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From: Paul Bohman
Date: Tue, Nov 30 2004 8:05AM
Subject: International Accessibility Laws and Standards
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WebAIM is in the process of updating our information about international
Web accessibility laws and standards, and we'd like to enlist your help.
Take a look at the resources we already have, and if you're aware of any
important laws or standards that we've missed, please let us know. Here
are links to various countries:

Canada: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/canada/

Japan: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/japan/

Hong Kong: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/hongkong/

United Kingdom: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/uk/

Australia: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/australia/

New Zealand: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/newzealand/

European Union (with some links to information about individual European
Countries: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/eu/

United States: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/us/


(And if you know of a country which we haven't listed which has
accessibility laws, let us know.)

--
Paul Bohman
Director of Products and Services
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Utah State University
www.usu.edu

From: Mark Magennis
Date: Tue, Nov 30 2004 8:28AM
Subject: Re: International Accessibility Laws and Standards
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The European Union has recently issued two public procurement directives
that should impact on Web accessibility laws in member states.
Essentially, a directive is something that all member states are
required to implement into their own national laws within a set time
frame, in this case by the end of January 2006. The two new directives
are:

Directive 2004/18/EC
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2004/l_134/l_13420040430en011
40240.pdf

Directive 2004/17/EC
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2004/l_134/l_13420040430en000
10113.pdf

The following explanation is my understanding only. It may be wrong in
both fact and nuance, because I am not an expert on these matters, so
you might like to check with someone who is. I suggest Ruth Loebl of the
RNIB in the UK ( = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ).

These coordination directives are wide ranging

From: Mark Magennis
Date: Tue, Nov 30 2004 9:04AM
Subject: Re: International Accessibility Laws and Standards
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Sorry but the URLs of those two EU directives got split onto two lines,
at least when I received them.

Mark

>

From: michael.brockington
Date: Tue, Nov 30 2004 9:18AM
Subject: Re: International Accessibility Laws and Standards
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>

From: zara
Date: Tue, Nov 30 2004 10:19AM
Subject: Re: International Accessibility Laws and Standards
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Hi Paul,

Here is a little more info for Canada and France.

In Canada, the province of Ontario adopted the Ontarians with Disabilities
Act, 2001[1] on December 14th 2001.

Article 5 stipulates :

In deciding to purchase goods or services through the procurement process
for the use of itself, its employees or the public, the Government of
Ontario shall have regard to the accessibility for persons with disabilities
to the goods or services. 2001, c. 32, s. 5.

Article 6 stipulates :

The Government of Ontario shall provide its internet sites in a format that
is accessible to persons with disabilities, unless it is not technically
feasible to do so. 2001, c. 32, s. 6.

Also, the Ontario government is presently proposing a new Act[2] that would
extend the obligation to provide accessible services and facilities to the
private sector. See article from WATS.ca[3]

In France, the government adopted a new law[4] last June on disability in
which article 25 states that public on-line communication services of the
State, territorial communities and public establishments must be accessible
to persons with disabilities (very rough translation but that's basically
what it says). Although no specific standards are mentionned, they do say
that international accessibility recommendations must be applied (so we
could take it to mean they are referring to what has been developped by
WAI...).

Finally, in terms of presentation, I think that it would be good to have a
brief overview for each country or territory you list (as done for the US).
This info is not always easy to understand and some people may not wish or
be able to digest very piece of legislation out there but need to have a
general idea. I wish WAI would do the same for their policy page but I
won't hold my breath.

Best regards,

Catherine
--

[1] http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Statutes/English/01o32_e.htm
[2]
http://www.ontla.on.ca/documents/Bills/38_Parliament/Session1/b118_e.htm
[3] http://www.wats.ca/news/accessibilityforoda/67
[4] http://www.senat.fr/leg/tas04-018.html

--
Catherine Roy

www.w3qc.org
www.communautique.qc.ca
http://perso.b2b2c.ca/zara/



----- Original Message -----
From: "paulb"
To: "WebAIM Discussion List"
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 10:08 AM
Subject: [WebAIM] International Accessibility Laws and Standards


>
> WebAIM is in the process of updating our information about international
> Web accessibility laws and standards, and we'd like to enlist your help.
> Take a look at the resources we already have, and if you're aware of any
> important laws or standards that we've missed, please let us know. Here
> are links to various countries:
>
> Canada: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/canada/
>
> Japan: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/japan/
>
> Hong Kong: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/hongkong/
>
> United Kingdom: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/uk/
>
> Australia: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/australia/
>
> New Zealand: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/newzealand/
>
> European Union (with some links to information about individual European
> Countries: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/eu/
>
> United States: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/us/
>
>
> (And if you know of a country which we haven't listed which has
> accessibility laws, let us know.)
>
> --
> Paul Bohman
> Director of Products and Services
> WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
> www.webaim.org
> Utah State University
> www.usu.edu
>
> ----
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>

From: reply-to:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:references;
Date: Tue, Nov 30 2004 10:52AM
Subject: Re: International Accessibility Laws and Standards
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Accessibility @ Ireland:

http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?docID=259
Section 7 addresses accessibility guidelines.

