[A2k] CI statement at SCCR 18

[Jeremy Malcolm]

Our written statement is posted in PDF format at http://a2knetwork.org/cons=
umers-international-wipo
, but here is our oral statement:

Thank you Mr Chair and congratulations from Consumers International on
your re-election.

CI is the only independent global campaigning voice for consumers,
with over 220 member organisations in 115 countries. CI offers its
strong and unqualified support to the proposal tabled by Brazil,
Ecuador and Paraguay. We have a written statement on this issue
available outside, from which I will not be directly reading. Instead
I will attempt to provide some thoughts to address the two main
objections that have been raised to the SCCR's consideration of the
proposed treaty for blind, visually impaired and other reading
disabled persons.

The first objection that has been raised is that =93We need more time!=94

I question how much more time is needed. The World Blind Union has
been campaigning for a treaty for copyright exceptions for the blind
since about 2003. The WIPO study on such exceptions was completed
almost three years ago. The treaty text under consideration was
released six months ago. Moreover copyright limitations and exceptions
for the blind and visually impaired have been implemented in national
legislation for many years. So this is by now a very mature and well
understood issue. Considering that the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities took only about five years from inception to
be concluded, there is no reason why consideration of a treaty on
copyright exceptions for the blind needs to be delayed any further by
additional study and evaluation.

The second objection that has been raised is that =93National solutions
are better.=94

I would respectfully suggest that this misconceives the issue. It is
true that there are about sixty countries that already have good
copyright exceptions for the blind (though even these do not allow for
cross-border transfers of adapted copyright works, as the treaty
would). However, many other countries do not and perhaps never will
have adequate exceptions unless international norms are set. CI
research has found that developing countries =96 whose consumers are
amongst those most adversely affected by inflexible copyright laws =96
tend not to be proactive in the adoption of limitations and exceptions
in national law. This is why it is insufficient to rely on national
law for the protection of consumer interests in access to knowledge.

Even more fundamentally, it is unfair and unbalanced for rights
holders to be privileged to have minimum standards of copyright
protection upheld in international law, where the public is denied
that same level of protection for its interests in the copyright
system, through minimum limitations and exceptions. WIPO is primarily
an institution of international IP norm-setting, and its response to
the needs of the blind and vision-impaired should be cast in those
terms. This is simply not a national issue, and that objection to the
proposed treaty cannot be maintained.

There are other objections that have also been raised to the treaty,
which I don't need to discuss because they've already been dealt with
effectively by others: for example the delegate from Ecuador
effectively demolished the argument that we should rely on the market
to solve this problem of access, and many of the civil society
speakers have rebutted the argument that recognising copyright
exceptions in international law is somehow to undermine the copyright
system =96 which clearly it isn't, because copyright has always been
about reaching a balance between the interests of creators and users.

CI considers that it is necessary for the SCCR to give serious and
urgent consideration to the need for new minimum copyright limitations
and exceptions in order to fulfil WIPO's now broader responsibilities
to all stakeholders in the international intellectual property system,
which include not only rights holders but also consumers =96
particularly those who are disadvantaged. In particular, it is
difficult to think of a more pressing need than that of blind and
vision impaired users to be afforded equal access to reading
materials, through minimum copyright limitations and exceptions
tailored to their special needs.

--
JEREMY MALCOLM
Project Coordinator
CONSUMERS INTERNATIONAL-KL OFFICE
for Asia Pacific and the Middle East

Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM
7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg
TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +60 3 7726 1599
Mob: +60 12 282 5895
Fax: +60 3 7726 8599
www.consumersinternational.org

Consumers International (CI) is the only independent global
campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member organisations in
115 countries, we are building a powerful international consumer
movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere. For more
information, visit www.consumersinternational.org.