WRITTEN QUESTION E-1402/02

by Phillip Whitehead (PSE) to the Commission

(15 May 2002)

Subject: Access to television for people with sensory impairments

At present EU audiovisual policy does not address the issue of access to television for people with sensory impairments. Most EU Member States have very

low levels of subtitling and sign language interpretation for deaf and hard of hearing people and audio description for the visually impaired. Yet more than 1 in 7 have significant hearing loss and 7,4 million people are blind or partially sighted in Europe. These people face social exclusion if they are not given the chance to access broadcast services like everybody else. It is crucial that this problem is addressed now, as digital television will not only be used for broadcasts in the future but also for interactive services such as the internet.

Does the Commission intend to address the lack of access to television for deaf and hard of hearing and blind and visually impaired people through the current review of the Television Without Frontiers Directive and related initiatives, in the run up to European Year of People with Disabilities in 2003?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(28 June 2002)

The issues raised by the Honourable Member do not fall within the fields coordinated by the Television Without Frontiers Directive(1), which establishes the legal framework ensuring the freedom to provide television broadcasting in the Community.

Assuming broadcasters do offer such services in line with Member States' policies, their transmission over electronic communications networks is addressed by the new regulatory framework for electronic communications services and networks. In particular, the Honourable Member should refer to Article 31 of Directive 2002/22/EC of the Parliament and of the Council on universal service and users' rights relating to the electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive)(2). The Universal Service Directive explicitly refers to the possibility for Member States to impose certain must-carry rules on undertaking providing electronic communications networks for the transmission of services specifically designed to enable appropriate access by disabled users(3).

The Commission intervenes in this field by supporting various initiatives. In this respect, the Commission Joint Research Centre is promoting, throughout the Voice Project (http://voice.jrc.it), the development and harmonisation of subtitling in European television broadcasting.

The eEurope 2002 Action Plan, adopted at the European Council of Feira in June 2000, includes the specific objective of ensuring that people with disabilities benefit fully from new technologies and the Internet and the specific target of adoption of the Web Accessibility Guidelines for public websites in Member States and European Institutions. Accordingly, the Commission adopted on September 2001 the Communication: eEurope 2002: Accessibility of Public Web Sites and their Content(4). On March 25th the Telecommunications Council adopted a Council Resolution on the subject.

More recently, the Commission supported a joint European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (Cenelec), European Telecommunications Standards (ETSI) workshop TV Broadcasting for all which was held successfully in Seville on 13-14 June 2002. The objective of the seminar was to discuss all issues of subtitling and audiodescription that could be addressed by standardisation. A report summarises these issues and propose a way forward.

In its Communication Towards a barrier free Europe for people with disabilities(5), the Commission stressed the aspect of harnessing the information society for the benefit of all. Disability is one of the ten priorities of the eEurope Initiative, fostering on innovation and improvement in accessibility for all communication products and services for disabled people.

In order to further develop awareness, and without prejudice to the application of the subsidiarity principle, the Commission intends to raise this issue in the report on the application of the Television Without Frontiers Directive, which is to be submitted to the Parliament and the Council by the end of 2002.

(1) Council Directive 89/552/EEC of 3 October 1989 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities, OJ L 298, 17.10.1989, amended by Directive 97/36/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997, OJ L 202, 30.7.1997.

(2) OJ L 108, 24.4.2002.

(3) See Recital 43 of Directive 2002/22/EC.

(4) COM(2001) 529 final.

(5) COM(2000) 284 final.