NEW DELHI: Film Federation of India Secretary General Supran Sen recently said that there was need to support the important role of securing access by the visually impaired and other differently enabled persons to copyright work through practically achievable methods.

Addressing the Conference of the Standing committee of WIPO on Copyright and Related Rights on behalf of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), Sen said FIAPF shared the concerns and said the best norms should be used. He said FIAPF was entirely at the disposal of Member States, should they wish to receive evidence of actions developed by the audiovisual industries worldwide to facilitate access to audiovisual works by the visually-impaired and other people with disabilities.

He said FIAPF also supported the move towards a Treaty to protect the broadcaster. It was encouraged by the clarity of many delegations about the need to limit those rights relating to broadcasting signals and stop unauthorized signals, in order to ensure that rights in content itself remain under the control of content producers and other creative participants.

The Conference discussed among other things the need to support the blind and other disabled human beings who face social exclusion, discrimination and poverty. Equal opportunities in education, work and information should be given to such visually impaired and other disabled human beings.

The copyrighted materials should be made available to such persons in accessible formats, such as Braille, large print and audio.

The proposal was moved by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay. Some member states pointed out that an international instrument – whatever its nature – will not in itself build capacity and guarantee access to a greater range of works on fair terms to the visually-impaired.

The conference, attended by 54 countries including India and 100 NGOs, was held from 21 to 24 June in Geneva.