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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Thu, Mar 31 2011 7:48AM
Subject: regulations on accessibility to government web sites around the world, what exists and what criteria is used to measure it
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Hi listers

I got an unusual request today. One of the Icelandic members of
parliament wants to initiate a regulatory procedure on minimum
accessibility requirements to all government web sites.
He asked me what the regulations are like in other counries and what
is used to measure and rrate minimum accessibility.
I know of ADA Title II and section 508, but both are, unfortunately,
not as comprehensive and clear as we would wish them to be.
Does anyone have anything for me in this area,
Canada/Australia/UK/other countries that have regulations?
I would suggest that web pages need to pass all WCAG 2.0 priority I
testing at the least.
The odd thing, is that this is a last minute proposal so I have 24
hours to send in some suggestions on what I think should be included,
so any relatively quick responses would be most appreciated.
Thanks and be well.
-Birkir

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Thu, Mar 31 2011 8:15AM
Subject: Re: regulations on accessibility to government web sites around the world, what exists and what criteria is used to measure it
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Birkir,
I feel strongly that we have worked very hard in accessibility to develop robust and testable standards, and the goal is now to harmonize the policy implementations so that we don't have different standards in different locales. As such, WCAG 2.0 should be the basis of any new standard. This is what is being implemented in many countries and is being discussed for Mandate 376, which is the European Union's effort to define accessibility standards for the EU. If the Icelandic application to join the EU is successfully concluded in 2012, then it would be covered by the M-376 rules.

Thanks,
AWK

Andrew Kirkpatrick
Group Product Manager, Accessibility
Adobe Systems

= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://twitter.com/awkawk
http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility

From: Bevi Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Thu, Mar 31 2011 9:18AM
Subject: Re: regulations on accessibility to government web sites around the world, what exists and what criteria is used to measure it
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Birkir wrote:
" I know of ADA Title II and section 508, but both are, unfortunately, not
as comprehensive and clear as we would wish them to be."

Did you look at the U.S. Access Board's draft of their forthcoming Section
508 guidelines? Much better than the current (and antiquated) standards.
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm
(note the link at the top of page for a handy PDF version).

If you're looking for style, presentation, and writing samples of
guidelines, you also can view Sec. 508 guidelines written by various U.S.
Federal govt. agencies at
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?fuseAction=Policies_FedAgencyLinks.

Some agencies have done a better job than others. I think that the Social
Security Administration's work is quite good and I often use their materials
in my 508 classes for other government agencies as a sample of "best
practices."

Here's a quick summary to help you navigate our various websites and U.S.
agencies involved in accessibility:

- Congress: passed the Section 508 amendment.
You might want to read our Federal registery entry about the official
justification behind the forthcoming revisions here:
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/notice.htm . It's a very
well-written document, especially for government bureacratese!

- U.S. Access Board: is the designated regulatory agency for all
accessibility, not just Sec. 508. It writes our regulations (called
standards and guidelines for this topic). www.access-board.gov

- Dept. of Justice handles public lawsuits about accessibility. Main
website: http://www.justice.gov/ , Accessibility website:
http://www.ada.gov/ .

- The General Services Adminstration is tasked with educating the Federal
workfoce about Section 508 and they, therefore, maintain the
www.section508.gov website. Much of the information on this website is now
out of date, so choose wisely from what's there. As I said earlier, some
agencies do a better job than others when it comes to Section 508 guidance
and implementation.

To search all U.S. Federal websites for information, use Google Uncle Sam:
http://www.google.com/unclesam , a spepcial Google index of just U.S.
Federal websites and information.

- Bevi Chagnon

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Thu, Mar 31 2011 2:21PM
Subject: Re: regulations on accessibility to government web sites around the world, what exists and what criteria is used to measure it
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Thanks you guys, that was extremely helpful.
Bevi, do you have any idea when the Section 508 draft becomes law, are
we talking months or years before it would reasonably be expected to
go through congress?
I have put together a fairly decent document with regulations from UK,
EC (European Commission), US, Australia, Canada and Denmark.
Document is in Icelandic so not exactly of much use to anyone here,
but if I do further work on it and someone is interested, let me know.
Though, honestly, much better resources exist elsewhere, like
http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/

