Marrakesh Treaty is no paper tiger: EU Commission sues 17 countries for non-compliance
On 26 November 2018, the EU Commission initiated proceedings for infringement of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union against 17 (out of 28) Member States for non-compliance with the Directive requiring the transposition into national law of the Marrakesh Treaty (Directive (EU) 2017/1564). The Marrakesh Treaty is a WIPO-administered convention that was signed on 27 June 2013 and entered into force on 30 September 2016. The convention seeks to facilitate “the production and international transfer of specially-adapted books for people with blindness or visual impairment” ( here ). This was done by creating copyright limitations and exceptions to allow the creation of copies of protected works accessible to the visually impaired, when none is otherwise available. As member of both WIPO and WTO, the EU has authority to sign and ratify treaties on behalf of its Member States and to then require their implementation into national law via EU instruments such as directives or re...