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By now, the importance of WIPO and this Committee continuing work on exceptions and limitations to copyright is abundantly clear. This week's presenters on exceptions and limitations all notably agreed that the Committee should address exceptions and limitations going forward, and we support the proposal by the honorable delegates from Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, and Uruguay to further work on these matters.

The issues raised by new technologies, including the increased ability to move works between formats and the ability to impose technical protection measures on works, have in years past prompted governments and stakeholders to address their effects on copyright law.

However, the focus has been primarily upon changes that might better accommodate rightsholders in the digital world, often neglecting the effects that the new technologies may have on users, creating liability for acts which were impliedly permissible, accepted, unenforced, or even simply impossible before. These acts include those that provide essential, necessary access to works to many different classes of people, for a wide range of inarguably beneficial purposes.

Furthermore, efforts to harmonize copyright law internationally have added to the trend of increasing liability exposure to individuals. While liability and enforcement are assured international minimums, exceptions and limitations are left to a patchwork of inconsistent regimes. This demonstrates the need for clarity in international standards for exceptions and limitations. To note that exiting instruments and laws allow for appropriate exceptions and limitations does not resolve this issue. After all, existing treaties allow member states to provide any higher level of rights for rightsholders on a national basis. Yet harmonization of minimum rights is still viewed as a positive goal. The same should therefore be true for exceptions and limitations.

In addressing these broad changes, it is clear that there is much common ground eventually to be found in discussions on limitations and exceptions generally. However, it should be even clearer that in certain, special, targeted subject areas, there are positions on which it is possible to reach consensus.

For example, we have seen in Judith Sullivan's study and presentation that national differences in limitations and exceptions for the visually impaired can lead to legal uncertainties and barriers to access. Meanwhile, there appears to be no underlying reason for these discrepancies and barriers, but perhaps for chance—as the needs of visually impaired are, as we have heard, diverse within countries and also similar among countries.

The proposed text provided by the World Blind Union provides an excellent means for beginning a process of ensuring that the laws and technologies that benefit rightsholders also do not unduly constrain the visually impaired.

This is eminent, and should be imminent, work taken up by this Committee. Although establishing copyright exceptions for the visually impaired may not be sufficient to solve the problems of access to works and knowledge, these exceptions are certainly necessary. Pakistan, on behalf of the Asian group, has mentioned the urgent need for concrete steps in this area, and we agree wholeheartedly. The WBU proposal represents just such a concrete step. Furthermore, it is a specialized step that should be able to account for different systems of copyright law, creating international clarity while allowing coexistence with national variations in conditions and legal traditions.

This week's presentations on studies presented to this Committee indicate the potential for other useful instruments to clarify and harmonize limitations and exceptions in other specific areas, such as for libraries and archives. Other areas clearly merit further exploration, such as orphan works or educational uses.

We thank the Committee for its work to date on limitations and exceptions and eagerly anticipate the results of the continuing work on these issues to which all of the member countries have so far committed.