16th Country To Ratify The Marrakesh Treaty

On April 7, 2016, Ecuador ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled (VIPs), adopted in Marrakesh, Morocco, in June 2013. Ecuador had already signed the treaty on May 8, 2014.

The Marrakesh Treaty is part of the international copyright treaties administered by WIPO. Its main goal is to create a set of mandatory limitations and exceptions to domestic copyright laws for the benefit of the blind, visually impaired, and otherwise print disabled.

It will come into force once it has been ratified by 20 eligible parties. Eight out of the 16 countries that have so far either ratified or acceded to the Marrakesh treaty are from the Latin American region, with Ecuador joining Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.