Best Practical Practices

Denmark

Danish copyright law allows the Danish National Library for Persons with Print Disabilities (Nota) to produce and distribute Braille, audio and other accessible formats to visually impaired people, people with dyslexia and other people who have a handicap that prevents them from reading printed material. This exception applies to any books that have been published in Denmark (but not books that have only been published abroad). Distribution is possible only to individuals who have been able to document the character of their disability in writing. In addition end users have to agree in writing that everything they receive from the Nota is for strictly personal use and will be destroyed after use. Membership of the library does not depend on nationality and therefore Nota is able to distribute materials to individuals in other countries too.

Nota relies on the copyright exception but also it has a formal agreement with publishers and reports high levels of trust. The trust that exists depends on maintaining good practice and ongoing channels of communication and negotiation. The agreement with publishers means that talking books, Braille books and Braille music can be distributed to both persons with disabilities and institutions serving the blind, both in Denmark and abroad. The agreement with publishers does not permit electronic books and digital talking books to be distributed to organizations, and provide effective measures to prevent possible abuse of the materials produced by Nota. Each electronic book and digital talking book has an unique ID or watermark and records are kept by Nota so that any abuse can be traced back to the individual who has been supplied with the accessible copy.