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Re: International Accessibility Laws and Standards

for

From: zara
Date: Nov 30, 2004 10:19AM

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/
>
>