1. ETSI Activities related to Accessibility Issues
Document No:
GSC16-PLEN-15
Source:
ETSI
Contact:
Jonas Sunborg
Source: Dr. Matthias Schneider (TC HF Chair)
GSC Session:
PLENARY
Agenda Item:
6.12
ETSI Activities related to Accessibility Issues
Presenter: Jonas Sundborg
ETSI Board Vice-Chairman
ETSI OCG Chairman

2. ETSI’s Approach to Accessibility
Accessibility of ICT devices and solutions is part of the wide area of User Experience with a proven strong business impact both for device manufacturers and service providers.
ETSI aims to help industry and operators to avoid creating technologies that exclude users from the information society.
It also aims to help increase the quality and usability of products and services for everyone.
It addresses both these aims as part of an overall “Design for All” approach that assures accessibility
The first manifestation of this approach was the Design for All guidelines document EG

3. Highlight of Current Activities
Ongoing and near-future ETSI activities related to accessibility are
Working with CEN/Cenelec to address a European Mandate (M/376) related to accessibility requirements in public procurement
Working with CEN/Cenelec to address European Mandate M/473 related to the integration of accessibility issues into standardization processes.

4. Strategic Direction
Addressing accessibility issues has been considered by some as an unwelcome obligation on industry.
However, today’s customers will all demand fully-featured products and services as they get older.
This can only be achieved if these products and services can be used by people with diminishing physical and mental abilities.
Therefore addressing accessibility is now becoming an important market-driven necessity.
Moreover, regulatory activities demand and require accessibility to be taken into account by public procurement and standardization activities.

5. Challenges
Commercial pressures dictate that product features benefit the widest range of customers.
This implies added complexity in device interfaces related to individualization requirements.
As more eHealth solutions are deployed, it will be necessary to achieve high levels of accessibility to ensure that clients with a very broad range of impairments can successfully use the systems.

6. Next Steps/Actions
Produce a European standard and related Technical Guides dealing with accessibility requirment in public produrement processes (in cooperation with CEN/Cenelec (Response to Mandate M/376)
Modify ETSI standardization processes in a way that ensures consideration of accessibility issues in every newly developed standards if appropriate (Response to Mandate M/473)

7. Supplementary Slides

8. Mandate M/376 (1)
Standardization Mandate M/376 was proposed by the European Commission in support of European Accessibility requirements for public procurement of products and services in the ICT domain and was accepted by CEN, CENELEC and ETSI in December 2005.

9. Mandate M/376 (2)
The main objectives of the Mandate are summarised as:
to harmonise and facilitate the public procurement of accessible ICT products and services by identifying a set of functional European accessibility requirements for public procurement of products and services in the ICT domain, and
to provide a mechanism through which the public procurers have access to an electronic toolkit, enabling them to make use of these harmonised requirements in procurement process.

10. Mandate M/473 The main objectives of the Mandate are summarised as:
Initiate a standardisation work programme for addressing the needs of persons with disabilities and older persons in European standardisation, dealing with accessibility by applying the Design for All approach
Update a number of standards in priority areas according to the Design for All approach.
Develop a new standard (or other adequate deliverable to be proposed by the ESOs and accepted by the European Commission) that would address the development and production process of goods manufacturing and services provision in the priority areas and that would describe how to consider accessibility for persons with disabilities and older persons following the Design for All approach.