Via EFF – “A groundbreaking international agreement to address the “book famine” for blind and print-disabled people is now set to go into force after passing another key milestone today. The agreement requires countries to allow the reproduction and distribution of accessible ebooks by limiting the scope of copyright restrictions. The Marrakesh agreement takes aim at the global shortage of ebooks available in suitable formats for the print disabled, which in some regions is as low as 1% of published books. At the time of its completion, only 57 of the 184 member countries of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) had copyright exceptions for this purpose, and inconsistencies between them made sharing books between countries nearly impossible. The treaty was signed by more than 75 countries, but just signing a treaty does not make it law; it needed 20 ratifications or accessions before going into force. India became the first to ratify exactly two years ago, and Canada’s accession today is the crucial twentieth. According to WIPO, that sets in motion a process to bring Marrakesh into force on September 30 of this year…”