HCM City (VNA) – Vietnam’s participation in and implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty will be useful to promoting the disabled’s access to a richer diversity of publications, said Pham Thi Kim Oanh, Deputy Director of the Copyright Office of Vietnam under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Oanh made the remarks while addressing a conference held in Ho Chi Minh City on September 12 to disseminate the basic contents of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.

The official said the creation of accessible formats of published works such as braille, audio, electronic, and sign language transcriptions is becoming increasingly important in Vietnam to ensure print-disabled persons can exercise their rights to equality and integrate into the community.

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She held that to carry out the treaty, it is necessary to step up the dissemination of its contents, continue perfecting legal regulations on copyrights and related rights, and prepare the conditions necessary for the conversion, exchange, export, and import of copies in accessible formats.

Citing a report by the World Blind Union, Vice Chairwoman of the vietnam Blind Association Dinh Viet Anh said nearly 1% of the books published in developed countries are converted into accessible formats for print-disabled persons.

In Vietnam, the shortage of books in accessible formats is currently a barrier to education, jobs and self-development for persons with disabilities, especially over 1 million visually-impaired people.

Given this, Anh noted, the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty will help improve print-disabled persons’ access to publications through the use of exceptions to copyright rules.

The treaty plays an important role in eliminating barriers facing persons with print disabilities, thus helping boost the equal access to information as well as education and job opportunities for them, she added.

The Marrakesh Treaty, adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in June 2013, consists of 93 member states and officially came into force in Vietnam on March 6, 2023. It aims to create a legal environment for improving the access to published works for the disabled unable to access print publications in normal ways, and create a reasonable balance between copyright protection and common interests./.