# Presentation: 506534

## eAccessibility European activities

**Inmaculada Placencia Porrero**
- Deputy Head of Unit
**Directorate General  Information Society and Media**
**eInclusion Unit**
- Inmaculada.placencia-porrero@cec.eu.int

## European activities on accessibility

- Social Actions (ESF, Equal)
- Regulatory and legal actions (Antidiscrimination, employment equality Directive)
- R&D
- Telecom legislation
- Information Society policy
- Transport
- Regional policy
- Education

## Communication on eAccessibility 

**  ****Industry lacks incentive to mainstream eAccessibility**
**  ****Accessible ICT goods and services are not competitive enough  **
** ****increasing the risk of digital divide**

- Communication on *eAccessibility** *

**eAccessibility Communication aims at promoting a consistent approach to EU eAccessibility initiatives in the Member states, on a voluntary basis, and at fostering industry self regulation to better meet market needs**

## 	eAccessibility aims at overcoming the technical barriers that people experience when trying to participate on equal terms in the Information Society.

Concerns at least 20% of the European population (about 90 M)
Represents a growing market due to the demographic shift 
63% of people with disabilities are 45 years or older

	.

- Concerns at least 20% of the European population (about 90 M)
- Represents a growing market due to the demographic shift
- 63% of people with disabilities are 45 years or older
- 	.

*eAccessibility* Communication*An Information Society for All*

## Commission Communication on eAccessibility   

- 489 replies received – all expectations exceeded!
- Good coverage of target groups
- Nearly 55% of respondents were experts/ professionals
- 1 out of 4 uses some type of eAccessibility product/ service
- Although optional, nearly 65% of respondents chose to
- 	identify themselves

**Commission Communication on eAccessibility   **

## Stakeholder consultation

**Stakeholder consultation**

**1**

**2**

**3**

## Communication on eAccessibility

_**Approach**_

** ****Improve the consistency of eAccessibility requirements in Public Procurement**
** ****Explore the possible benefits of certification schemes and  standardisation for accessible products**
** ****Make better use of the «eAccessibility potential» of existing **
**    ****legislation**

**. ****. . Complemented by several *****background measures***

- Accessibility requirements and standards.
- Design for All
- Web accessibility
- Benchmark and monitoring.
- Research and technological development.

**Progress will be reviewed in two years from now when additional measures may be proposed including new legislation**

## Public procurement: the ICT market

- Revised public procurement Directives
- PP 16% EU gross domestic product 1500 Billion Euros
- ICT sector 6% EU GDP
- European public sector ICT average spending is 0,8 % of GDP =76billion Euro
- The European average of public sector ICT spend that goes to external services such as consultancy and outsourcing is 16%
- Overall growth rate for public sector ICT across EU is 3.3%
- Total value of the ICT market in Europe is 594 billion Euro

## Public procurement: the case of employment

- Lisbon Agenda
- Employment of people with disabilities:
- 52% of people with disabilities are economically inactive compared with 28% of non-disabled people;
- 42% of people with disabilities are employed compared with 65% of non-disabled people.
- Article 5 of the Employment Equality Directive reasonable accommodation...adapting workplace equipment (whereas 20)
- European competitiveness report 2004
- Government employment  is 16,7 of total employment in EU 15 (some countries up to 30%)
- Average EU-15 general government expenditure in 2003 was 49% of GDP

## Public Procurement Directives

- The preambles to the revised Directives (paragraph 29 of Directive 2004/18/EC and paragraph 42 of Directive 2004/17/EC) now state that:
*   “**Contracting authorities should, whenever possible, lay down technical specifications so as to take into account accessibility criteria for people with disabilities or design for all users.”*
- In addition, the specific Articles on technical specifications (Article 23, Paragraph 1 of Directive 2004/18/EC and Article 34, Paragraph 1 of Directive 2004/17/EC) now state that:
*   “**Whenever possible [these] technical specifications should be defined so as to take into account accessibility criteria for people with disabilities or design for all users.”*
*Award phase...(art 53)*
*the criteria on which the contracting authorities shall base the award of public contracts shall either:*
*(a) when the awards is made to the tender most economically advantageous from the point of view of the contracting authority, various criteria linked to the subject matter of the public contract in question, for example quality, price, technical merit, aesthetic and functional characteristics, environmental characteristics,....*
*(b) the lowest price*

## The Draft mandate to the Standardisation organisations

- Phase I: Inventory
- Technology products (ICT)
- Existing accessibility requirements
- Gaps in accessibility requirements
- Existing standards to comply with accessibility requirements
- Assessment: requirements as technical specifications/ award criteria
- Report on testing and certification schemes

## The Draft mandate to the Standardisation organisations

- Phase II: Standardisation Activities
- European standard (EN) Accessibility requirements for ICT domain to be used as technical specifications
- Technical report (TR) listing existing technical standards
- Guidelines on award criteria
- Guidance and support material
- On line freely accessible toolkit

## The Draft mandate to the Standardisation organisations Underlying principles 

- Consider National initiatives
- User and consumer involvement
- Industry participation
- Involvement of procurers
- Transparent open method
- International cooperation
- EU- US dialogue on eAccessibility

##    Clear support for certification / labelling

**   ****Clear support for certification / labelling**
**   ****Significant wide variations:**
**  ****Support levels exceed 80% in groups “*****Public Agencies*****” and**
**    “*****Individuals with a disability*****”**
**   ****Only 61% of “*****Manufacturers, providers or sellers*****” support it,**
**     ****while 32% reject it outright**

**Commission Communication on eAccessibility   ****(7)**

## Commission Communication on eAccessibility   (8)

**Commission Communication on eAccessibility   ****(8)**

## Better use of legislation

- Electronic Communication Framework
- Universal service Directive
- Terminal Directives
- Employment Equality Directive
- Public Procurement Directive
- Exploiting the “ eAccessibility potential of existing European legislation”
- Riga Conference: mandatory accessibility requirements

