EDF response to
European Commission e-Europe 2005 Action Plan
An information society for all
EDF 02/03 – 5 May 2002
"States
should recognise the rights of organisations of persons with
disabilities to represent persons with disabilities at national,
regional and local levels. States should also recognise the
advisory role of organisations of persons with disabilities
in decision-making on disability matters."
Rule 18 of
the United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities
for Persons with Disabilities
European
Disability Forum > > Forum Européen des Personnes Handicapées
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Doc EDF 02/03
"EDF response to the European Commission Green Paper
on Corporate
Social Responsibility”
The draft
document is available in English, and on diskette or in large-print upon
demand from the EDF Secretariat, and on the EDF Website at: http://www.edf-feph.org
© Copyright
European Disability Forum 2001. This document may be quoted and
reproduced, provided the source is given.
List of contents
List of contents
Summary of the EDF comments
Introduction
Comments on the eEurope 2005 Action Plan
EDF proposals to the eEurope 2005 Action Plan
Annex I : About the EDF and other documentation
Referring to the European Commission Communication to the Council,
the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the
Committee of the regions "eEurope 2005: An information society for all. An
Action Plan to be presented in view of the Seville European Council, 21/22 June
2002", the European Disability Forum would like to give the following
comments.
Summary of the EDF comments
While EDF appreciate the well functioning dialogue with the
European Commission within the framework of the eEurope 2002 Action Plan, as well
as the concrete results this programme has led to in the field of
initiatives for the increased accessibility for disabled people in the Information Society,
it is regrettable that no eAccessibility action line has been planned in the
forthcoming eEurope 2005 Action Plan. It is EDF's viewpoint that a particular action
line on eAccessibility and eInclusion must be included in eEurope 2005, as well
as ensuring that disabled peoples' needs are incorporated in other
mainstream action lines.
Introduction
Important progress to ensure the integration of disabled people in the
Information Society has been taken with the eEurope Action Plan 2002. However, with
the rapid technical development within this field of society, it is vital
that additional measures are taken through the eEurope 2005 initiative to ensure that
the EU policy reflects this development to the benefit of Europe's 50 million
users with disabilities.
EDF welcomed the Commission's initiative eEurope 2002, as we found that
the initiative recognised the great potential for economic advancement
offered by the Information Society. The potential of the Information Society is to
create a much more inclusive society and indeed disabled people stand to gain disproportionately from effective participation. But without basic
accessibility rules there is a danger that the information revolution will result in a
new and more disabling barrier to full integration and contribution to society.
The Information Society currently develops in a way, which may result in a
lack of equality of outcome from its use for a large number of European
citizens. The aims of the eEurope 2002 initiative have been laudable and indeed
essential, if the Information Society is to open up new opportunities to persons
with disabilities rather than creating further and insurmountable
barriers. The recommendations contained in it were aimed at combating this whilst
ensuring strong support for the development of eCommerce in Europe. An important initiative has been the establishment of the eAccessibility
group, where EDF has observer status. This group has been an important forum
for discussing the interests of disabled people in the field of
accessibility to the Information Society, and among the conclusions from this group will be
the need to recommend the inclusion of eAccessibility in the eEurope 2005 Action
Plan and to go further in the work to make WebPages accessible by
recommending that also private websites should follow the WAI guidelines.
Likewise EDF welcomed the additional initiative of the European Commission to extend
the eEurope initiative to the Accession Countries in the eEurope+ Action
Plan.
The European Disability Forum would also like to express our
satisfaction for the positive co-operation with the European Commission within the framework
of the eEurope 2002 action plan, since this important initiative was
launched. Being aware of the Commission's concern to ensure that actions are taken to
remove barriers against disabled people's participation in the Information
Society, it is however, necessary to express our concerns for the eEurope 2005
initiative, based on the information we have on the current Action Plan.
Comments on the eEurope 2005 Action Plan
Despite the important achievements made by the eEurope 2002 Action Plan,
the draft eEurope 2005 Action Plan does not to any comparable degree reflect
the same concern for the specific actions necessary to secure the
continued inclusion of disabled people in the Information Society.
There are only few references made in the draft to disabled people, all
in a more or less retrospective aspect:
1) On broadband it is stated that: "By supporting the emergence of
alternative access platforms, such as digital television or 3G mobile systems, the
new action plan will further facilitate e-inclusion, also for people with
special needs".
2) On eGovernment it is stated that: "Improved access to public web
sites for disabled people is an objective of eEurope 2002. In October 2001, the
Council adopted a resolution on e-Inclusion and a further resolution in March
2002 stating that Member States should speed up their efforts in implementing
the WAI guidelines".
3) On Interactive public services it is stated that: "By end 2004
Member States should have ensured that basic public services are interactive,
where relevant, accessible for all, and exploit both the potential of
broadband networks and of multi-platform access. (...) It also implies
addressing access for people with special needs, such as persons with disabilities
or the elderly".
In the present Action Plan there is no action line on eAccessibility
measures included, neither is there a systematic approach to mainstreaming the
interests of disabled people into the different fields of action in the
Information Society, except concerning the issue of eGovernment. EDF supports the
implication of the Lisbon conclusions that also other groups excluded form the labour
market and educational system must have access to the benefits of information
society.
