Marrakesh Treaty
It seems that Belarus joined the Marrakesh Treaty in May, but we are still waiting for confirmation from WIPO or from our member organisation in Belarus.
In June, San Marino joined the Treaty and it entered into force in Serbia.
Accessible lifts
In view of the CEN/TC 10/WG 7 meeting of July, we provided our partners ANEC and EDF with a draft paper with our recommendations for the revision of EN 81-70, to be completed by them to incorporate the issues of other disabled persons’ organisations. As instructed by the WG 7 chairpersons, the paper eventually will be sent to WG 7 ahead of its 8-9 July meeting.
Creative Europe/MEDIA
Exploratory contacts at the European Commission have continued, about the proposed Regulation on the Creative Europe programme for 2021-2027, to fine-tune our draft position paper regarding the sub-programme MEDIA, before it is submitted for comments and approval to our membership.
Miscellaneous
On 4 June we participated in a chat with the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, on “A Sustainable and Fair Recovery” (from the economic crisis resulting from COVID-19). We received a specific and detailed reply to our question: how concretely can the EU ensure that it delivers on its commitment and obligation to include disabled persons in the jobs market, if it lacks the necessary statistical tools? And what does the Commission plan to do about it?
Details of this question and answer session can be found in our online Covid Resources page.
On 4 June we attended the EU’s Disability High Level Group, with on the agenda the next Disability Strategy and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 12 June we responded to the European Commission’s public consultation on the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence.
On 25 June we participated in the first of a series of brainstorming meetings with MEP Katrin Langensiepen, to inform her report to the European Parliament’s EMPL committee on "Implementation report on the Employment Equality Directive in light of the UNCRPD", in which she will mainly focus on the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities in relation to employment. The ONCE-EBU report of 2019 was used in that context