## Background 

**Creation of INCOM in Feb. 2003:**** mission to provide information on problems faced by the users with disabilities when accessing/using electronic communications services**
**Jan. 2004:**** INCOM report identifies constraints and urgent key topics **
**Oct. 2004**** extension of INCOM’s mandate to: **
- “*foster the implementation of the suggestions laid down in the report*” and
- “*provide an input on accessibility matters in the revision process of the electronic communications directives package*”
**Questionnaire**** sent to the Member States through COCOM in April 2005. **
**INCOM discussion**** and recommendations 20****th**** march 2006**
**Report on eAccessibility implementation 2006**

## Some conclusions INCOM report 2006

- General feed back
- Low level of detail and coherence: lack of information
- Potential of non compulsory provisions not used enough
- Provisions transposed but lack of detail on implementation
- Positive measures (payphones, tariffs, directory and Braille invoices)
- Concerns remain from 2003 INCOM report
- (real time text communication, access to 112, relay centres for sign language, access to DTV, access to mobile phone services, payphones, affordability, directories, quality of services parameters, consultation with users)

## Main messages

Convey to Member States the urgent need to work together towards harmonization of the solutions they demand

Encourage industry to develop accessible solutions in their products and services (mainstream accessibility!)

Show the users (with disabilities) the commitment of the European Commission to improve accessibility in the Information Society 

- Convey to Member States the urgent need to work together towards harmonization of the solutions they demand
- Encourage industry to develop accessible solutions in their products and services (mainstream accessibility!)
- Show the users (with disabilities) the _commitment_ of the European Commission to improve accessibility in the Information Society

**Commission Communication on eAccessibility**

## Measuring progress of eAccessibility in Europe (objectives)

- To identify measures (e.g. policy, legal, industrial, ...) that have a significant positive impact on eAccessibility and that support the Community eAccessibility strategy
- To assess how ICT products and services available in Europe take into account eAccessibility and Design for All
- To assess the eAccessibility situation in Europe and to measure its evolution quantifying the impact of the proposed approaches and measures
- To assess the implementation of successful measures, that can serve as policy recommendations in the eAccessibility domain.

## Measuring progress of eAccessibility in Europe (results)

**review of the ****existing methodologies**** and indicators.**
**survey of ****existing actions**** which have improve eAccessibility**
**Methodology to monitor**** and identify the existing and use of the **
**3 proposed approaches.**
**other existing positive actions.**
**methodology used to measure**
**the ****rate of eAccessibility**** in the Member States, experienced by people with disabilities and older people.**
**the ****rate of eAccessibility****, experienced by ****other stakeholders****.**
**the ****first measurement**** and analyse the data. (12m)**
**the ****second measurement**** and analyse the data.(24 m)**
**final report**** including conclusions and policy recommendations**
**2 workshops**** to disseminate and validate the results of the methodology, measurements and the conclusions**

## Possible Indicators I 

**Policy related:**
**Comparative qualitative assessment of the overall EU-level activity**(e.g. with reference to other jurisdictions)
**Assessment of core/other policies at pan-European level**(e.g. degree of variability across MS highlighting eAccessibility under equality legislation)
**Assessment of core/other policies at national level**** **  (e.g. existence/focus of national legislation/regulations addressing eAccessibility )
**Readiness related:**
**Awareness/attitudes of stake holder groupings**(e.g. perceived relevance of eAccessibility)
**Competencies/supportive resources**(e.g. in house expertise available to relevant actors)

## Possible Indicators II 

**Implementation related:**
**Web content providers**(e.g. compliance of web sites with accessibility criteria)
**Telecoms operators**(e.g. availability of text telephones in public places)
**ICT manufacturers**(e.g. availability of accessible ATM on the market)
**ICT Deployers**(e.g. nature/extent of inclusion of accessibility requirements in public procurement)
**AT product/services provision**(e.g. provision of broadcast content with audio description/text captioning)
**Equality–related  provisions**(inclusion of eAccessibility dimension in equality cases)

## Schedule 

**1. ****M****e****a****s****u****r****e****m****e****n****t**

**2006**

**2008**

**Readiness****indicator****development**

**Implementation indicator****development**

**Oct**

**1. **
**S****t****a****t****u****s****r****e****p****o****r****t**

**Jun**

**Policy survey**

**F****i****n****a****l**
**r****e****p****o****r****t**

**Dec **

**2. ****M****e****a****s****u****r****e****m****e****n****t**

**Dec**

**Dec**

**2007**

**2. **
**S****t****a****t****u****s****r****e****p****o****r****t**

**1st ****stakeholder workshop**

**1st ****stakeholder workshop**

**Jun**

**Schedule**** **

- MeAC overview, September 2006

## ICT for growth and employment

**ICT for growth and employment**

- 	_i2010 - The three i’s_
- Information space
- Innovation and investment in research
- Inclusion, better public services and quality of life

## For further information ...

- the eInclusion call for proposals
- _[http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=208](http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=208)_
- projects financed in RTD in previous frame work programmes
- _[http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_f/einclusion/previous-research.htm](http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_f/einclusion/previous-research.htm)_
- On the preparatory work for eInclusion research for Frame work programme 7
- _[http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_f/einclusion/future.htm](http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_f/einclusion/future.htm)_
- On eInclusion and eAccessibility policies
- http://europa.eu.int/information_society/soccul/eincl/index_en.htm
- _[http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/accessibility/index_en.htm](http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/accessibility/index_en.htm)_
- Inmaculada.placencia-porrero@cec.eu.in