However, it is important to underline that there are specific problems
faced by disabled people in the information society. Many disabled people lack
the financial resources to make use of the possibilities of the information
society, but in addition there are barriers made by the lack of accessibility. For
disabled people, the information society is a promise of participation in the
labour market,
education, culture, leisure activities and all other parts of life in
society. But without demands for ensuring access and reasonable accommodation,
disabled people will in stead face a massive exclusion from these
activities.
Therefore, the eEurope 2005 Action Plan should include clear demands
to producers, service providers, public procurement bodies etc. There
should still be concrete demands for availability of alternative formats of
information for e.g.
visually impaired people, deaf or people with learning disabilities, for
accessible computer and other information technology, for affordable prices- in all
fields within all fields of competence of the European Union – to access for
disabled people as well as other disadvantaged groups.
In particular, EDF would like to highlight fields like the need to
ensure accessible and affordable broadband Internet access, digital TV and 3G mobile communications for users with disabilities. As EDF has pointed out in
the past, disabled people's interests concern a broad range of issues within
the Information Society, like eCommerce. eLearning, eHealth and
eGovernment.
In the forthcoming eEurope 2005 initiative, people with disabilities
must be ensured continued political actions from the part of the European Union
in fields like harmonised European criteria for public procurement of goods and
services to ensure usability for users with disabilities; access to alarm numbers
and emergency services on European, national and regional as well as local
levels; harmonisation of testing and certification of assistive technology
products to ensure that all European users have access to the same quality products.
The new initiative should also guarantee that the current and future
technological developments are used systematically for ensuring universal access
to Information Society goods and services. To this purpose, the appointment
of national ombudsmen in the Member States is essential.
EDF believes, that the eEurope 2005 should be used to ensure the
continuation of the positive measures and initiatives taken under the eEurope 2002
Action Plan, and that measures should be taken to increase user participation
of persons with disabilities in research and development, and the relevant
decision making processes affecting the Information Society.
EDF proposals to the eEurope 2005 Action Plan
-
A special action line on eAccessibility initiatives
for disabled people must be included in the eEurope 2005 Action Plan. This is vital in order
to continue the achievements that have been reached under the
eEurope 2002 Action Plan.
-
Disabled peoples' needs must be included on a
mainstream basis in all relevant fields covered by the eEurope 2005 Action Plan, not only
limited to eGovernment issues.
-
Fields like the need to ensure accessible and
affordable broadband Internet access, digital TV and 3G mobile communications for users
with disabilities, must be given special attention.
-
Harmonised European criteria for public procurement
of goods and services to ensure usability for users with disabilities should be
included in the eEurope 2005 Action Plan.
-
Fields like access to alarm numbers and emergency
services on European, national and regional as well as local levels and
harmonisation of testing and certification of assistive technology products to
ensure that all European users have access to the same quality products, should
be included in the eEurope 2005 Action Plan.
-
The Action Plan should include a proposal for the
appointment of national ombudsmen in the Member States.
-
Special attention should be made to the need for
standardisation initiatives and the inclusion of Design for All principle in the
development of standards in information technology and information- and communication technology.
-
Specific actions taking the situation of disabled
people in the Accession Countries must also in the future be included in the eEurope
initiative, whether in a continuation of the eEurope+ or in a new Action
Plan.
-
Annex I : About the EDF and other documentation
A.1 About the EDF
The European Disability Forum (EDF) is a European umbrella
organisation with 70 European NGOs and 15 National Councils from all of the EU
as members. EDF represents the interests of 37 million disabled citizens in
the EU.
Our mission is to advance disabled people's human rights and promote
equal opportunities in the EU Institutions and Member States in accordance
with principles of non-discrimination.
A.2 Other relevant EDF documents:
EDF 00/16 EDF reactions on the Draft action plan : eEurope 2002 -
An information Society for all (EN)
EDF 00/10 Universal service and users'rights - electronic
communications networks & services2000-05 EN
EDF 00/07 EDF response: European Commission e-Europe initiative 2000-04 EN
EDF 00/3 EDF response to 1999 Telecommunications Review 2000-02 (EN/FR)
EDF 00/1 EDF Core employment policy document ( 2000-02) (EN /FR)
EDF 99/4 European Manifesto on Information Society and Disabled People(199-04)(EN/FR)
EDF 99/1 Equality- nothing more, nothing less (1999-01 EN)
EDF 98/9 Principles at work - EDF proposals for the Employment
guidelines 1999 (1998-10 EN/FR)
EDF 98/3 EDF Guide to the Amsterdam Treaty (1998-03 EN/FR/DE/ES)
EDF 97/2 EDF response to Living and Working in the Information Society
- People First" (1997-01 EN)
A.3 Contact person at the EDF Secretariat:
Stefan Trömel, Director (T: +32-2-282.46.06 E-mail:
director@edf-feph.be)
Rudolph Brynn, Policy Officer (T: +32-2-282.46.05 E-mail:
policy@edf-feph.be)
More information about EDF is available on the EDF homepage at :
www.edf-feph.org Should you have any problems in accessing the documentation,
please contact the EDF Secretariat.
European Disability Forum 10
EDF response to the eEurope 2005 Action Plan –An Information Society
for All
European Disability Forum
European Disability Forum > > Forum Européen des Personnes
Handicapées
square Ambiorix, 32 Box 2/a — B-1000 Brussels
T +32-2-282.4600 F +32-2-282.4609 E info@edf-feph.org W
http://www.edf-feph.org
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