1. Geneva, 25 November 2011 How accessibility-focused public procurement can be used to improve the quality of future relay services Mike Pluke, Leader of Specialist Task Force STF416 ITU-T Workshop onTelecommunications relay services for persons with disabilities (Geneva, 25 November 2011)

2. Geneva, 25 November 2011 2 What is ETSI (1)? A European standards organization Officially recognized by EU & EFTA Setting globally-applicable standards for Telecommunications, in general Radio communications, especially mobile Broadcasting, and Related topics

3. What is ETSI (2)? Active in all areas of ICT An independent, non-profit organization, created in 1988 Offering direct participation of all members ETSI has more than 15,000 publications available for free! Geneva, 25 November 2011 3

4. How to ensure that a relay service meets the needs of its users? Simple answer: 1) Find a source of requirements that define what such a service needs to deliver. 2) Follow the requirements laid out in that source. The service should always be tested after this, but that is another story … Geneva, 25 November 2011 4

5. Europe has a suitable source In 2009 ETSI published ES 202 975 (V1.2.1): "Human Factors (HF); Harmonized relay services It is intended to give information suitable for incorporation into contracts between commissioning agents and service providers. (ES 202 975 Scope) This was the result of a long and thorough programme of work … Geneva, 25 November 2011 5

6. The provenance of ES 202 975 (1) In June 2000 a Technical Report (TR 101 806) was published: it covered relay services for text telephones and was based on NFTH 4/1998: "Nordic guidelines for Telecommunications relay services and actual US experience of running relay services Geneva, 25 November 2011 6

7. The provenance of ES 202 975 (2) ETSI saw the need to consider a wider range of relay service types (some not yet implemented) changes in the available technology changes in the telecommunications environment (many parties may be involved - not just a national operator) what operational relay services existed in Europe and internationally Geneva, 25 November 2011 7

8. The provenance of ES 202 975 (4) As ES 202 975 was intended for use in procurement it needed to build on the extensive work done for TR 101 806 include performance targets that are realistically achievable ETSI members provided feedback that ensured that ES 202 975 met its objectives Geneva, 25 November 2011 8

9. Breadth of relay services ES 202 975 gives requirements for: text relay services speech to speech relay services sign relay services lipreading relay services captioned telephony services text to text services facsimile relay services Geneva, 25 November 2011 9

10. Providing a standard is not enough It is currently unlikely that all new European relay services will follow ES 202 975 because: there is no guarantee that those specifying relay services know that ES 202 975 exists if they know of ES 202 975 there is no requirement that they should follow it Enter Mandate M 376 … Geneva, 25 November 2011 10

11. What Mandate M 376 is M 376 is a standards mandate to the European Standards Organisations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI Its remit is "European Accessibility Requirements for Public Procurement of Products and Services in the ICT Domain" Geneva, 25 November 2011 11

12. What Mandate M 376 delivers M 376 will introduce technical requirements and test methods for eAccessibility which will apply to all ICT products and services sold to the European Public sector (in EN 301 549) details of conformity assessment related to these requirements an on-line toolkit Geneva, 25 November 2011 12

13. Motivations for M 376 Inclusion of people with disabilities Ageing society and workforce Fragmentation of technical requirements Access to skilled workforce who may be barred from entry to employment UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Geneva, 25 November 2011 13

14. Why M 376 work is important This EC/EFTA co-funded work will lead to common eAccessibility requirements across the EU/EFTA It aims to minimise conflicts with existing accessibility requirements It will support and enable developing European policy It encourages eAccessibility through public procurement Geneva, 25 November 2011 14

15. The M 376 Work and Standard An ETSI Specialist Task Force (STF416) and a CEN Project Team are jointly doing the work STF416 will deliver EN 301 549: Human Factors (HF); Accessibility requirements for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe providing functional accessibility requirements necessary for the public procurement of ICT Geneva, 25 November 2011 15

16. Mandate 376 and relay services (1) The latest draft of the standard (EN) has a requirement that states that publicly procured communications systems: "shall not prevent access to relay services for incoming and outgoing calls so as to achieve functionally equivalent communication access by persons with disabilities." Geneva, 25 November 2011 16

17. Mandate 376 and relay services (2) The latest draft of the EN also has a requirement for public bodies wishing to procure relay services that: directly points to the clauses of ES 202 975 that apply to the type of relay service being procured allows the procuring body to specify key service variants that they want e.g. specify a 24 hour or limited hour service (such options are built into ES 202 975) Geneva, 25 November 2011 17

18. M 376 puts ES 202 975 in the spotlight The EC is proposing that including accessibility requirements in public procurement should be mandatory EN 301 549 will be the source of those requirements Referencing ES 202 975 from the EN: places an obligation on those procuring relay services to include the ES 202 975 requirements in their calls for tenders Geneva, 25 November 2011 18

19. Acknowledgements All of the ETSI work on relay services has been led by Wally Mellors If you need to understand more of the background to the work, please contact him at: wjmellors@btconnect.com Theres nothing he doesnt know about the subject! Geneva, 25 November 2011 19

20. How to monitor or contribute to M376 By commenting on the drafts at www.mandate376.eu www.mandate376.eu Via your National (European) Standards Body your trade association (Digital Europe for the European ICT sector) user and consumer organisations your (European) government procurement body By contacting the Joint Working Group directly at accessibility@aenor.esaccessibility@aenor.es Geneva, 25 November 2011 20

21. Thank you for your attention For further information on Mandate 376 activity or the work of the ETSI Human Factors Technical Committee please contact me at: Mike.Pluke@castle-consult.com And a reminder that Wally Mellors (the ETSI relay services guru) can be contacted at: wjmellors@btconnect.com Geneva, 25 November 2011 21