So say 90% of the 500 respondents (public agencies, ICT goods and service suppliers, universities, business associations and user groups) to the Commission’s January 2005 public consultation on the need for “eAccessiblity” measures. Stakeholders also say that EU institutions should take the lead in proposing these measures (88%), that ICT goods and services need to be made more fully interoperable (74%), and that technical requirements should be harmonised within and beyond the EU for this purpose (84%). It is less clear how these requirements should be enforced.
Although there is clear support for some form of product certification or a “labelling” scheme (72%), stakeholders are fairly evenly divided on whether this scheme should be voluntary, mandatory, and/or rely on self-certification with checks. European Commission proposals will be set out in a Communication scheduled for September 2005.
“This was our first on-line public consultation on eAccessibility, and the response has far exceeded our expectations, across all target groups” commented Information and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding. “The observations submitted by experts and stakeholders provide clear social, ethical, and economic grounds for pursuing our efforts to bring the benefits of ICT to the 90 million EU citizens who are currently unable to reap them in full. Making the information society accessible for all is for me both a social necessity and an economic objective. The more accessible new technologies can be made, the bigger the potential markets for them”.
The Commission’s eAccessibility policy focuses on removing barriers stemming from inappropriate design of ICT products and services, particularly for people with disabilities and the elderly. It relies on several instruments, so far still seldom used in Europe, that fall within the existing legal framework (e.g. public procurement, product certification, and specific legislative provisions), to achieve voluntary harmonisation of Member States’ rules whilst simultaneously encouraging industry initiatives.
These instruments are supplemented by measures to foster the development of technical standards enhancing accessibility, teach eSkills, widen “Design-for-all” practices, enhance web accessibility implementation, encourage EU Member States to compare and share good practice, and stimulate accessibility research and technological development in the ICT field.
Other measures (including possible further legislation at EU level) may be considered two years from now, in the light of progress and the impact that these non-mandatory measures will have had on improving accessibility in Europe.
Further information is at these links:
Quelle: Publictechnology, 05.04.2005
