31.1.2018   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 35/14

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having regard to the petitions from EU citizens with print disabilities, and particularly Petition 924/2011 by Dan Pescod (British), on behalf of the European Blind Union (EBU)/Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), on access by blind people to books and other printed products,

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having regard to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled (the Marrakesh Treaty),

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having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD),

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having regard to Rule 216(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.

whereas the World Health Organisation estimated in 2010 that across Europe there are 2 550 000 blind people and 23 800 000 partially sighted people, giving a total of 26 350 000 visually impaired individuals;

B.

whereas only 5 % of all published books in the developed countries and less than 1 % in the developing countries are ever produced in accessible formats;

C.

whereas the EU and the Member States are parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

D.

whereas the EU and the Member States signed the Marrakesh Treaty in April 2014 and have thus entered into a political commitment to ratify it;

E.

whereas the UN CRPD Committee encouraged the European Union to take all appropriate measures to ratify and implement the Marrakesh Treaty as soon as possible in the concluding observations on the initial report of the European Union on the implementation of the Convention;

F.

whereas the Commission has presented a proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Marrakesh Treaty (COM(2014)0638);

1.

Recalls that Articles 24 and 30 of the UN CRPD emphasise the right of persons with disabilities to education, without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, while ensuring that laws protecting intellectual property rights do not constitute an unreasonable or discriminatory barrier to access by persons with disabilities to cultural materials;

2.

Notes with profound indignation that seven EU Member States have formed a minority block which is impeding the process of ratifying the Treaty; calls on the Council and the Member States to accelerate the ratification process, without making ratification conditional upon revision of the EU legal framework or the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union;

3.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Member States, the European Commission and the UN CRPD Committee.