The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled (referred to as the Marrakesh Treaty or MT in this Guide) is a legally binding international agreement that creates mandatory exceptions to national copyright law to protect the human rights of individuals with print disabilities. Lack of access to information has historically been the major barrier that blind and partially sighted people face worldwide and copyright law often contributes to this barrier. In developed countries less than 7% of published materials are available in accessible formats such as Braille, large print, audio, DAISY, etc., and in many developing countries that number plummets to less than 1%.
Commissioned by the World Blind Union, this technical document is the Pocket Guide version of the “Guide to the Marrakesh Treaty”. It is written for WBU members, as well as people new to blindness, and other stakeholders. The Pocket Guide is intended to provide an overview of the full guide and is not to be used in place of the full guide. Rather, this Pocket Guide must be read in conjunction with the full implementation guide and the Treaty itself when negotiating the ratification and application of the Treaty in each country.
You can download the full, Microsoft Word version, of the WBU Marrakesh Treaty Pocket Guide.
The English version is the official version of the Marrakesh Treaty guide. However, it has also been translated in various languages for the convenience of our members. We sincerely appreciate the support of our members who volunteered to translate the document in the various languages. You can download the various versions by selecting the links below. :
French version: WBU Guide to the Marrakesh Treaty- French
Spanish version: WBU Guide to the Marrakesh Treaty- Spanish
Russian version: WBU Guide to Marrakesh Treaty- Russian
Portuguese version: WBU guide to Marrakesh Treaty-Portuguese
Hungarian version: WBU guide to Marrakesh Treaty-Hungarian
Czech version: WBU guide to Marrakesh Treaty-Czech