Reports — International Treaty Examination of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled

I move, That the House take not of the report of the Commerce Committee on the International treaty examination of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.

The Marrakesh Treaty is a multilateral treaty concluded by the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2013. It is a treaty on copyright adopted in Marrakesh, Morocco on 28 June 2013. It aims to help people who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled to have more timely access to a greater variety of books and other literary works in accessible formats such as Braille, audio, and large print. The Marrakesh Treaty provides an international legal framework for copyright exceptions that allows for the reproduction, distribution, and cross-border exchange of copyright works in accessible formats between countries party to the treaty. The treaty sets a norm for countries ratifying the treaty to have a domestic copyright exception covering those activities and allowing for the import and export of such materials.

Fifty-one countries signed the treaty as of the close of the diplomatic conference in Marrakesh. The ratification of 20 States was required for the treaty to enter into effect. The 20th ratification was received on 30 June 2016, and the treaty entered into force on 30 September 2016. The treaty went to the then-known Commerce Committee of the New Zealand Parliament, and they reported back to the House on 7 July 2017. The House rose on 19 August 2017 for the election, and so we now come to the debate in this House regarding the acceding to this treaty.

In the New Zealand context, an estimated 90 percent of all written materials published worldwide are not published in formats accessible to individuals with a print disability here. This lack of access is a barrier to participation in public life and restricts employment, educational, and recreational opportunities for an estimated 168,000 New Zealanders who have a print disability. Acceding to the Marrakesh Treaty is expected to have a positive social, economic, and cultural impact on New Zealand. Individuals with a print disability are expected to be the primary beneficiaries. It is likely to improve access to education, enhance participation in public life, provide greater autonomy and independence, and improve health outcomes. Acceding to the Marrakesh Treaty is also expected to achieve better value for money from the Government’s investment in the production of educational material for individuals with a print disability, which is currently provided by the Blind Foundation.

On 22 June 2017, the then National Government’s Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Hon Jacqui Dean, and Minister for Disability Issues, the Hon Nicky Wagner, announced that New Zealand will join the Marrakesh Treaty. The Hon Nicky Wagner said at the time, “This treaty will make a meaningful change to the lives of thousands of New Zealanders by ensuring they have access to a greater variety of books and other publications in accessible formats. It also supports the Government’s vision of creating a ‘non-disabling society’, as outlined in the New Zealand Disability Strategy.” The Hon Jacqui Dean said the Government will make other changes to further improved access to copyright works: “These changes will allow more organisations and individuals to produce and provide accessible format works without breaching copyright laws.”

As an international treaty subject to ascension, the Marrakesh Treaty must be presented along with a national interest analysis to the House for parliamentary treaty examination in accordance with Standing Order 397. At the request of the Leader of the House this is what we are doing now. In July 2017, the Commerce Committee considered the Marrakesh Treaty in light of the national interest analysis to form a view on whether New Zealand should accede to the treaty. Public submissions were not sought, given strong support from domestic stakeholders to join the treaty, including by the Blind Foundation, educational institutions, and copyright holders.

New Zealand already has a copyright exception that facilitates the production of works in accessible formats. However, the exception does not allow those works to be imported or exported. The Marrakesh Treaty will allow New Zealanders to import copyrighted works in accessible formats such as Braille, large print, and audiobooks from other countries that have ratified the treaty. Enabling legislation will follow ratification of this treaty.

The Commerce Committee heard evidence from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. The committee has conducted the international treaty examination of the Marrakesh Treaty and recommends that the House takes note of its report. Taking the necessary steps to accede to the Marrakesh Treaty is expected to go some way towards addressing the lack of access to works in accessible formats for individuals with a print disability in New Zealand. I commend the Marrakesh Treaty to the House and our Parliament’s acceding to it. Thank you.

Kia ora, Madam Deputy Speaker. I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to address the international treaty examination of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.

The Marrakesh Treaty establishes a set of international rules that ensure that there are limitations or exceptions to the copyright rules for the benefit of people who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled. It also, as my learned colleague who just resumed his seat outlined, enables the cross-border exchange of copies of published works that have been produced in an accessible format. Persons who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled continue to face many barriers in accessing books and other print material. The need to increase the number of works and other protected subject matter available in accessible formats such as Braille, audiobooks, and large print has been recognised at an international level. I would like to outline the significance for New Zealanders of the Marrakesh Treaty.

If I can just quote Clive Lansink: “Blind people dream of a world in which we have access to the same information as sighted people already enjoy. When I was younger we just accepted that it was physically impossible for us to read, so we made do with the assistance of others to do the reading for us. But that was before today’s world of information being published electronically, but I can access all the books out there.”

And that is what this is about. This is about recognising that there have been barriers placed upon those New Zealanders that are blind, visually impaired, or actually reading disabled. Copyright law and publishers currently limit access to public works in a restrictive manner that many argue is in violation of the basic human rights of the print-disabled community.

It’s estimated that only five percent of the world’s written materials are available in accessible formats for print-disabled people. This is commonly referred to as the book famine. The Marrakesh Treaty addresses the book famine by providing exemptions to copyright laws for print-impaired people and their information access providers. Hungry minds may be fed by facilitating accessible formats of text to cross international borders legally and allowing print-impaired people to legally unlock digital text to make their own accessible formats.

There are New Zealanders who are print disabled and yet they don’t meet the Blind Foundation’s membership criteria. But they also have barriers to overcome in terms of access to information. “Stroke victims, arthritis sufferers, people with dyslexia or neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease all have difficulty reading print, holding a book or acquiring reading material in a format that best suits their individual needs. In some cases, isolation is a contributing factor to how a person acquires their information or recreational [reading] material.” That was a quote from the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa conference in 2011.

According to Statistics New Zealand, 24 percent of New Zealanders identify as disabled, meaning that over one million people have a permanent condition that restricts their everyday activities. This is more likely to be a physical impairment in older people or learning disabilities in children. These numbers have gone up by over 20 percent since 2001, partly because of our ageing population and possibly because of improved methodology in data collection and higher rates of reporting. The origin of disability varies according to age. Around 42 percent of disabled children were born with an impairment. However, most adults’ disabilities are the result of illness or disease.

