8 January 2016

The Marrakesh Treaty is an international treaty that aims to increase access to published works for people with a print disability. This Treaty provides for copyright exceptions within national laws to improve visually-impaired people’s access to copyright works in accessible formats (such as braille, audio or large print books).

On Friday, 30 October 2015, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) released a discussion document to determine whether New Zealand should accede to the Marrakesh Treaty and if so, what changes to the Copyright Act would be needed.

Public submissions are now being invited on the Marrakesh Treaty. The closing date for submissions is Friday, 26 February 2016. For more information on making a submission, please see the  Marrakesh Treaty page on the MBIE website.

For more information on the discussion document and the submissions process, please email marrakeshtreaty@mbie.govt.nz.