WIPO
Claire Bury speaking at the Ceremony, together with WIPO Director General Francis Gurry, Walter Stevens, the EU ambassador to the UN in Geneva and Ambassador Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger? Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations Office at Geneva
The ratification means that the European Union will effectively become a party to the treaty as of 1 January 2019. This will allow persons with print disabilities in the EU and organisations serving their needs to participate in the exchange of books and other print material in accessible formats with third countries that are also parties to the treaty. As of today, 42 countries from all around the world are parties to the Marrakesh Treaty.
The Marrakesh Treaty is the first international treaty in the field of copyright that the EU becomes part of on the basis of its exclusive external competence. At the European level, a Directive and a Regulation were adopted in 2017 for the implementation of the treaty in EU law. The deadline for Member States to transpose the Directive into national law ends on 11 October 2018. The Regulation will enter into application on the following day, 12 October 2018.