Statistics New Zealand states, and it has been quoted earlier today, that New Zealand currently has 168,000 print-disabled citizens. However, the Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand estimates that approximately one in 10 New Zealanders—and that is conservative; it is more likely one in seven New Zealanders—are dyslexic, and that would include up to 70,000 school children. It appears, therefore, that people with learning disabilities like dyslexia, who struggle with numeracy and literacy, are not included in the numbers provided by Statistics New Zealand—and they provide that figure of 168,000. The Dyslexia Foundation states that the oral delivery of information, including the use of audiobooks, is an important tool for dyslexics.

The definitions of the term “print disability” from Article 3 of the Marrakesh Treaty reads as follows: “A beneficiary person is a person who: (a) is blind; (b) has a visual impairment or a perceptual or reading disability which cannot be improved to give visual function substantially equivalent to that of a person who has no such impairment or disability and so is unable to read printed works to substantially the same degree as a person without an impairment or disability;”.

The New Zealand Copyright Act, section 69(4), reads: “For the purposes of this section, a person has a print disability if he or she—(a) is blind; or (b) suffers severe impairment of his or her sight; or (c) is unable to hold or manipulate books; or (d) is unable to focus or move his or her eyes; or (e) suffers a handicap with respect to visual perception.”

In the Marrakesh Treaty, provision is made for reading disability and in the New Zealand Copyright Act inclusion is offered to those challenged with respect to visual perception. A distinction is made between visual perception and the severe impairment of sight. This implies that the impairment is a cognitive one. However, dyslexia was only recognised by New Zealand as a condition in 2007. There may be a gap here, inside the treaty and inside our copyright law, where accessible formats of text and services around their provision may have a broader client base in New Zealand than expected, and this will need to be addressed.

There are many other ways that New Zealanders find themselves at a disadvantage with being able to read, and if we think about those that affect our older citizens, macular degeneration is the most common cause of blindness in our older citizens, affecting one in seven of all New Zealanders over 50. This is why New Zealand First made a point to negotiate a free eye test every year for our seniors, so that we can address, and catch early on, this degeneration.

But what we have seen—and this is why it is so important for this treaty to be brought in at this time, and for us to acknowledge it—is that as technology has improved, access through Kindle, access through other free delivery of books, like audiobooks inside our libraries, and so on, has become more and more important to more and more people. If we talk about the school students who need the Dragon speech recognition programme or other audiobooks, being able to have access across borders is going to be a major improvement for them, and that is one of the side effects of the treaty.

In closing, I want to talk about the fact that it’s also hoped that this will free up resources to make audiobooks in Pasifika languages and Te Reo Māori more available. It’s not currently feasible because the user group for these books is a minority within a minority. However, both Māori and Pacific Islanders have high rates of disability when it comes to being reading disabled, and so the requirement for these books will grow over time. This is an area where New Zealand can lead the way, now that we have the treaty, when it comes into full force in this country. We do have some little bits and pieces that we need to work around with our own copyright law, which I know will be a focus for the Minister responsible, later on in the year and later on in this term. But this is an exceptionally good start, and New Zealand First supports the report.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the examination of the Marrakesh Treaty today. This treaty has been a long time coming for the support of the disabled and special-needs communities in our country and across the globe who require alternate literary options to learn and engage with the wider community.

It was a privilege to have chaired the Commerce Committee during the last Parliament, when we examined this important treaty, and I’d like to commend my colleagues from the committee, including those who are no longer with us in this House, for their due diligence and consideration of the issues that may arise from New Zealand’s ratification of the treaty.

As my learned colleagues who spoke before me have actually said, it is estimated that 90 percent or more of the written materials that have been published across the globe are unable to be accessed in a format that supports the literacy needs of those with particular impairments, such as the blind, the visually impaired community, or those who have print-learning disabilities.

In New Zealand, this means that there are nearly—as the Hon Tracey Martin said, there could be more than one million people who are limited in their content of learning, understanding, and growing of their knowledge that they want to undertake. This creates significant barriers to their lives. It means they cannot have the same opportunities for work pursuits that their friends and their family can access, or enjoy the same educational or recreational pursuits. It is important that New Zealand resolves this grave omission.

The Marrakesh Treaty provides for an international legal framework to deal with copyright implications in facilitating the cross-border exchange of written materials that are being provided for the purposes of supporting those who are print disabled.

The treaty requires countries who accede to its terms to provide copyright law exemptions for the reproduction of work exclusively for individuals with print disability, allow for the distribution of these materials, and ensure that they can be exported or imported in accessible formats, rather than solely in the existing formats, such as large print, Braille, audiobook, and other accessible written material methods.

The treaty will have a positive cultural, economic, and social impact on our country. It will help those Kiwis expand their horizons and open up opportunities that are currently being restricted from them by the lack of this important legal framework. It is important to note that, through section 69 of the New Zealand Copyright Act, New Zealand has had a standing exemption for people, regarding this issue, but many countries have yet to fully embrace the needs of the print-disabled community and take action.

The treaty, in being implemented, will also save money for New Zealand’s economy. At present, our Government has invested in the production of educational materials for the print-disabled community through the Blind Foundation. At present, recording a single book costs up to $3,000 and producing a Braille publication can cost up to $5,000 or more, depending on the length, the complexity, and whether there is content that is more complex to transfer into the accessible media. But with a wider adoption of the treaty, more educational and recreational materials will be able to be made available from a myriad of nations, supporting a broader base, which the print-disabled community can take information from.

The treaty is, in effect, a furtherance of international human rights—a field New Zealand has been a leading champion for many, many years in. It improves our obligation under several United Nations agreements, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Our closest neighbour, Australia, was one of the first nations to ratify the treaty, but, with our ratification, more New Zealanders will be able to reach a wider supply of materials to support their learning.

