Marrakesh Treaty: Increasing Access to Publications for People with Disabilities

SGGPO 09/12/2023 17:43

The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted in June 2013 and officially entered into force in September 2016. The treaty has created a legal environment to improve access to published works for people with disabilities.

On September 12, in Ho Chi Minh City, the Copyright Office (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) held a conference to disseminate the contents of the Marrakesh Treaty, with the participation of many agencies, publishing units, state management agencies, social organizations for people with disabilities, libraries, schools, etc.

As of June 20, the Marrakesh Treaty has 93 members, officially coming into effect in Vietnam from March 6, 2023. The Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Intellectual Property No. 07/2022/QH15 has provisions in Article 25a on exceptions that do not infringe upon Copyright for people with disabilities. Accordingly, people with disabilities, people who raise or care for people with disabilities, and organizations that meet the conditions prescribed by the Government are allowed to copy, distribute, perform, and communicate works across borders in the format of easily accessible copies of the original or copies of the work.

Conference scene

In addition to making publications accessible to people with disabilities in the conventional sense, the Marrakesh Treaty strikes a reasonable balance between copyright protection and the protection of the public interest. The Treaty provides for an exception allowing for the creation of accessible copies for people with visual and other disabilities who are unable to access works for reading in the conventional sense.

In addition, the Marrakesh Treaty provides an exception allowing the distribution of accessible formats for persons with disabilities to read in the usual way. The distribution of copies includes digital transmission.

Ông Trần Hoàng, Cục trưởng Cục Bản quyền tác giả phát biểu tại hội nghị ảnh 2

Mr. Tran Hoang, Director of the Copyright Office, spoke at the conference.

The Marrakesh Treaty provides for the export of accessible format copies by authorized organizations to beneficiaries or other authorized organizations, without requiring export restrictions in cases where accessible format is not commercially available. The Treaty also provides for the import of accessible format copies by authorized organizations or beneficiaries. This provision will allow people who share a common language to benefit from accessible format copies available in other countries.

At the conference, the reporters introduced the basic content of the Marrakesh Treaty, the amended and supplemented contents on copyright and related rights in the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Intellectual Property and the content of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, including provisions on copyright exceptions for people with disabilities; the current situation of the demand and ability to meet the source of documents for people with disabilities; international experience on the provisions on copyright exceptions for people with disabilities.

Ông Nguyễn Nguyên, Cục trưởng Cục Xuất bản, In và Phát hành ảnh 3

Mr. Nguyen Nguyen, Director of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution

MSc. Dinh Viet Anh, Vice President of the Vietnam Blind Association, reported on the results of a study on the current state of access to printed publications for people with disabilities in Vietnam, and presented some notable figures. Specifically: 58.7% of people with disabilities participating in the survey were unable to read regular printed texts; 55% were unable to read large print; 64.2% were able to "very easily" listen, read, and watch audio recordings/talking books, and 44% were able to do the same with books/documents in Braille.

In addition, 94.6% of people with disabilities need to access publications in audio/talking book format; 86.9% in Braille format. Regular print and large print are the two formats that people with disabilities do not need to access the most, at 58% and 53.6%, respectively.

Bà Phạm Thị Kim Oanh chia sẻ tại hội nghị ảnh 4

Ms. Pham Thi Kim Oanh shared at the conference

Based on the above situation, according to Ms. Pham Thi Kim Oanh, Deputy Director of the Copyright Office, joining the Marrakesh Treaty and domestic units working together to implement it will greatly help the disabled community in accessing works with more diverse and abundant sources.

Ms. Kim Oanh predicts that the number of people with visual disabilities or the inability to read print will increase further in the coming decades as Vietnam's population is aging rapidly, likely increasing the number of elderly people with poor vision and the inability to read print.

“Therefore, creating accessible formats for published works such as Braille, audio, electronic text, sign language... is becoming increasingly important in Vietnam to ensure that people with disabilities who cannot read print can exercise their rights to equality and integrate into the community,” Ms. Kim Oanh emphasized.

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