Ten years ago today, the WIPO-administered Marrakesh Treaty entered into force with a simple but powerful objective: to make it easier for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled to access books.
On September 30, 2016, the Treaty became part of the international copyright framework, having secured the 20 contracting parties needed to enter into force. It removed legal barriers to the production and cross-border exchange of books in accessible formats. Today, the Treaty counts 106 contracting parties across 132 WIPO member states, reflecting a decade of growing international commitment to accessible reading.
“Today we celebrate the tremendous progress made in delivering on the promise of the Marrakesh Treaty over the ten years following its entry into force,” said Michele Woods, Director of WIPO’s Copyright Law Division. From the “The Miracle of Marrakesh” at its adoption with the encouragement of Stevie Wonder, the number of countries covered by the Treaty has grown to more than 130 and more than 1.2 million titles are now available through the WIPO ABC Global Book Service. There’s still a lot more work to be done, but today we can mark these major achievements while looking forward to the next 10 years.”
From one book to more than a million
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC), a public-private partnership led by WIPO, translates the Treaty's objectives into practice. At its core is the ABC Global Book Service, an online catalogue that lets participating libraries and other Authorized Entities exchange accessible books across borders. Through the ABC Beneficiary Application, participating Authorized Entities can also give their readers direct access to more than 500,000 accessible books. To date, 57 Authorized Entities have joined the application, with 33 already making it available directly to their users.
To mark the Treaty's entry into force in 2016, WIPO organized a symbolic first transfer through the ABC Global Book Service: an audio book sent from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) to Vision Australia. The exchange meant Vision Australia did not need to reproduce the title itself, saving an estimated USD 2,000 and giving Australian readers access to a book they otherwise would not have had.
Ten years on, that single exchange has grown into a global catalogue of more than 1.2 million titles in accessible formats, including braille, audio, DAISY, EPUB, large print and electronic text. Behind every download is something much more tangible: a book that can be read, a textbook that can be studied, a recipe that can be followed, or an evacuation manual that can provide vital information in an emergency.
A global network built around access
The progress of the past decade has depended on cooperation.
Libraries, organizations representing people with print disabilities, publishers, authors, standards bodies, governments and technology partners all have a role to play in making books accessible.
Through the Marrakesh Treaty framework, an accessible book produced in one country can be shared with an eligible reader in another without duplicating work that has already been done.
As the global collection grows and technology opens new ways to find and access books, this cooperation matters more than ever.
The next chapter
Ten years is a milestone, not an endpoint. Millions of people still face barriers to accessing books, particularly in languages and formats where accessible collections remain limited. Becoming party to the Marrakesh Treaty is also only part of the journey: effective national implementation and participation by organizations serving people with print disabilities are essential for its benefits to reach readers.
The first decade of the Marrakesh Treaty has shown what can happen when copyright law, technology and international cooperation join together around a common goal.
The challenge for its second decade is to take that progress further – expanding collections and reaching more languages, while helping countries and local organizations build the capacity to produce accessible books themselves. It also means ensuring that accessible educational materials reach students who need them, giving more people the opportunity to learn, study and participate fully in education.
Ten years on, the goal remains the same: ensuring that the ability to read a book depends on nothing more than the desire to read it.
About ABC
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is a public-private partnership led by WIPO that, together with its many partners around the world, has had real impact over the past decade. Since its inception, the ABC Global Book Service catalogue has quadrupled in size to over one million titles thanks to the inclusion of the collections of participating authorized entities. ABC delivered a total of 240,500 accessible digital files from the ABC catalogue to persons with print disabilities through its authorized entities in 2025. In addition, through ABC’s training and technical assistance partners, more than 24,000 textbooks have been made accessible in over 40 low-income countries, improving access to education for thousands of young people. ABC was established in June 2014 to implement the goals of the Marrakesh Treaty.
About WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information and cooperation. A specialized agency of the United Nations, WIPO assists its 194 Member States in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society's evolving needs. It provides business services for obtaining IP rights in multiple countries and resolving disputes. It delivers capacity-building programs to help developing countries benefit from using IP. And it provides free access to unique knowledge banks of IP information.