In conclusion, I endorse this examination of the Marrakesh Treaty, and look forward to further ratification by nations across the globe.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Can I acknowledge the previous speaker in this debate, Melissa Lee, who was the chair of the Commerce Committee in the previous Parliament for that select committee’s full examination of this treaty, to advance it to the stage where we are able to debate it here in the House.

It is a pleasure to speak here today in New Zealand’s Parliament to the Marrakesh Treaty debate, to facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled. Due to a new Standing Order, if an international treaty is to be implemented by a bill, the select committee report on the treaty must be set down for debate as a Government order of the day, and that’s what we are doing here today.

As the Minister responsible for the bill that will implement the Marrakesh Treaty, I’m pleased to be speaking on this agreement, which will pave the way for 168,000—potentially, plus—New Zealanders with print disabilities to have greater access to copyright works in accessible formats, such as Braille, large print, and sound. Before I go on, can I acknowledge Neil Jarvis of the Blind Foundation and Rose Wilkinson of Blind Citizens New Zealand, who I met earlier today, who I think are amongst many who are excited to see this treaty being progressed in this House.

I also acknowledge two former Ministers in the House Jacqui Dean and Nicky Wagner as commerce and disability Ministers, who in the previous Government made sure that this issue was progressed. I’m sure there’s willingness across the House to make sure that the legislation that will be introduced as a result of our supporting the Marrakesh Treaty will be progressing through the House as fast as possible.

It’s estimated that only 10 percent of all written materials currently published worldwide are published in formats accessible to people with a print disability, and this lack of access is a barrier to participation in public life and restricts employment, educational, and recreational opportunities. I just want people at home who may be listening to or watching this at some stage just to think about the simplicity of being able to go to a book store and pick up a book for most New Zealanders, and how difficult that would be for the 168,000 New Zealanders who are affected if that day-to-day function wasn’t available to you—if you couldn’t go and pick up a Harry Potter book and give that to your child because they wouldn’t be able to read it, if you weren’t able to study because of your inability to be able to access books.

So the Marrakesh Treaty is, as many speakers have said, a multilateral treaty negotiated by the World Intellectual Property Organization. It was developed to provide an international legal framework for an exception to copyright infringement to facilitate the production and international exchange—as other members have spoken about—of copyright works in accessible formats. This exception allows non-profit organisations, such as educational institutions, libraries, and charities serving print-disabled persons, to produce and exchange accessible-format copies of copyright works without permission of the copyright owner.

So far, we understand around 30 countries have ratified the treaty, including Australia, Canada, Chile, and Singapore. The debate today is another step towards New Zealand ratifying the treaty. I understand there are also steps being taken to ratify the treaty in other jurisdictions, including the EU, and I understand, from my conversation with Neil Jarvis this morning, that when the EU ratifies this treaty, it will essentially double the number of countries that would support this treaty and open up a lot more content to those New Zealanders who are desperate to do that.

Ratifying this treaty will bring New Zealand into alignment with international obligations, including those under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Most importantly, however, this treaty will make a real difference to the lives of those who use these resources and their families and the community. But I don’t think the status quo is good enough. Our current legislation, enacted through section 69 of the Copyright Act, has an exception to copyright infringement that allows prescribed bodies, as it says in the Act, to make accessible format copies of copyright works without the need to seek the copyright owner’s permission. However, this is inadequate, as only a small number of the 168,000 New Zealanders with a print disability have access to accessible-format copies of copyright works, and this access is limited.

We know that only a small number of organisations with limited resources are providing accessible-format copies to a small group of persons. Meanwhile, imported materials of copyright works are not subject to the accessibility provisions of domestic works, which results in costly and time-consuming duplication of converting works to accessible formats when accessible-format copies of those works may be available from other countries at much lower cost.

This is why joining the Marrakesh Treaty is a vital step in the right direction for New Zealand—so we can expect expanded, faster, and greater access to a wider variety of accessible-format copies to New Zealanders with print disabilities. We hope to see more effective use of resources by schools, libraries, and charitable organisations that serve people with print disabilities. The provisions of the treaty will also provide greater clarity around what kind of activity is permitted under the existing exception for those producers of copyright works.

The next stages for the Marrakesh Treaty to be implemented will come in the form of a bill introduced into this House that will amend the Copyright Act. In addition to providing the minimum amendments necessary for support to the Marrakesh Treaty, the bill will make additional amendments to the Copyright Act to further improve the availability of accessible-format works in New Zealand. The proposed amendments to the Copyright Act include amendments that will expand the range of organisations and individuals that may use the section 69 exception to make accessible-format copies for persons with a print disability.

Both imported and exported accessible-format copies between New Zealand and other countries party to the Marrakesh Treaty will be included, and this will enable content to be accessed much faster and easier by Kiwis. It will mean delays currently experienced will, hopefully, come to an end. In addition, clarity will be provided on the extent to which people with a print disability, or someone acting on their behalf, can convert copyright works into accessible-format copies for personal use.

Once the bill is passed through this House, where I hope to see cross-party support, New Zealand will be able to deposit its instruments of accession to the World Intellectual Property Organization. The Marrakesh Treaty will enter into force for New Zealand three months later, with the amendments to the Copyright Act coming into force at the same time. These changes to the Copyright Act will benefit those with print disability to copyright owners and the rest of New Zealand society. This Government is committed to being a Government of inclusion, and disability should never be a barrier from accessing information and material.

I commend the work that the key organisations, such as the Blind Foundation and Copyright Licensing New Zealand, are already doing to improve access to print material for the visually impaired. I thank the involvement of these groups, who have been working alongside the Government through the initiatives such as the accessible formats forum to improve access and assist in the smooth implementation of the treaty.

Can I go back to the beginning and acknowledge the work of the Commerce Committee in the previous Parliament. I understand there were some concerns raised by the copyright owners, and that was around access to digital formats and the fact that they may be disseminated, and I believe that those concerns were raised and addressed in the select committee report, and, hopefully, I will see them addressed in the legislation that comes to the House.

