Spain approves law to enable access of persons with disabilities to the information society
By Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens, IID (lferag@racsa.co.cr)
Last May, the Parliament of Spain approved, with 173 votes against 118, an act called "Ley de Servicios de la Sociedad de la Información y de Comercio Electrónico" (Law of Services for the Information Society and Electronic Commerce). The determination was issued by Spain's Scientific and Technological Commission. The new law states:
"This Law contemplates a series of provisions aimed at ensuring persons with disabilities their effective access to the information provided by electronic means, particularly, the information from the public Administration, as it was established by the Resolution of the Council of the European Union of March 25, 2002, regarding accessibility to all public web site services and installations and their content."
The Law contains sanctions, Article 8, "Restrictions to services":
"In the case that a given service within the information society should or eventually could attempt against any of the principles expressed herein, the corresponding authorities designated for their protection, may adopt the necessary measurements to legally stop such service or eliminate the data obstructing accessibility."
Among the principles contemplated in this section, point c, requires: "Respect for the dignity of all persons and for the principle of no discrimination by reasons of race, sex, religion, personal opinions, nationality, disability or any other personal or social circumstance."
This new Law promotes the establishment of codes of practice which includes the participation of organizations of persons with disabilities: "In the elaboration of these codes of practice, there must be a representation from associations of consumers and users, together with the participation of the organizations representing persons with physical or intellectual disabilities, whenever there is a need to protect their interests."
Finally, in the General Dispositions section, emphasis is made for public agencies to "adopt the necessary measures so that the information contained in public service web pages in the Internet, becomes accessible for persons with disabilities and people of advanced age. Public agencies "may require service providers to cover for the expenses of introducing and maintaining the accessibility criteria mentioned herein."
The second General Disposition establishes: "Service providers and the manufacturers of equipment and software must adopt the corresponding norms to make their services, programs, and equipment accessible for persons with disabilities and persons of advanced age, including the digital contents."
For more information, contact:
Emmanuelle Gutiérrez y Restrepo,
SIDAR Coordinator:
mailto: coordina@sidar.org
http://www.sidar.org
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