Please find bellow the statement delivered yesterday from the floor at the 18th session of the Standing Committee on Copyrights and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the UN agency specialised in intellectual property.

Statement by the Centre for Technology and Society at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) School of Law in Rio de Janeiro – Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), WIPO

Geneva, 25-29 May 2009

Dear Mister Chairman,

Congratulations on your re-election.

I speak on behalf of the Centre for Technology and Society (CTS) at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, considered by the US magazine Foreign Policy as a top-5 "policymaker think-tank" worldwide.

The current SCCR meeting is supposed to address some highly important issues connected to the public interest. The first one relates to the proposal of a treaty that would fulfill the legal and moral obligations to guarantee equal access to knowledge to the blind, visually impaired and other print disabled persons.

We strongly support the proposal officially tabled by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay (SCCR/18/5) with a focus on implementing mandatory minimum standards (SCCR/16/2) on broad exceptions and limitations for copyrighted materials in order to strike a balance between the incentive for creation and protection of works, at one side, and broad access to knowledge, at the other. We fully support all countries, developing and developed, that understand that implementing a flexible umbrella instrument with the objective of promoting broader access to knowledge to all through exceptions and limitations is the right way forward.

As our studies, research and experience demonstrate, several developing and least developed countries lack the expertise and needed knowledge for implementation, or are under strong pressure by industry lobbying not to implement meaningful exceptions and limitations provisions into their national legislations.

Therefore, and taking into consideration the adoption of the WIPO Development Agenda, the time is now urgent for Member States to achieve a moral and legal binding agreement for providing a balanced approach for all.

FGV understands that a framework instrument may be the best option at this moment. General declarations on exceptions and limitations may be adopted by the Member States in this body in order to draw a starting point to the issue. Once this framework is agreed upon and adopted, further discussions should follow to adopt annexes on various topics, such as (i) exceptions and limitations for blind, visually impaired and print disabled persons, (ii) exceptions and limitations for educational purposes, including distance learning, (iii) exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives, (iv) exceptions and limitations for private non-commercial use, and so on.

This is not just a legal issue, it is a social and moral concern for all persons and countries.

Thank you Mister Chairman and Member States.