Away from the technicalities, I’d like to acknowledge the exciting step that this is for those 168,000 New Zealanders who can see this as a beginning of a legislative process to change their lives. The ability to be able to have access—quick, cheap access—to a book, to a work, or to a piece of literary work, which has been difficult for them for some years, and some decades, is a milestone moment for them. I think it’s something simple for most New Zealanders to be able to pick up a book or pick up a text book, but for those 168,000 New Zealanders who have been waiting for this treaty to pass through this House, I think the fact that we’re here today and that legislation is imminent is a great day for them, and I acknowledge the Commerce Committee from the previous Parliament and all those who have worked to make sure we can get to this stage here today.

Like the member, I’d like to go back and insert a piece that I overlooked. The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you so much for this opportunity to speak on the Marrakesh Treaty. This is a multilateral treaty that was agreed and concluded in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh—thus its name—in 2013. We know that, to date, there are 33 member countries who have acceded—they’ve agreed—to this particular treaty, including our neighbours in Australia, Canada, and Singapore. This is a very important treaty, and it is my hope that we will have cross-party support for it.

The Marrakesh Treaty has the objective of having a framework for producing and distributing copies of materials for people with print disabilities in formats that are accessible to them. Now, the definition of those with print disability include someone who is blind; a person with a visual or perceptual impairment that is not able to be corrected, for instance, with glasses; and/or a person with a physical disability that prevents him or her from being able to read a book.

I’d like to acknowledge and thank the Hon Kris Faafoi for giving us an outline of the background of the Marrakesh Treaty as well as its history and the amendments that we would need. I’d also like to acknowledge and commend the former chair of the select committee that actually sat through this particular treaty, Melissa Lee, for all of the processes that they went through. I know that there were many submitters that came through to that select committee, the Commerce Committee, that strongly supported this country for making the amendments that would accede the Marrakesh Treaty.

In going back to what does this Marrakesh Treaty allow us to do—well, it would, if we are to accede the Marrakesh Treaty do the following. First, it would allow authorised entities to make and distribute accessible formats of literary artistic works within their own countries without seeking the permission of the owner or the copyright of those works. Now, the reason why this is important is, as you heard from speakers that have spoken about this particular treaty before me, it takes several months, and sometimes it takes between $3,000 to up to $6,000, just to convert or just to make works available, say, for instance, in Braille. If we were to have this treaty, it would allow us to bring materials from other countries—member countries—to be able to distribute it here in New Zealand.

Secondly, we would be able to export copies—if we were to actually do these ourselves in New Zealand, we would be able to export those copies after we make it accessible in our country. Third, we would be able to access those materials from other countries who are authorised entities of the Marrakesh Treaty.

The definition of an authorised entity though, are those including schools, it includes libraries, and it includes charities that serve those with print disabilities. However, if we are to ask the question, do we in New Zealand allow in our own copyright legislation exceptions that would allow us to print these—well, the answer is yes. Section 69 of the Copyright Act 1994 actually allows some exceptions. However, only a few people can print and are actually allowed to do this. So in New Zealand we have two authorised entities, and as far as I know the Blind Foundation is one of those, and the University of New Zealand is also one of those that is allowed to do this in our country.

However, even though section 69 of the Copyright Act 1994 allows us to have prescribed bodies to make accessible formats available, without the permission of the copyright owner, it still makes it very, very challenging for us to fulfil the conditions of section 69, which is why it is important for us in this House to accede to the Marrakesh Treaty. The amendments to the Copyright Act of 1994 would then allow New Zealand, as I said, to be able to produce materials and distribute materials that are much cheaper, and be able to import various materials from overseas from those who have already made it accessible to their folks.

When the Commerce Committee listened to the submissions for this treaty last year, one of the things that they found was that 7 percent of the respondents to a Blind Foundation survey found such limited access to materials, to the point that when they accessed tertiary education they gave as the reason for them leaving their studies—ending their studies, basically—that they could no longer access materials. And so when we allow this treaty to make it more accessible to those with print disabilities, it would make it more available, make it more accessible, to those of our students who are having difficulties when they study to be able to access materials when they study.

Another thing that the select committee also found was that 40 percent of those accessing tertiary education here in Aotearoa New Zealand could not keep up with their studies because they felt that there was not enough support and that there was negative impact on their studies because of the lack of materials that they were able to access. So one of the goals of the Marrakesh Treaty is to change this sad reality for so many of our students.

As you heard from the Minister, Kris Faafoi, earlier on, it is estimated that here in New Zealand those with print disability is up to a number of about 168,000 people. That is a whole lot of people that will be able to access more materials, and be able to have better access when they have tertiary education, when we accede to the Marrakesh Treaty.

The other thing that the Commerce Committee also found is that the Marrakesh Treaty would be able to allow those with disabilities better autonomy, better independence, and better health-improved outcomes. Those individuals will be able to find and interpret and use information for health services. They’ll be able to make more effective decisions for themselves related to their health and well-being. And I believe it is our job, as members of Parliament, to ensure that New Zealanders are not disadvantaged, to ensure that they have better access to education, better access to employment and social well-being. I encourage all members in this House to support the Marrakesh Treaty. Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It’s an easy thing to get full consensus across this House to support the Marrakesh Treaty, because it has been in the machinery of government under various Ministers for a few years now, and has just passed through the able chairmanship of Melissa Lee in the previous Parliament’s Commerce Committee and its treaty examination. So any question that the House might not support this I don’t think carries any weight, particularly when, as politicians, we talk to the people we represent, and those who have access to only 10 percent of published works, and how frustrating that is for the people who are members of the Blind Foundation, the blind citizens of New Zealand.

We’ve met them or we’ve talked to them in our own parts of New Zealand and heard their frustrations, particularly on behalf of young people and children who are making their way through the education system and come up against this barrier of having only 10 percent of printed works available to them in a format that they can access and use for themselves. So the Marrakesh Treaty and this examination in the House is another good step along the way to enacting this treaty so that we can join the other 30-odd international countries around the world who will, in their own legislative way, provide exceptions to some form of commerce Act. In our case it’s section 69 of the Copyright Act that will provide exceptions for non-profit organisations, and that is so they can access this material in a form that can be used and then can distribute it to the people who wish to use it.

