Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2016-01-27

Amendment to the Intellectual Property Act, No. 36 of 2003, to facilitate access to the published works by the visually impaired or otherwise print disabled people

- According to statistics, the number of visually impaired or partially impaired persons living in Sri Lanka by 2011, was around 983,000 and it has been estimated that this number has increased up to one million by 2015 . The number of visually impaired people living in the world is 285 million. Hence, facilities to access the printed or published works, should be provided for those who are visually impaired or otherwise print disabled. The “Marrakesh Treaty”, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), has guided its member states to introduce a standard set of exceptions to relax the limitations on copyright rules in order to permit the reproduction, distribution and dissemination of published work in formats accessible to print disabled people. Accordingly, the Intellectual Property Act, No. 36 of 2003, has to be amended, by incorporating a set of exceptions on the existing copyright laws, prior to the ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty by Sri Lanka. Therefore, the proposal made by Hon. Rishad Bathiudeen, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, to draft necessary legislation for the purpose, was approved by the Cabinet.