European Blind Union: European Accessibility Act – European Commission breaks promises
Back in 2011, the European Commission promised it would propose an EU Accessibility Act in 2012. Since then, month after month, year after year, we have heard promises that the publication was ‘imminent’ but unfortunately, this has not happened.
At the beginning of December 2014, during the European Day of Persons with Disabilities event – which the European Commission co-hosted in Brussels – an official promised, again, that the Act would be published ‘soon’. However, two weeks later the European Commission published its 2015 work programme, where there is no mention of the European Accessibility Act – the European Blind Union (EBU) would like to know why.
EBU is not alone. Over the last two years, several Members of the European Parliament have asked the European Commission repeated questions about the Act. In September 2013, Rosa Estaràs Ferragut MEP raised the issue. In her response, former European Commissioner Viviane Reding made reference to a planned ‘high level meeting’ with ‘a number of CEOs of European companies’ and explained that the conclusions of this meeting would ‘complement the preparatory work of the Commission services’ and ‘allow the identification of the most appropriate measures for improving the accessibility of goods and services in the European Union’. The Commission went on to say that its objective was ‘to present a proposal for binding measures that would combine both improvement of accessibility and growth potential for EU companies’.
The conclusions of this ‘high level meeting’ with industry representatives were not made public.
