Rights and accessibility · Published and updated
A country’s participation in the Marrakesh Treaty is not, by itself, an access plan for a particular book. Publishers and rights teams also need to know which organization will handle the accessible edition, what exchange route applies and how an eligible reader will obtain it.
WIPO’s July 15, 2026 report on the Marrakesh Assembly provides a dated infrastructure snapshot. At the July 13 meeting, ABC reported a Global Book Service catalogue of more than 1.2 million accessible books in 80 languages and more than 24,000 educational books produced through its partner training and funding programme since 2015. These are the figures reported in July, not newly measured October totals.
For practical planning, the more important companion is the current ABC Global Book Service guidance. It describes participation and direct-user access conditions that a catalogue-size headline cannot explain.
Keep three decisions separate
| Decision | What ABC’s guidance tells you to check |
|---|---|
| Legal exchange route | Whether a country has joined the treaty and implemented its provisions in national law; ABC also describes an authorization procedure for countries that have not ratified and implemented it |
| Organizational participation | Whether the organization qualifies as an authorized entity and has the required agreement and operating arrangements with WIPO |
| Beneficiary access | Whether an eligible participating entity can give its beneficiaries access through the ABC Beneficiary Application or a dedicated reading app |
These are connected conditions, not interchangeable labels. A library’s participation is not proof that every title is available to every reader, and installing an app is not the same as obtaining eligible access.
What organizational participation involves
ABC says the service allows participating libraries and organizations serving people who are print disabled—authorized entities—to supplement their collections with accessible books contributed by other organizations. Participation carries no fee or financial contribution, but it has requirements.
Its joining guidance includes meeting the treaty’s authorized-entity definition, signing an agreement with WIPO, submitting catalogue metadata, providing electronic files when requested by other participating entities and compiling statistics about titles supplied to patrons. It also describes due care and recordkeeping in handling titles.
For a publisher discussing an accessible-edition handoff, our recommendation is to identify the organization and intended route before promising availability. Agree who will prepare the files and metadata and who will answer unresolved access questions. This is a preparation step, not a statement that an ordinary commercial publisher automatically qualifies as an authorized entity.
Direct access still has an eligibility route
ABC says eligible participating authorized entities can give their own beneficiaries access to search and download books through the ABC Beneficiary Application or dedicated apps such as Dolphin EasyReader. Its stated conditions include the entity being located in a country that has joined the treaty and transposed it into national law, and accepting the application’s terms and conditions.
That distinction should shape reader-facing language. “Direct access” describes how an eligible beneficiary can use the catalogue after access is arranged; it does not mean an unrestricted public download service. We have not registered a beneficiary account, tested a download or verified a particular title’s availability.
Prepare a handoff record before making a delivery claim
The following is Rex editorial guidance, not an official ABC form:
- Name the intended authorized-entity partner and the person responsible for confirming the route.
- Identify the title, edition, language, format and file version under discussion.
- Record which metadata and files the partner requests and who will supply them.
- Keep unresolved national-implementation or permission questions visible for the responsible specialist.
- Describe availability to readers only after the actual access conditions for that edition are confirmed.
Our accessibility metadata guide covers an adjacent production task. Metadata helps describe an edition; it does not replace the exchange agreement or establish a legal entitlement.
Follow the route through to the reader
The useful lesson from the July assembly report and ABC’s participation guidance is to distinguish infrastructure scale from a completed handoff. Before announcing that an accessible edition can travel across borders, identify the eligible partner, the applicable route and the next confirmed action. Treaty participation creates a framework; an actual reader’s access still depends on implementation and the arrangements for that book.
Sources checked October 21, 2026. This is operational preparation guidance, not jurisdiction-specific legal advice or a tested delivery service. No current accession count or conclusion about an individual country’s law is asserted.