Many of the issues in the Marrakesh Treaty have been traversed in the House, and I see that the Government members are taking full calls, so it doesn’t seem to me that I can add anything particular in traversing the details of this treaty, except to say that it enjoys the full support of National, as it did when we were the Government. We moved this process along, and now I’m very pleased to see the Hon Kris Faafoi continuing the work of previous commerce Ministers in enacting this very worthwhile and worthy treaty. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak in support of the implementation and accession of this treaty, especially in the context of consensus in this House. The Marrakesh Treaty, as has been said now six times, is vital to New Zealand’s compliance with our obligations to the disabled community, in particular the community of New Zealanders some 168,000 strong who suffer from some form of print-reading impairment, from blindness to all sorts of other types of perceptual impairment.

I was astounded to find that only 10 percent of printed material caters to this group. As we all know, this restricts their right to access employment, education, and recreational opportunities, and, for children who suffer this type of impairment, to be able to read the same books as their friends—to form friendships based on reading is such a great pleasure that I think we all probably remember from childhood—to engage in school learning that’s the same as other children, and later on to engage in public discourse, from political activism to all sorts of cultural engagement. I remember once asking my mother what the hardest part of moving countries and changing her whole life was, and she said that it was that she couldn’t share the pleasure of reading with new friends that she made, because she couldn’t always read the same books. They weren’t available in Farsi and English. She was a stranger in a strange land, but to think that visually impaired New Zealanders are suffering the same hardship, what she found to be the gravest hardship about her move across the world, is incredible.

This is an initiative that actually affects the very basic rights for print-impaired New Zealanders. It affects our compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, our compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and I would say also our compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, because, as we know, the rights to access basic education and information are basic human rights. This is a multinational treaty initiated by the World Intellectual Property Organization. It essentially takes away what hinders copyright sharing of printed material that can be printed or produced in ways that can be accessed by visually impaired persons. The exception to that type of copyright law will apply to non-profit organisations like libraries or other educational institutions that have thus far tried to facilitate access for blind New Zealanders or visually impaired New Zealanders in their own ways, but have been hindered by copyright rules that don’t recognise the limitations placed on that community.

The legislation supporting this treaty will affect the current section 69 of the Copyright Act 1994, which does provide for exceptions to copyright infringement, allowing prescribed bodies to print or to produce material in accessible form, but we know now that that exception is far too limited. It applies to a very small number of organisations with very limited resources that are providing accessible-format copies to a small subset of the persons we’re talking about today. So the treaty, and, in turn, the legislation that will be introduced in this House to implement it, will aim to change that and to broaden the scope of the exceptions to the copyright rules to allow for a far larger body of organisations to provide for all visually impaired New Zealanders who are affected by accessibility issues when it comes to printed material.

Inclusion and equality fall squarely within the kaupapa of the Green Party, and I’m reminded of the incredible work of former Green MP Catherine Delahunty on inclusive education in all its forms. So this treaty and eventual implementation legislation fall within that important kaupapa, and I am proud to stand here and see this come through for New Zealand so that we might better comply with our human rights obligations and we might move closer to becoming a more inclusive and equal society. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I’m delighted to support this Marrakesh Treaty, a treaty that will facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled, because it will break down barriers for these people and it will open up opportunities—opportunities for them to independently access information and knowledge. As we’ve already heard, it’s an important international framework, and it will enable the reproduction and distribution of books and other literary works in the accessible format without breaking copyright laws, and that’s the key issue—without breaking copyright laws.

I’m particularly pleased to be part of this debate today because the decision to progress the treaty was made in 2017 when I was the Minister for Disability Issues. There was a lot of discussion within the sector and strong support to progress that, and I did that when I was working with the former Minister of Commerce, the Hon Jacqui Dean. The Commerce Committee then began the parliamentary treaty examination process, which has now been completed, and thus we are debating its report.

New Zealand has already been able to produce accessible-format materials through the dispensation of section 69 of the Copyright Act 1994, but what this does is give access to accessible-format materials in other countries—obviously, access to a huge amount of material that hasn’t been available previously. There are two organisations in New Zealand, the University of Auckland and the Blind Foundation, who are authorised entities to produce accessible-format materials, and they do that well. But they have limited capacity, they have limited resource, it’s a very expensive exercise, and the worst thing is that they’re often duplicating work that has already been done internationally. So becoming part of this treaty will give New Zealanders—these New Zealanders who have a print disability—much easier access to a whole variety of accessible works. It also will help New Zealand adhere to our international responsibilities and obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and also to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children.

Of course National supports this Marrakesh Treaty because it absolutely will improve the life of people who are blind, visually impaired, or have a type—any type, actually—of print disability. There’s a large number of New Zealanders in that circumstance. We’ve heard already in the House somewhere up to 200,000 New Zealanders—168,000 and counting—and, also, it covers a wide range of materials: Braille materials, large-print materials, and also audio format. At the moment, a huge majority of materials—up to 90 percent—are not available in accessible formats, so this treaty will make a huge difference, and it will make a huge difference to a wide range of people.

It is expected to have significant long-term social impacts for people with a print disability, and I just want to give a couple of examples of that. For example, people with a print disability—many of them discontinue their education and studies because they can’t get the material to study; there’s no accessible material available for them. In fact, 40 percent of the students in this situation say they felt it impacted their results, and you can see this in the stats. At the moment, only 33 percent of working-age people with a print disability have a tertiary education, whereas that can be compared to 41 percent of the wider population. This difference continues into the employment figures: only 54 percent of people with a print disability have a job, compared to 69 percent of the general population. Of course, by not being part of the workforce, this affects incomes, but, also, these people lose the intangible benefits of being part of work teams, of the social interaction, and of the ability to use their skills.

There are other benefits of having more accessible formats, particularly through international access. It will give disabled people more opportunity to be independent, more opportunity to have choice and control in their lives, more opportunity to be better informed about every part of how they want to live their lives. It will also give them greater access to works in foreign languages, which is useful, and, also, we think, with an expectation of the international established libraries. There are huge libraries of accessible material around the world, particularly in developed countries, and that will be available to New Zealand but also to less-developed countries, and that will make a huge difference to their people. We also feel that because New Zealand won’t have to print some of the standard texts, we’ll be able to print more New Zealand material, including Māori and Pasifika works.

