Joint Press Release: The European Blind Union (EBU) & the Federation of European Publishers (FEP)

The European Blind Union and the Federation of European Publishers met in Brussels on May 23, 2018.

During this meeting, they had the chance to discuss issues of cooperation both at EU and at national levels and will endeavor to pursue this constructive dialogue. Through this enhanced cooperation, both organisations and their respective members will improve accessibility; this requires technical adaptation of the publishing process and of the complete ecosystem from the platforms to the devices. Both organizations acknowledge and appreciate the model of the LIA Foundation as one of the examples of high importance in fostering accessibility to books.

Both organisations welcomed the focus of the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) on accessibility. For its 10th anniversary, EUPL has organised a contest among its 108 previous laureates. The public will be invited to vote and both the short fictions and the voting system are fully accessible to all readers.

EBU and FEP have agreed to meet at regular basis and to jointly work to foster accessibility. They will organise joint events and work together to convince the EU to invest more funding into accessibility processes and research.

EBU is a non-governmental, non-profit making European organisation founded in 1984. It is one of the six regional bodies of the World Blind Union. It protects and promotes the interests of blind and partially sighted people in Europe. It currently operates within a network of national organisations of the visually impaired in 42 European countries.

The Federation of European Publishers is the voice of 29 national associations of publishers of books, journals and educational content, in all formats. FEP is thus the voice of the European publishing industry.