Georgia was Added to the List of the States Party to the Marrakesh Treaty

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) updated the list of the states party to the Marrakesh Treaty and added Georgia to the list. In the updated information it is stated that the Treaty will enter into force, with respect to Georgia, on February 26, 2025.

According to the resolution of the Parliament of Georgia of September 17, 2024, Georgia joined the “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled” of June 27, 2013 (hereinafter – the Marrakesh Treaty).

It is noteworthy that the Marrakesh Treaty unites 98 countries and provides for specific measures, establishes a set of limitations and exceptions to copyright and related rights exclusively for people with reading disabilities, supports creation of specially-adapted materials and their international circulation without spending considerable financial resources. Namely: the Treaty requires from contracting parties to implement limitations and exceptions in their national legislations so that to allow reproduction, distribution and making available of works to persons who are blind, visually impaired or have other disability, including those who  are unable to hold a book.

The United Nations, by the conclusion of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of March 21, 2023, gave a recommendation to Georgia regarding ratification and implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty on the national level. For the ratification of the Treaty it was necessary to amend the existing legislation. Accordingly, with direct participation of Sakpatenti, amendments were prepared and entered in the Law of Georgia “On Copyright and Related Rights” (Law of December 15, 2023).

It is significant that in order to ensure full-fledged implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty, by the Order of Mr. Soso Giorgadze, Chairman of Sakpatenti, the Rule of Granting the Status of an Authorized Entity to an Institution, Cancellation of this Status and Provision of Information to the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia – “Sakpatenti” was also defined. As regards the concept of an authorized entity, it is established by the Marrakesh Treaty proper and means an entity that is authorized by the government to provide education, instructional training, adaptive reading or information access to persons having visual impairment or reading disability. Authorized entities shall be permitted to supply an accessible format copy of a work by non-commercial lending or by electronic communication. 

In the current year, LEPL Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi Public School №202 and the Abkhazian Blind and Deaf-and-Dumb Union "Hera” applied to Sakpatenti with a request to grant the above-mentioned status. As a result, by the Order of Chairman of Sakpatenti, the status of an authorized entity was granted to Tbilisi State University on May 29, to  Public School №202 – on September 18, and to the Abkhazian Blind and Deaf-and-Dumb Union "Hera” – on October 24.