Inmany countries outside the EU even less than 1% of books published are available.These books are mainly converted into accessible formats by small voluntaryorganisations. Such organisations want to use modern technology to share book filesfrom which accessible formats can be made. That sharing would save them moneyand time, and allow more books to be translated and produced.However, these aspirations are currently thwarted. Although national copyright lawexceptions permit these organisations to make accessible books in some countries,such has the European countries, about a third of the WIPO Member States, andnotably less common in developing countries, include such exceptions. Moreover, thenational nature of laws and exceptions prevents their being sent across internationalborders.In 2009, on behalf of the World Blind Union, the governments of Brazil, EcuadorParaguay proposed a treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organisation.http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=122732The European Union Member States and Commission have been opposed to thistreaty proposal, saying that voluntary and non-binding solutions would be “moreeffective” and “speedier”. At the end of 2009, the Commission launched a voluntary"stakeholder dialogue" aiming at the adoption of licensing agreements with publisherorganisations to allow the transfer of books. At WIPO the EU has promoted a non-biding soft law solution. The organizations of visually impaired people joined bothdialogues. On February 26, 2011, the World Blind Union announced that it wassuspending participation to the WIPO Stakeholders Platform and to the EUstakeholder dialogue. The lack of progress of this path reinforced their determinationto obtain a legally binding treatyThe EU Council will meet in working group discussions in May and June 2011 andwill have a crucial voice in the key June 2011 WIPO Copyright Committee meeting(SCCR22).If agreed the WIPO treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired andother Reading Disabled Persons would allow cross-border transfer of accessible booksto take place legally and in a framework that respects intellectual property rights.We, Members of the Green Party in the Parliament, strongly urge the government tosupport a legally binding treaty for print disabled people along the lines of the oneproposed by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay. Only a binding treaty and not a weak“recommendation” can bring essential improvements to the life of millions of visually2
impaired people across the world. That is why we would like to know the position thatthe government intends to take at the next working group discussions at the EUCouncil in May 2011 and during the WIPO Copyright Committee meeting (SCCR22)in June 2011.
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