Brazilian Senate approves accession to the Marrakesh Treaty

December 23, 2015

The Senate approved on November, 24, Brazil's accession to the Marrakech Treaty, to facilitate access for people with visual disabilities to literary works.  

A letter of ratification signed by President Dilma Rousseff is expected to be forwarded to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The nations that accede to the agreement undertake to create devices under national laws for works such as books and other materials in text format and related illustrations, so that they can be reproduced and distributed in accessible formats such as Braille, Daisy or even audiobook without the need for authorization from the copyright holder.

The prospect is that with the treaty into force, more than 300 million people with visual impairment will be benefited in countries that ratify the treaty. According to the last census, conducted in 2010 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in Brazil, there are over 6.5 million visually impaired people, and 582,000 blind and six million with low vision or other disabilities visual.