and
http://www.friendsofed.com/web-accessibility/chapter17.html

Thanks
-Birkir

On 3/31/11, Bevi Chagnon | PubCom < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Birkir wrote:
> " I know of ADA Title II and section 508, but both are, unfortunately, not
> as comprehensive and clear as we would wish them to be."
>
> Did you look at the U.S. Access Board's draft of their forthcoming Section
> 508 guidelines? Much better than the current (and antiquated) standards.
> http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm
> (note the link at the top of page for a handy PDF version).
>
> If you're looking for style, presentation, and writing samples of
> guidelines, you also can view Sec. 508 guidelines written by various U.S.
> Federal govt. agencies at
> http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?fuseAction=Policies_FedAgencyLinks.
>
> Some agencies have done a better job than others. I think that the Social
> Security Administration's work is quite good and I often use their materials
> in my 508 classes for other government agencies as a sample of "best
> practices."
>
> Here's a quick summary to help you navigate our various websites and U.S.
> agencies involved in accessibility:
>
> - Congress: passed the Section 508 amendment.
> You might want to read our Federal registery entry about the official
> justification behind the forthcoming revisions here:
> http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/notice.htm . It's a very
> well-written document, especially for government bureacratese!
>
> - U.S. Access Board: is the designated regulatory agency for all
> accessibility, not just Sec. 508. It writes our regulations (called
> standards and guidelines for this topic). www.access-board.gov
>
> - Dept. of Justice handles public lawsuits about accessibility. Main
> website: http://www.justice.gov/ , Accessibility website:
> http://www.ada.gov/ .
>
> - The General Services Adminstration is tasked with educating the Federal
> workfoce about Section 508 and they, therefore, maintain the
> www.section508.gov website. Much of the information on this website is now
> out of date, so choose wisely from what's there. As I said earlier, some
> agencies do a better job than others when it comes to Section 508 guidance
> and implementation.
>
> To search all U.S. Federal websites for information, use Google Uncle Sam:
> http://www.google.com/unclesam , a spepcial Google index of just U.S.
> Federal websites and information.
>
> - Bevi Chagnon
>

From: Bevi Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Thu, Mar 31 2011 3:06PM
Subject: Re: regulations on accessibility to government web sites around the world, what exists and what criteria is used to measure it
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Birkir wrote: "Bevi, do you have any idea when the Section 508 draft becomes
law, are we talking months or years before it would reasonably be expected
to go through congress?"

Being government, no. I doubt anyone could officially say when they will be
released.
However, reading my crystal ball... many of us in the industry expect them
by the end of this year or early 2012, based on the Access Board's past
history.

Many U.S. agencies are already starting to deploy the draft standards (or at
least beginning to think about them, thank goodness). I don't think there
will be much delay getting them approved. Technically, the standards affect
only Federal government information, and not local or state information, nor
corporate information other than that done on behalf of a Federal agency by
a Federal contractor.

I'm sure if any noise is made by the Access Board, it will be broadcast load
and clear here on the WebAim list!

- Bevi

From: Dejan Kozina
Date: Thu, Mar 31 2011 4:09PM
Subject: Re: regulations on accessibility to government web sites around the world, what exists and what criteria is used to measure it
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Here is the link to the italian laws and regulations (in english):
http://www.pubbliaccesso.gov.it/english/index.htm

djn

Birkir R. Gunnarsson wrote:
> Hi listers
>
> I got an unusual request today. One of the Icelandic members of
> parliament wants to initiate a regulatory procedure on minimum
> accessibility requirements to all government web sites.
> He asked me what the regulations are like in other counries and what
> is used to measure and rrate minimum accessibility.preciated.
> Thanks and be well.
> -Birkir
>

From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Thu, Mar 31 2011 6:03PM
Subject: Re: regulations on accessibility to government web sites around the world, what exists and what criteria is used to measure it
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I will have to agree, you are probably looking at early to mid 2012.
The Access Board was hoping the next few months at the 2010 Section
508 Coordinators Conference, but in reality 2012.

--
Ryan E. Benson



On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 5:07 PM, Bevi Chagnon | PubCom
< = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Birkir wrote: "Bevi, do you have any idea when the Section 508 draft becomes
> law, are we talking months or years before it would reasonably be expected
> to go through congress?"
>
> Being government, no. I doubt anyone could officially say when they will be
> released.
> However, reading my crystal ball... many of us in the industry expect them
> by the end of this year or early 2012, based on the Access Board's past
> history.
>
> Many U.S. agencies are already starting to deploy the draft standards (or at
> least beginning to think about them, thank goodness). I don't think there
> will be much delay getting them approved. Technically, the standards affect
> only Federal government information, and not local or state information, nor
> corporate information other than that done on behalf of a Federal agency by
> a Federal contractor.
>
> I'm sure if any noise is made by the Access Board, it will be broadcast load
> and clear here on the WebAim list!
>
> - Bevi
>