[A2k] Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay submit proposal on a WIPO Treaty for Reading Disabled Persons

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/05/27/brazil-ecuador-paraguay/

Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay submit proposal on a WIPO Treaty for
Reading Disabled Persons
By thiru, on May 27th, 2009

On Monday, 25 May 2009, the governments of Brazil, Ecuador and
Paraguay submitted a proposal to the to the 18th Session of the WIPO
Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) entitled,
=93Proposal by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay, relating to Limitations and
Exceptions: Treaty proposed by the World Blind Union (WBU)=94. The
document reference number for this Treaty proposal of Brazil, Ecuador
and Paraguay is SCCR/18/5 and the web link for this document is: http://www=
.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_18/sccr_18_5.pdf
. The English text of this country proposal was distributed to SCCR
Member States and Observers on Tuesday, 26 May 2009. The French and
Spanish versions of the Treaty proposal are expected to be available
today, and discussion of the Treaty proposal will commence in today=92s
morning session.

The Governments of Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay have taken the WBU
Treaty text distributed to WIPO last November 2008 and adopted it as
their own text; they have submitted the Treaty proposal to the WIPO
SCCR as a basis for negotiation.

Here below is the cover letter submitted by Brazil, Ecuador and
Paraguay.

     1. The Permanent Mission of Brazil to the World Trade
Organization (WTO), the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the United
Nations Office in Geneva and other international organizations and the
Permanent Mission of Paraguay to the United Nations Office and other
international organizations in Geneva present their compliments to the
International Bureau and have the honor to present the attached
proposal to be discussed during the upcoming eighteenth session of the
Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, under Item 5 of
the Agenda (=94Exceptions and limitations=94), as an example of norm-
setting activity in the field of exceptions and limitations to
copyrights, among those presented in document SCCR/16/2: for persons
with disabilities, libraries and archives, educational activities and
to foster technological innovations.

     2. The attached document consists of the Treaty proposed by the
World Blind Union (WBU), which presents possible ways and means of
facilitating and enhancing access to protected works for the blind,
visually impaired, and other reading disabled persons. Brazil, Ecuador
and Paraguay recognize the merit of dealing without delay, but with
careful deliberation, with limitations and exceptions that would allow
people with disabilities, such as the visually impaired, to access,
publish and distribute works that are accessible to them.

     3. By undertaking such an initiative, the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO) would act in accordance with the efforts
undertaken by the United Nations to address the need for enhancing, as
foreseen in document SCCR/16/2, access to knowledge for the most
vulnerable or socially prioritized sectors. Brazil, Ecuador and
Paraguay also consider that the establishment of formal negotiations
on limitations and exceptions would contribute to the broader aims of
the Development Agenda, particularly the ones related to norm-setting,
as foreseen in document SCCR/16/2.

     4. The Permanent Mission of Brazil to the World Trade
Organization (WTO), the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the United
Nations Office in Geneva and other international organizations and the
Permanent Mission of Paraguay to the United Nations Office and other
international organizations in Geneva avail themselves of this
opportunity to renew to the International Bureau the assurances of
their highest consideration.

     Geneva, May 25, 2009

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997