So, in conclusion, implementing this Marrakesh Treaty is a significant step forward. It’s been strongly supported by stakeholders, strongly supported by the disability sector, and strongly supported by the National Party, and we see it as an important milestone to step up to the vision that we have in the 2016 New Zealand Disability Strategy. That’s a vision of a non-disabling society—of a truly non-disabling society—and I think that’s a very important part for New Zealand. Kia ora.

Madam Deputy Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise to speak on this Marrakesh Treaty. Just—

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: My apologies—this is a split call, so five minutes; bell at one. Sorry to interrupt the member.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Just to build on the presentation by the Hon Nicky Wagner, I think what the important thing is, when we get to debate a treaty like this, is that it highlights disability issues. We’ve talked about the 168,000 New Zealanders whose lives will be enriched by this, potentially. But what it also does is ensure that—what we often forget when we’re talking about disabled people is that it’s actually so much of the pleasure of the world that they are deprived of. Those of us who grew up understanding the pleasures of literature in particular understand just what a journey we can take into that area.

It’s quite ironic that it is called the Marrakesh Treaty, because Marrakesh is somewhere that those of us who, in our youth, backpacked around the world—Marrakesh is one of those places and occupies, in our minds, an exotic location. It is very exotic—it’s not the oldest place in Morocco, it’s not even the capital of Morocco, but it is the cultural centre of Morocco. What better way to have a treaty that is going to enable so many people in New Zealand who are currently deprived of the ability to fully partake in the cultural pleasures of our world than to be called the Marrakesh Treaty? So I am very much proud to stand here and be in support of this.

The print disabled, blind, severely impaired, unable to hold or manipulate a book, unable to move or focus their eyes, or experiences a disability with respect to visual perception—they’re just words, but they mean so much if you’re one of the people who are subject to any of those disabilities. I know through my own personal involvement with the disability sector that it is a part of the world that constantly looks not for pity, not even for assistance, but just to feel that they belong to the world in which those who are, shall we say, privileged enough to be normal, occupy. It’s treaties like this, it’s measures like this, that just go that little bit further to ensuring that those people do get to participate fully in the world.

The Marrakesh Treaty—it’s a treaty on copyright, adopted in Marrakesh, as you’ve said, on 28 June 2013, and it seems a long time ago, but in the lives of so many people, anything that improves is worth waiting for. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities—New Zealand is a party to. Of course, that guarantees full equality under law for people with disabilities, so, again, it is absolutely appropriate that New Zealand be part of any legislation, any treaty that improves the lot of those people.

Before the legislation comes in, there’s only a small number of organisations that are prescribed bodies under section 69 of the Copyright Act that exists now, and there’s only two organisations in New Zealand who are actually able to produce material under that Act. It is extremely expensive, and in the absence of this Marrakesh Treaty, it would continue to be a bar to so many fellow New Zealanders accessing the whole world—the world of literature, the world of every written and other word that we need to be part of the world.

This also explicitly provides for the import and export of accessible-format copies. At the moment, of course, if someone does wish to import any material, they are subject to the copyright of those countries as well—so, again, a big restriction. So part of not only ensuring that those with disabilities, the sight-impaired in New Zealand, become part of the New Zealand society—fully functioning members—but they can actually also become part of that world, I suppose, as I said at the start, prefaced by that exotic land of Marrakesh in Morocco. So it gives me great pleasure to recommend this treaty and our participation in it to the House, and, as it progresses through the House, just a thought for those who will be watching who will be very pleased to know that they’re going to be part of a bigger, wider world.

Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you. I’m pleased take a short call on this issue that we’ve got before us, the international treaty examination of the Marrakesh Treaty. It was my honour, I suppose, when I was Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs a couple of years ago—that this issue had been before various Ministers for a number of years, and, as anybody who’s had the privilege to be a Minister will know, there’s a lot of competing priorities for the time of officials to get the work done in order to prepare for such things. This was one thing that hadn’t made it to the top, and I was determined that the officials do the work so that we could accede to this Treaty, because it will make a difference to the lives of many New Zealanders.

I want to reach out—well, I want to refer to the hard work done by the Blind Foundation, who are based in Parnell, where I am based, and who work so hard on behalf of the broader community who struggle with their vision.

The problem that we’ve had here is that the New Zealand copyright legislation allows for the reproduction or production of works in accessible formats but it doesn’t allow for those works to be imported or exported, and so New Zealand has to recreate the world in every example, and that, of course, is very expensive and very slow. We’ve got a whole world of opportunity out there, in terms of audiobooks in particular, which have been done in many other countries, and so this is a no-brainer in terms of giving New Zealanders access to that wonderful store of knowledge and entertainment and joy that is out there.

I think everybody in this House sees this as something good, and I’m so pleased that we’re in the position to make further progress on it. I commend this to the House.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is an honour to rise and speak to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled. Now, I understand that about 33 countries have actually ratified this treaty, and that includes Australia, Canada, Chile, India, and Singapore.

What does this treaty do, however? It is known as the Marrakesh Treaty, because the actual name is quite long. What it does is provide an international framework for the production and the dissemination of copies of books and of other literary works in formats that are particularly accessible to people with a print disability. So that includes those who are blind, those who have a visual impairment that cannot be rectified with the use of glasses, and those who have a physical disability that prevents them from being able to read a book. This treaty is about fairness. It’s about being inclusive as a society. It’s about being ambitious for all New Zealanders and actually ensuring that all New Zealanders can participate fully in public life.

We understand that there are about 168,000 New Zealanders who have a print disability, and we know that it is difficult for those with disabilities, including visual impairments and other print disabilities, to participate in public life. We know that they’re twice as likely to be either unemployed or underemployed.

