Marrakesh Treaty enters into force

On October 22, 2020, Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled comes into force for the Republic of Belarus.

The main purpose of the Marrakesh Treaty is to facilitate access to published works for the abovementioned categories of people.

It provides for converting works for the blind into formats accessible to them with no permission of the right holder needed. Along with the well-known Braille, it includes special audio, tactile and other formats. The Treaty facilitates exchange of such works in accessible formats, including through authorized bodies (libraries, educational institutions, public organizations of disabled people that provide access to information services for the blind) for cross-border exchange.

As part of the accession of the Republic of Belarus to the Marrakesh Treaty, the National Center of Intellectual Property and the  State Committee on Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus (SCST), together with interested state bodies and other organizations, have taken the following measures:
provisions of the Marrakesh Treaty are implemented in the Law of the Republic of Belarus of May 17, 2011 No. 262-Z "On Copyright and Related Rights" (provisions of the national legislation have been expanded compared to those of the Marrakesh Treaty in favour of protecting the interests of the blind);
the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated June 15, 2020 No. 216-Z "On Accession of the Republic of Belarus to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled", defines authorized bodies for the cross-border exchange of works in accessible formats;
on September 10, 2020, the Chairman of SCST Alexander Shumilin approved the Action Plan for the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled for 2021-2022 (hereinafter referred to as the Plan).

The Plan sets out such activities as:
provision of information and library services for persons with disabilities, consideration of concluding an agreement between authorized bodies and WIPO (ABC Global Book Service) for the cross-border exchange of documents (works) in special formats and metadata;
working on the issue of creating a center for information support for visually impaired pupils and students studying at secondary specialized or higher educational institutions.

The Plan correlates with the Strategy of the Republic of Belarus in the Sphere of Intellectual Property for 2021–2030, which is to be approved by a regulation of the Government of the Republic of Belarus.