Online publication Spotlight editor Marcus Low expressed disappointment with government for its failure to ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization-administered Marrakesh Treaty to accelerate access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled.

The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted in 2013 by the World Intellectual Property Organization to address the widespread problem known as “book famine”, the situation where few books are published in formats that are accessible to those who are blind or visually impaired.

“The shocking thing is that the Treaty was concluded 13 years ago and today, 10 years later, it is not fixed in South Africa. Every year when government says all the nice things on disability month ­– November – to me it rings hollow,” Low said.

Speaking during the SECTION27, Blind SA and Daily Maverick webinar on 'Court-Ordered Copyright Act Changes for the Blind and Visually Impaired', Low said that over 80 countries including the US, the UK, India and Brazil had ratified the Treaty, as well as fellow African countries such as Nigeria.

Blind SA (represented by SECTION27) challenged the constitutionality of South Africa’s Copyright Act for the way it discriminated against persons who were blind or visually impaired. In particular, the Act required that anyone wanting to convert a book into an accessible format, like Braille or large print, needed to obtain the permission of the copyright holder.

Recognising the heavy burden this placed on persons who are blind or visually impaired, the Court declared the Copyright Act unconstitutional in 2022.

Now, persons who are blind or visually impaired no longer need to obtain permission from the copyright holder, while Parliament finalises changes to the rest of the Act.

The court has also given Parliament 24 months to cure the unconstitutional defects in the Copyright Act.

Low highlighted that there were two traditional problems with how the law worked regarding blind people.

“One is where as a blind person or someone helping a blind person, you are not allowed to make an accessible format copy. So the Marrakesh Treaty says that if you are a member country you have to allow that. The treaty says that you should be allowed to share books across borders,” he said.

University of the Witwatersrand School of Law's Mandela Institute senior researcher, Dr Sanya Samtani, explained that people with disabilities had been excluded domestically in South Africa and internationally from full and equal participation in society.

She said the Marrakesh Treaty put in law mandatory exceptions for people with visual and print disabilities.

Meanwhile, Low said that the benefits of the judgment on the court-ordered Copyright Act changes for the blind and visually impaired were not well understood as yet, highlighting that it took time to make accessible copies and could sometimes be quite expensive.

“If you can see you can go to the book store, buy the book you want to read, if you can afford it, otherwise you can go to a library and whatever books are in the library, you can read. There is no obstacle there. So if you cannot see to read those books then it becomes more complicated, so we can turn those books into other formats, such as Braille,” he explained.