Just last week, I met with an organisation whose national office is based in Onehunga, in the Maungakiekie electorate where I’m based. They’ve got branches across the country. I’m referring to the ELEVATE Christian Disability Trust. I met with members of this trust last week and they gave me some really concrete examples of how their members feel underutilised in society. Those who are applying for a job feel that their opportunities are limited, largely because of how employers perceive them and their ability to contribute in the role that they’re being considered for or, in many cases, not being considered for, unfortunately. I’ve also grown up with close family members who’ve had visual impairments and been unable to hold a book or read a book, especially later in life, and so we know that this treaty has the power to change the lives of so many.

I also want to acknowledge, as speakers before me have done, the work of the Blind Foundation. They’ve actually been pushing for New Zealand to accede to this treaty for many years, and it is in that sense also an honour to be able to speak in the House to this treaty.

So, now, what does the Marrakesh Treaty do? It requires member States to provide copyright exemptions that allow authorised entities to make and distribute accessible format copies of literary and artistic works in their own countries without seeking the permission of the copyright owners. It also allows these member countries to export these accessible format copies to other member countries and allows them to also import them, and therein lies a huge benefit to New Zealand. It allows us to export, if we were to ratify this treaty, New Zealand content around the world to member countries, and it allows them to export to us as well.

Some have suggested that we just tweak New Zealand’s existing copyright regime. “Why can’t we do that?”, they ask. Section 69 of the Copyright Act 1994 does provide an exemption to prescribed bodies—which, I was shocked to learn, were actually only two—to make accessible format copies of literary and dramatic works for people who have a print disability, without needing to seek the permission of copyright owners. So people have asked, “If we already have this ability, why don’t we just go with that?” But there are some issues to this. There are issues of cost. It is hugely expensive. I think, as we heard before from the Minister Jenny Salesa, it can cost up to $6,000 to transform, or to translate or to make accessible, books and other literary works. So it’s very expensive. It’s cost prohibitive in some cases. It’s time consuming. It takes quite a lot of time to make that happen, and there are too few organisations. There are only a small number of organisations that are prescribed bodies under section 69, and these organisations serve only a small subset of people with a print disability. This means that a large majority of New Zealanders who have a print disability continue to miss out. They continue to have very limited access to accessible format copies.

Now, what are the amendments that are required to the Copyright Act 1994 in order for us to accede to this treaty? A lot of them we actually already comply with. We will retain provisions that are laid out in section 69. However, there are some amendments that are required before we can actually accede to this treaty. Some of them are quite explicit. So I’m just going to read them out from the Commerce Committee’s report. So the amendments that will be required to align the current section 69 with the Marrakesh Treaty include explicitly providing for the “import and export of accessible format copies” to and from New Zealand and other countries parties to the Marrakesh Treaty.

Actually, at this point I just want to add that from some of the advocacy work that the Blind Foundation has done specifically on this, I was actually quite shocked to find out that in some cases we’ve got students who have print disabilities and are finding it really difficult or impossible to access school textbooks that they require to continue with their education. Those who want to learn, for example, a different language, are struggling to be able to access books in those languages in New Zealand. And I think that’s actually absolutely unfair and unacceptable. If I wanted to learn a language, it would be extremely easy for me—well, not extremely easy to learn the language, but extremely easy for me to access the materials that I would need in order for me to do that, and I feel that the same should be applicable to everyone, including those with print disabilities.

So back to the amendments noted in the report. Another amendment is to “extend the definition of ‘works’ (to which the section 69 exemption applies) to include artistic works;”. We would also need to expand the conditions applied to prescribed bodies in section 69, as I mentioned before. My understanding is that prescribed bodies is limited to two entities, so we would have to expand the conditions and the exception to include “the maintenance of due care in, and records of, its handling of copies of works;”. Finally, another amendment would clarify that the definition of a person with print disability includes “individuals who have a visual impairment or perceptual or reading disability, which cannot be improved to give substantially similar function as a person without such an impairment.”, and that’s the point that I was alluding to previously in my example of wanting to learn a different language.

Many countries have a disability exception to copyright infringement, but there is a need for an international instrument that allows for cross-border distribution of accessible format copies, and that’s what we’re discussing here. This treaty has come about after four years of intense negotiations among member States. And I’ve also got to conclude on the note that I’m actually extremely proud to be standing on this side of the House, part of a Government that’s actually pushing this forward, because one of the concerns of the Blind Foundation was that the previous Government was not giving this due importance and that it would slip down the priority list and actually get lost amongst some of the other work.

We consider this extremely important. As I mentioned at the start, it’s about fairness, it’s about inclusion, it’s about inclusivity, and it’s about ensuring that all New Zealanders have the right to access the information that they need to enhance their dignity and their well-being. So I’d like to commend this to the House. Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker.

Well, there’s nothing to commend to the House, because this is not a bill; it’s a treaty discussion. I heard the pious claptrap of the previous speaker, Priyanca Radhakrishnan. The reality of the matter is that it’s because of all the excellent work of the Hon Paul Goldsmith, an outstanding Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs—it’s a kind of a shame he’s in Opposition, but it’s comedy hour when he questions Willie Jackson; it’s a great laugh—and the other people who have been involved in this work from the National Government’s days.

💬 Fletcher Tabuteau: You’re even more bitter than usual.

Can I offer—and I hear his interjection—my warmest congratulations to Mr Tabuteau on his assumption of the deputy leadership of New Zealand First.

💬 Hon Shane Jones: Hear, hear! Hear, hear!

But if I can—and I know Mr Jones is bitterly disappointed, but I have to say this to Mr Tabuteau: being deputy leader of New Zealand First is like being the Prince of Wales in Hanoverian times, because whoever was Prince of Wales, the old man always hated you. So I would say to him: enjoy the deputy leadership before someone else moves in—probably Mr Jones.

Look, one could go on at length about this matter, but really it all falls to a close examination of section 69, which shows why an amendment is needed. I was very interested in the report of the Commerce Committee. I’d refer honourable members particularly to paragraph 22, when it talks about the failings of section 69. Section 69, as other speakers have said, deals with the “Provision of Braille copies of literary or dramatic works”—it doesn’t cover artistic works—and subsection (4) deals with the definition of those persons who have a print disability—so, for example, if a person is blind or suffers impairment of his or her sight, is unable to hold or manipulate books, and so on. There’s also a definition—it probably applies to the Deputy Prime Minister—unable to focus or move his eyes.

