§ 14.20 Obligations. ( a ) *General Obligations.* ( 1 ) With respect to equipment manufactured after the effective date of this part, a manufacturer of equipment used for advanced communications services, including end user equipment, network equipment, and software, must ensure that the equipment and software that such manufacturer offers for sale or otherwise distributes in interstate commerce shall be accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, unless the requirements of this subsection are not achievable.
( 2 ) With respect to services provided after the effective date of this part, a provider of advanced communications services must ensure that services offered by such provider in or affecting interstate commerce are accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, unless the requirements of this paragraph are not achievable.
( 3 ) If accessibility is not achievable either by building it in or by using third party accessibility solutions available to the consumer at nominal cost and that individuals with disabilities can access, then a manufacturer or service provider shall ensure that its equipment or service is compatible with existing peripheral devices or specialized customer premises equipment, unless the requirements of this subsection are not achievable.
( 4 ) Providers of advanced communications services shall not install network features, functions, or capabilities that impede accessibility or usability.
( 5 ) Providers of advanced communications services, manufacturers of equipment used with these services, and providers of networks used with these services may not impair or impede the accessibility of information content when accessibility has been incorporated into that content for transmission through such services, equipment or networks.
( b ) *Product design, development, and evaluation.* ( 1 ) Manufacturers and service providers must consider performance objectives set forth in § 14.21 at the design stage as early as possible and must implement such performance objectives, to the extent that they are achievable.
( 2 ) Manufacturers and service providers must identify barriers to accessibility and usability as part of such evaluation.
( c ) *Information Pass Through.* Equipment used for advanced communications services, including end user equipment, network equipment, and software must pass through cross-manufacturer, nonproprietary, industry-standard codes, translation protocols, formats or other information necessary to provide advanced communications services in an accessible format, if achievable. Signal compression technologies shall not remove information needed for access or shall restore it upon decompression.
( d ) *Information, documentation, and training.* Manufacturers and service providers must ensure that the information and documentation that they provide to customers is accessible, if achievable. Such information and documentation includes, but is not limited to, user guides, bills, installation guides for end user devices, and product support communications. The requirement to ensure the information is accessible also includes ensuring that individuals with disabilities can access, at no extra cost, call centers and customer support regarding both the product generally and the accessibility features of the product.