Europeana supports WIPO treaty to facilitate access for visually impaired and print disabled people to published works

2013-06-08

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) are in the final stages of negotiating a treaty which will facilitate access to published works by visually impaired people and those with print disabilities.  With more than 314 million blind and visually impaired people in the world and over one million books published each year, less than 5% are made available in formats accessible by blind and visually impaired people (http://www.wipo.int/dc2013/en/about.html).

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) are in the final stages of negotiating a treaty which will facilitate access to published works by visually impaired people and those with print disabilities.  With more than 314 million blind and visually impaired people in the world and over one million books published each year, less than 5% are made available in formats accessible by blind and visually impaired people (http://www.wipo.int/dc2013/en/about.html).  Europeana's Partner organisation, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) have invited the Europeana network to support their efforts in representing over 750,000 professional librarians and over one billion registered library users by encouraging the conclusion of an 'effective' treaty.

IFLA define an 'effective' treaty as having the following characteristics;

  • Ensure efficient cross border transfer of published works,
  • Uphold the rights to read for the world's print disabled people - regardless of format,
  • Recognise the role of libraries in providing access to accessible format works, and
  • Promote the public interest as a central to the balance of copyright law.


Europeana are committed to facilitating access to Europe's cultural heritage. It believes that cultural heritage should be free and openly accessible to every person and wish to openly support the efforts of the stakeholders in the negation of this treaty.

You can read more about the progress of WIPO's treaty here (http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/briefs/limitations.html), about IFLA's work in the area here (http://www.ifla.org/), and learn more about the work being undertaken to address the issues faced by blind and visually impaired people here (http://www.euroblind.org/).

If you have any questions about this, or wish to make any comments please get in touch with Julia.Fallon@kb.nl