Marrakesh Treaty brought into force by Canada accession

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Marrakesh Treaty brought into force by Canada accession

Canada accession to Marrakesh

The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled will come into force on September 30



Canada accession to Marrakesh
WIPO's Francis Gurry (left) receives Canada's instrument of accession to the Marrakesh Treaty from Ambassador Jonathan Fried, permanent representative of Canada to the WTO (Source: WIPO)

Canada has become the key 20th nation to accede to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled. This means the treaty will come into force on September 30, three months after Canada’s accession. WIPO Director General Francis Gurry hailed it as great news for people with visual impairments and for the multilateral intellectual property system, and urged other countries to ratify the treaty.

“The Marrakesh Treaty will, when widely adopted throughout the world, create the framework for persons who are blind and visually impaired to enjoy access to literacy in a much more equal and inclusive way,” he said.

Canada’s accession was preceded a day earlier by Ecuador and Guatemala. Latin American countries make up half of the contracting parties so far.

India was the first country to ratify on June 30 2014.

More than 75 WIPO member states have signed the treaty. It was adopted on June 27 2013 at a diplomatic conference organized by WIPO and hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco in Marrakesh.

The 20 countries to ratify or accede so far are: India, El Salvador, United Arab Emirates, Mali, Uruguay, Paraguay, Singapore, Argentina, Mexico, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, Australia, Brazil, Peru, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Israel, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala and Canada.

francis20gurry20wipo20250.jpg
"The Marrakesh Treaty will ... create the framework for persons who are blind and visually impaired to enjoy access to literacy in a much more equal and inclusive way" - Francis Gurry, WIPO

What Marrakesh will do

The Marrakesh Treaty requires contracting parties to adopt national law provisions that permit the reproduction, distribution and making available of published works in accessible formats – such as Braille – through limitations and exceptions to the rights of copyright rightholders.

It also provides for the exchange of these accessible format works across borders by organisations that serve the people who are blind, visually impaired, and print disabled. It will harmonize limitations and exceptions so that these organizations can operate across borders.

This sharing of works in accessible formats should increase the overall number of works available because it will eliminate duplication and increase efficiency.

The treaty is also designed to provide assurances to authors and publishers that that system will not expose their published works to misuse or distribution to anyone other than the intended beneficiaries. The treaty reiterates the requirement that the cross-border sharing of works created based on limitations and exceptions must be limited to certain special cases which do not conflict with the normal exploitation of the work and do not unreasonable prejudice the legitimate interests of the rightholder.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

The UK-India trade deal doesn’t mention legal services, showing India has again failed to agree on a move that could help foreign firms and local practitioners
Eva-Maria Strobel reveals some of the firm’s IP achievements and its approach to client relationships
Lateral hires at Thompson Hine and Pierson Ferdinand said they were inspired by fresh business opportunities and innovative strategies at their new firms
The launch of a new IP insurance product and INTA hiring a former USPTO commissioner were also among the top talking points this week
The firm explains how it secured a $170.6 million verdict against the government in a patent dispute surrounding airport technology, and why the case led to interest from other inventors
Developments of note included the court partially allowing a claim concerning confidentiality clubs and a decision involving technology used in football matches
The firm said adding capability in the French capital completes its coverage of all major patent litigation jurisdictions as it strives for UPC excellence
Marc Fenster explains how keeping the jury focused on the most relevant facts helped secure a $279m win for his client against Samsung
Clients are divided on what externally funded IP firms bring to the table, so those firms must prove why the benefits outweigh the downsides
Rahul Bhartiya, AI coordinator at the EUIPO, discusses the office’s strategy, collaboration with other IP offices, and getting rid of routine tasks
Gift this article