At the end of February the European Parliament legal committee (JURI) will give its verdict on the draft directive and regulation for implementing the Marrakesh Treaty facilitating access to books for the visually impaired. The rapporteur, Max Andersson (Greens/EFA, Sweden) explained, “We decided to postpone the vote by a month in order to give the culture committee an opportunity to speak on the matter”.
Given that a vote was not forthcoming at the end of January, as initially planned, the JURI Committee responsible for the subject subsequently had to hold a public hearing on 30 January and an exchange of views on 31 January. The introduction of additional requirements for applying derogations to copyright rules was at the heart of these discussions.
The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted on 20 June 2013 under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). It seeks to facilitate access for the blind and visually impaired to a wider choice or books published in adaptive formats such as braille, large letters and audio-digital recordings.
Since then, the European Commission has put forward three legislative proposals: a draft Council decision on EU ratification of the treaty, a draft directive to implement the Marrakesh Treaty and a draft regulation for the exchange of copies in accessible formats between the EU and third country parties to the Marrakesh Treaty.
The adoption of the first text now depends on a decision being made by the Court of Justice of the European Union (due on 14 February), seven member states – headed by Germany and Austria – oppose the Commission ratifying the text in their name. The two other texts relate to ordinary legislative procedures. The position of the rapporteur has been known since the end of last year: overall, he supports the European Commission proposal. Much to the consternation of publishing bodies, it is opposed to “The introduction of additional requirements, such as compensation systems or prior verification of the commercial availability of copies in an excess full format” (clause 11). Prior verification makes it incumbent on libraries and organisations to verify whether a book is already available on the market before they are allowed to reproduce it in an accessible format without having to pay copyright. Wolfgang Angerman, the President of European Blind Union (EBU) backed by Steven Wyber from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) said, “This involves discrimination against the blind. Such an obligation would remove all substance from the treaty and create a bureaucratic burden and legal uncertainty that would prevent cross-border sharing. It would also restrict the access of the blind to a modest income”. The publishers, however, highlighted the need to build bridges between one another. Piero Attanasio from the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) explained that “In Italy, 90% of special formats are devised by publishers. Collaboration is therefore essential”. José Borghino International Publishers Association (IPA) added that “It involves identifying inaccessible books and making them accessible”.
David Augustin from the World Blind Union expressed his concerns about the German government’s request to include article 12 of the directive on copyright (demand for fair compensation) in the Marrakesh Treaty. He said that this treaty “is not a question of copyright but a question of human rights”.
During a brief exchange of views on Tuesday 31 January, the rapporteur, Max Andersson, informed his colleague at the JURI committee that around 100 amendments had been received and that he was optimistic about vote “at the end of February”. The Commission representative repeated his support for the rapporteur. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)