News flash: on 15 May 2017, the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic deposited its instrument of accession to the Marrakesh Treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The Treaty will enter into force in the Kyrgyz Republic on 15 August 2017.

EIFL welcomes the news that in March 2017 the President of Kyrgyzstan signed a bill approving accession of the Kyrgyz Republic to the Marrakesh Treaty for blind, visually impaired and otherwise print-disabled people.

The final step in the accession process is when the instrument of accession is deposited by the Kyrgyz Republic at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), that administers the Marrakesh Treaty.

Earlier in March, President Almazbek Atambayev also signed into law amendments to the Copyright Act implementing Marrakesh Treaty provisions into national law. So when the accession process is completed at WIPO, libraries in Kyrgyzstan can immediately start to provide accessible format copies, such as braille, audio, large print and digital formats, and to exchange materials with libraries in other countries that have ratified the Marrakesh Treaty.

EIFL SUPPORT FOR MARRAKESH CAMPAIGN IN KYRGYZSTAN

The Kyrgyz law of accession to the Marrakesh Treaty and amendments to the Copyright Act follow an intensive campaign led by the Kyrgyzstan Libraries Information Consortium (KLIC), EIFL’s partner consortium in Kyrgyzstan.

“This represents  a great achievement for the library and blindness communities, policy-makers and elected representatives who worked closely together. It is a significant step in increasing access to reading materials for people in Kyrgyzstan with print disabilities,” said EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, Teresa Hackett.

EIFL looks forward to completion of the accession process so that libraries in Kyrgyzstan can fully utilize the Marrakesh Treaty and can better serve people with print disabilities.

The Marrakesh Treaty increases access to knowledge for print-disabled people by giving organizations like libraries the right to reproduce printed works in accessible formats such as braille, audio, large print and digital formats, and to exchange these works across national borders.

FIND OUT MORE

To fulfill the promise of the right to read for blind, visually impaired and other print disabled people, EIFL is supporting ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty in partner countries, and its implementation into national copyright law.

• Read more about EIFL’s work on the Right to Read in Kyrgyzstan.

• Read more about how EIFL is supporting ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty in partner countries, and its implementation into national copyright law.
• The Marrakesh Treaty: an EIFL Guide for Libraries.