On 30 September 2016 – 3 months after it gained the necessary 20 ratifications or accessions by WIPO member states – the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled, entered into force. The “books for the blind” treaty was adopted on 27 June 2013 at a diplomatic conference organised by WIPO in Marrakesh, Morocco. It aims at tackling the book famine through making books and other published materials accessible to visually impaired persons by requiring contracting parties to adopt copyright limitations and exceptions that allow for the reproduction, distribution and cross-border exchange of works in accessible formats, such as Braille. According to an estimation of the World Health Organization in 2013, the world counts approximately 285 million visually impaired persons of which 90% live in low-income countries. For South Africa, during Census 2011, it was estimated that approximately 880 000 persons have no sight ability or have a lot of difficulty in doing so. The following 20 countries are now contracting parties to the treaty: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Mongolia, Paraguay, Peru, Republic of Korea, Singpore, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay. South Africa has neither signed nor ratified the Treaty; however, the recent draft Copyright Amendment Bill shows the legislator’s intent to soon implement the Treaty. The IP Unit’s Implementation Guide for South Africa can be found here.