So there are some gaps in the legislation. It talks about a grey area, but I would have thought it was quite black and white, even though it hasn’t been tested in the courts, that there is real uncertainty over the legality of prescribed bodies importing accessible-format works. I would have thought it was a no-brainer that there’s an obstacle, which is why there needs to be an amendment to the legislation. Paragraph 23 sets out what other speakers have said about why we have this Marrakesh Treaty and why an amendment to section 69 is required.

So it’s a very important piece of work undertaken with zealotry by the previous National Government, and I would have thought that we could get an amendment bill in, given the dynamic and hard-working Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs that we have now—get it into the House and off to a select committee. I don’t think too much more need be said about it.

Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Tēnā koutou katoa. It is my pleasure to contribute to the debate on the International treaty examination of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.

I actually want to start with a quote from a man called Dan Burke, who was 52 years old. He was a blind man—he’d become blind through retinal disease—from Montana. I quote, “Information is what we want. Information is the power to become economically viable members of society. This is a world in which if you don’t have money you usually don’t have access.” The reason I chose to start with that quote is because the quote came from an article dated 12 November 2009 and it was titled “Copyright Owners Fight Plan to Release E-Books for the Blind”. I really wanted to put this treaty within a context of the community that has been fighting and had been fighting for so many years to get the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to create this treaty.

On 16 November 2009, there was a meeting in Geneva to consider the WIPO treaty for sharing accessible formats of copyright works for persons who are blind or have other reading disabilities. It was proposed by Brazil, Ecuador, and Paraguay, but what I want to highlight was that it was fought against by the US Chamber of Commerce representing 3 million businesses. In fact, there was only one American organisation who supported this treaty, and I think it’s worth noting—that was Google. Google and their chief copyright officer at the time, William Palfrey, said that this treaty was about a group that needs and deserves protections of the international community. So I have chosen to highlight what I think was the beginning of a process that enabled the treaty that we are debating today to be assented to, including by New Zealand.

Just as a bit of a background, there are millions of books published worldwide, and between 1 and 7 percent are provided in a format that 285 million persons in the world who are blind or visually impaired have access to. In New Zealand, that’s 10 percent of books and it affects 168,000 New Zealanders. And 90 percent of the people who will be affected by this treaty live in low-income settings and developing countries. So that’s the context of the treaty. It was also framed within a context of a global book famine. It’s only in this treaty that human rights principles outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have been enshrined, so this is the first copyright treaty to include a clear and transparent human rights perspective.

The treaty is really simple. The treaty looks at who the beneficiaries of the treaty are—so the blind and visually impaired. It looks at what can be made accessible, and it also looks at which formats the works can be adapted or translated or modified to, to become accessible. Our obligations as a country or as a party to the treaty are twofold: firstly, to provide for a limitation or an exception to copyright, which will allow the beneficiaries—those who are blind and visually impaired—through authorised entities to reformat and adapt the work to then make it accessible. It also allows for the exchange of those accessible materials across borders. Herein lies, I think, our obligation as a leader within the Pacific. I believe that through this piece of legislation and the need to create formats that address Pacific, Samoan, Tongan, other Pacific speakers, there is an opportunity for us to contribute to ensuring that our Pacific Islands Forum member country partners are also beneficiaries to this treaty.

So the benefits, generally, are increased access to books and magazines for the world’s populations of persons with print disabilities. It’s also about increasing the awareness of the challenges faced by the print-disabled community and persons with disabilities. I just want to linger on that for a moment, because, at the end of the day, treaties such as this and discussions that we’re having in the House are about priorities, and it is an important opportunity for us to say that this treaty and the legislation that we eventually introduce into our Parliament says to our disabled community, our blind and visually impaired community that, “Actually, you’re incredibly valuable and important and that’s why we are doing what we are doing.”

And we’re doing what we’re doing to ensure that there’s increased access to education. So we know that through education you learn—well, knowledge is imparted and that knowledge then provides an opportunity for people to study in concentrated areas. It’s also really important for enhanced social integration and cultural participation. Lest we forget how important it is to understand, for example, some of the things that are happening in our community that we get through newspapers and that we get through other modes, which really do communicate what is happening in society. So, I think that developing opportunities to learn to participate, to engage in social inclusion or inclusiveness, conversations, and also to get a good education to get a good job can’t be underestimated.

In fact, that is probably the last area I want to focus on. It is the one about poverty alleviation and how, through the transmission of the knowledge in the books in formats and in ways that ensure our blind and visually impaired whānau can then build on a learning regime, that enables them to be contributing, constructive, self-sufficient members of society, which is something that we all should take incredibly seriously, but also we should all be incredibly proud that we’re part of.

When this treaty was assented to on 30 September 2016, 20 countries automatically provided for the treaty. I do think it’s an interesting mix of countries and I would like to indulge the House by reading them out. The first countries were India, El Salvador, United Arab Emirates, Mali, Uruguay, Paraguay, Singapore, Argentina, Mexico, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Brazil, Peru, Democratic Republic of Korea, Israel, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Canada. In understanding, I think, the relevance of this treaty to developing countries, it’s heartening to see the mix of developing and developed countries that have ensured and will ensure the implementation of this treaty.

From my perspective and the perspective of the House, I think that it’s incredibly important that we do thank the Commerce Committee for the evidence that they’ve provided to this House for us as a country to assent to this treaty. I do look forward to the progress of the bill through the House, which will enable us to contribute to translating 90 percent of our books into mediums and modes that allow our blind and visually impaired fellow citizens to fully participate in our society. At the end of the day, information is knowledge and if we go right back to what Mr Burke said, if we want our disabled community to have the means to be self-sufficient, then it’s actually treaties such as this that will give them the tools for that to become a reality. Kia ora, Mr Assistant Speaker.

Motion agreed to.