(Resource: http://www.uiaccess.com/access_links.html#government_laws_regs_policies)

Vijay


On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 12:22:49 -0500, zara wrote:
>
> Hi Paul,
>
> Here is a little more info for Canada and France.
>
> In Canada, the province of Ontario adopted the Ontarians with Disabilities
> Act, 2001[1] on December 14th 2001.
>
> Article 5 stipulates :
>
> In deciding to purchase goods or services through the procurement process
> for the use of itself, its employees or the public, the Government of
> Ontario shall have regard to the accessibility for persons with disabilities
> to the goods or services. 2001, c. 32, s. 5.
>
> Article 6 stipulates :
>
> The Government of Ontario shall provide its internet sites in a format that
> is accessible to persons with disabilities, unless it is not technically
> feasible to do so. 2001, c. 32, s. 6.
>
> Also, the Ontario government is presently proposing a new Act[2] that would
> extend the obligation to provide accessible services and facilities to the
> private sector. See article from WATS.ca[3]
>
> In France, the government adopted a new law[4] last June on disability in
> which article 25 states that public on-line communication services of the
> State, territorial communities and public establishments must be accessible
> to persons with disabilities (very rough translation but that's basically
> what it says). Although no specific standards are mentionned, they do say
> that international accessibility recommendations must be applied (so we
> could take it to mean they are referring to what has been developped by
> WAI...).
>
> Finally, in terms of presentation, I think that it would be good to have a
> brief overview for each country or territory you list (as done for the US).
> This info is not always easy to understand and some people may not wish or
> be able to digest very piece of legislation out there but need to have a
> general idea. I wish WAI would do the same for their policy page but I
> won't hold my breath.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Catherine
> --
>
> [1] http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Statutes/English/01o32_e.htm
> [2]
> http://www.ontla.on.ca/documents/Bills/38_Parliament/Session1/b118_e.htm
> [3] http://www.wats.ca/news/accessibilityforoda/67
> [4] http://www.senat.fr/leg/tas04-018.html
>
> --
> Catherine Roy
>
> www.w3qc.org
> www.communautique.qc.ca
> http://perso.b2b2c.ca/zara/
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "paulb"
> To: "WebAIM Discussion List"
> Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 10:08 AM
> Subject: [WebAIM] International Accessibility Laws and Standards
>
> >
> > WebAIM is in the process of updating our information about international
> > Web accessibility laws and standards, and we'd like to enlist your help.
> > Take a look at the resources we already have, and if you're aware of any
> > important laws or standards that we've missed, please let us know. Here
> > are links to various countries:
> >
> > Canada: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/canada/
> >
> > Japan: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/japan/
> >
> > Hong Kong: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/hongkong/
> >
> > United Kingdom: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/uk/
> >
> > Australia: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/australia/
> >
> > New Zealand: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/newzealand/
> >
> > European Union (with some links to information about individual European
> > Countries: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/eu/
> >
> > United States: http://www.webaim.org/coordination/law/us/
> >
> >
> > (And if you know of a country which we haven't listed which has
> > accessibility laws, let us know.)
> >
> > --
> > Paul Bohman
> > Director of Products and Services
> > WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
> > www.webaim.org
> > Utah State University
> > www.usu.edu
> >
> > ----
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
> >
> >
>
> ----
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>

From: julian.rickards
Date: Tue, Nov 30 2004 11:11AM
Subject: Re: International Accessibility Laws and Standards
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ODA was passed in December 2001 but Ministries of the Province of Ontario
had until December 31, 2002 to bring their web sites in compliance with
Priority 2 which was set as the standard to meet. I was one of those hired
to assist with this endeavour and have been able to maintain my position
here.

It should be noted, and any Canadians who know better should speak up, that
the Federal legislation does not extend beyond the Federal web sites, unlike
Section 508 which, if I remember what I have read, does at times extend to
college, university and other web sites which receive funding from a
particular envelope. Therefore, provinces may either enact similar
legislation to that of the Federal government, enact their own, or none at
all. It is my understanding that most provinces do not have legislation that
deals with web accessibility. I am however, uncertain as to the status of
the Territories who are under the jurisdiction of the Federal government.

Jules

From: zara
Date: Tue, Nov 30 2004 11:47AM
Subject: Re: International Accessibility Laws and Standards
← Previous message | Next message →

Julian,

I thought the December 31rst 2002 deadline as well as the obligation to
conform with Priority 2 of WCAG applied to the federal CLF standards. I was
not aware that Ontario as a province had adopted the same obligations.
Could you point me to the relevant documentation please ?

Catherine


--
Catherine Roy

www.w3qc.org
www.communautique.qc.ca
http://perso.b2b2c.ca/zara/



----- Original Message -----
From: "julian.rickards"
To: "WebAIM Discussion List"
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] International Accessibility Laws and Standards


>
> ODA was passed in December 2001 but Ministries of the Province of Ontario
> had until December 31, 2002 to bring their web sites in compliance with
> Priority 2 which was set as the standard to meet. I was one of those hired
> to assist with this endeavour and have been able to maintain my position
> here.
>
> It should be noted, and any Canadians who know better should speak up,
that
> the Federal legislation does not extend beyond the Federal web sites,
unlike
> Section 508 which, if I remember what I have read, does at times extend to
> college, university and other web sites which receive funding from a
> particular envelope. Therefore, provinces may either enact similar
> legislation to that of the Federal government, enact their own, or none at
> all. It is my understanding that most provinces do not have legislation
that
> deals with web accessibility. I am however, uncertain as to the status of
> the Territories who are under the jurisdiction of the Federal government.
>
> Jules
>
>

From: julian.rickards
Date: Tue, Nov 30 2004 11:56AM
Subject: Re: International Accessibility Laws and Standards
← Previous message | No next message

I may not be able to answer your question because I when I was hired, I met
with our IT and Communications staff and was told that we had to comply with
Priority 2. I have not seen the "directive" but it is my understanding that
a ministry within the gov't called Management Board Secretariat (MBS) takes
the Acts of Parliament and translates them into working documents or
directives. ODA does not specify the details of compliance nor a timeline so
it is likely that MBS had done this for us. MBS may also have looked to the
Feds for guidance regarding Priority level and the date may simply be a
coincidence.

I will make some enquiries about documentation.

Jules