(1) RECALLING that the Community has among its tasks to promote throughout the
Community
a high level of employment and social protection and to raise the standard of
living and
quality of life, and economic and social cohesion;
(2) RECALLING the Resolution of the Council and of the Representatives of the
Governments of
the Member States meeting within the Council of 17 December 1999 on the
employment and
social dimension of the information society1;
(3) RECALLING that the Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March 2000 called
for an
Information Society for all;
(4) RECALLING that the Commission adopted a Communication on 12 May 2000
"Towards a
Barrier Free Europe for people with Disabilities2";
(5) RECALLING that a key objective of the "eEurope 2002 Action Plan", endorsed
by the Feira
European Council of 19 and 20 June 2000, is to achieve the participation for all
in the
knowledge-based economy;
(6) RECALLING that on 27 November 2000, the Council adopted a Directive aimed at
combating discrimination on several grounds, including disability, as regards
employment and
occupation;3
(7) RECALLING that one of the objectives in the fight against poverty and social
exclusion,
approved by the Nice European Council of 7 to 9 December 2000, is to exploit
fully the
potential of the knowledge-based society and of new information and
communication
technologies and ensure that no-one is excluded, taking particular account of
the needs of
people with disabilities;
1 OJ C 8, 12.1.2000, p.1.
2 COM(2000) 284 final of 12.05.2000.
3 Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000.
2/3.XII.2002
14892/02 (Presse 376) 27
(8) RECALLING that on 3 December 2001, the Council adopted a Decision to
designate 2003 as
the European Year of People with Disabilities1;
(9) RECALLING that the European Parliament and the Council in the Decision
50/2002/EC of
7 December 2001 concerning an EC action programme, furthering the cooperation
between
Member States in combating social exclusion, stress the importance of the gender
equality
aspect of the causes and effects of exclusion in the initial considerations.
This section also
draws attention to articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty, thus focussing on the fact
that removal of
inequality and promotion of equality between women and men are among the tasks
of the
Community, which ought to serve as a goal for all its activities;
(10) RECALLING that the Council adopted a Resolution on "e-Inclusion .
exploiting the
opportunities of the Information Society for social inclusion"2 which called on
the Member
States and the European Commission to, amongst other things, endorse actions
for: "tackling
technical barriers for people with different disabilities in terms of ICT
equipment and webcontent,
in particular by implementing the respective eEurope actions, monitored by the
e-
Accessibility Expert Group";
(11) RECALLING that the Council adopted a Resolution on the "accessibility of
public web sites
and their content" on 20 March 20023 that, amongst other things, "INVITES the
High Level
Group on the Employment and Social Dimension of the Information Society (ESDIS)
to
monitor progress in the adoption and implementation of the Web Accessibility
Initiative
(WAI) guidelines and to develop common methodologies and comparable data so as
to
facilitate the evaluation of progress";
(12) RECOGNISING the existence of a report, submitted as a Commission Staff
Working Paper
entitled: "Delivering eAccessibility - improving disabled people.s access to the
Knowledge
Based Society";
(13) TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the recommendations made by the ESDIS High Level Group
on
the basis of this analysis ;
1 Council Decision 2001/903/EC of 3 December 2001.
2 Council resolution 2001/C 292/02 published in the Official Journal of the
European
Communities of 18.10.2001 (C292).
3 Council Resolution 7087/02 of 20 March 2002 on: the eEurope Action Plan 2002:
Accessibility of public websites and their content.
2/3.XII.2002
14892/02 (Presse 376) 28
I. To tap the Information Society’s potential for people with disabilities and,
in particular, tackle
the removal of technical, legal and other barriers to their effective
participation in the
Knowledge Based Economy and Society. In doing so to utilise, as far as possible,
existing
funding mechanisms and facilitate liaison with the appropriate actors, such as
the Disability
NGOs, and the European Standards Organisations. In particular, via the following
measures :
eAccessibility activities and in the application and development of existing and
new
instruments in the areas of technology and standards, legislation and
persuasion, and
education and information;
2. Provide a focus for such a more coordinated approach by a web portal,
dedicated to
eAccessibility issues, to be set up and maintained by the European Commission;
3. Raise awareness in order that the development of any technology equipment,
methodology or activity, within the scope of the Information Society avoids
social
exclusion;
4. Encourage and empower people with disabilities to take more control over the
development of the mechanisms for delivering eAccessibility by support for their
increased participation in:
a) Technology programmes and projects;
b) Standardisation bodies and technical committees;
c) Committees looking at legislative and/or persuasive measures and education,
training and empowerment initiatives.
2/3.XII.2002
14892/02 (Presse 376) 29
(a) With regard to the utilisation of the WAI guidelines, to promote common
methodologies and comparable data in relation to public web sites in the Member
States and the European Institutions and to coordinate a monitoring process
considering the separate Member States’ activities and cooperate with them;
(b) To promote a feedback of standardisation activities and their impact on the
reallife
situation of the elderly and people with disabilities;
(c) To ensure that the Sixth Framework programme for Research and Technical
Development 2003-2006 (6FP) will support actions to promote eInclusion,
developing both empowering technologies and barrier-free technologies and
including the take-up of results. To consider, while drawing up projects, the
consequences for people with disabilities and thus avoid social exclusion.
(a) To consider the provision of an "eAccessibility mark" for goods and services
which comply with relevant standards for eAccessibility;
(b) To continue the current efforts for greater harmonisation of Member States
accessibility criteria (e.g. via their public procurement rules) in order to
persuade
commercial goods and service providers to offer more eAccessible goods and
services;
(c) To promote measures to encourage private enterprise to make their ICT based
products and services accessible including requiring accessible products and
services for ICT public procurement contracts to be accessible. In this case to
promote the utilisation of the possibilities that exist within existing European
public procurement legislation to include specific references to accessibility
criteria of relevant goods and services;
(d) To ensure that, where possible, exceptions to copyright that are consistent
with the
legal framework laid down in Directive 2001/29/EC enable the dissemination of
protected material in accessible formats for the use of people with
disabilities;
(e) To consider broadening the scope of measures of non-discrimination of people
with disabilities.
2/3.XII.2002
14892/02 (Presse 376) 30
(a) To promote the aim that the network of Centres of Excellence and networking
in
Design for All becomes ever more inclusive and covers all Member States;
(b) To promote the aim that proposed Design for All curricula are developed and
adopted by the relevant educational authorities in each Member State. In this
case
use, where possible, funds earmarked for such an activity within appropriate
"networks of excellence" projects financed under the European RDT Framework
programme;
(c) To provide awareness raising of people with disabilities and the elderly as
well as
service providers of the opportunities of modern ICT and the net for people with
disabilities and the elderly. Utilise appropriate existing Community structural
programmes towards this end;
(d) To improve the employability of people with disabilities through appropriate
vocational programmes targeted towards KBS jobs as well as training in
KBSoriented
skills within other vocational programmes. Utilise appropriate existing
Community structural programmes towards this end;
(e) Promote the application of principles of and apply existing facilities for
lifelong
learning to upgrade the skills of people with disabilities;
(f) To ensure that the multimedia materials and the use of ICT in education do
not
create new barriers for the integration of students with disabilities into
schools and
other places of learning;
(g) To ensure that eAccessibility become a regular part of all education
programmes
of vocational schools of any level, e.g. Web masters, multimedia authors and
software developers. Utilise the eLearning initiative towards this end."
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