1 April 2005
A survey by the European Commission on ICT goods and services has revealed a massive 90 per cent believe clauses to make services accessible to elderly and disabled people should be laid down in public procurement contracts.
This was the view of 450 of 500 respondents (public agencies, ICT goods and service suppliers, universities, business associations and user groups) to the Commission's January 2005 public consultation on the need for "eAccessiblity" measures.
"This was our first on-line public consultation on eAccessibility, and the response has far exceeded our expectations, across all target groups" commented information and media commissioner Viviane Reding.
"The observations submitted by experts and stakeholders provide clear social, ethical, and economic grounds for pursuing our efforts to bring the benefits of ICT to the 90 million EU citizens who are currently unable to reap them in full.
"Making the information society accessible for all is for me both a social necessity and an economic objective. The more accessible new technologies can be made, the bigger the potential markets for them."
Respondents also said that EU institutions should take the lead in proposing these measures (88 per cent), that ICT goods and services need to be made more fully interoperable (74 per cent), and that technical requirements should be harmonised within and beyond the EU for this purpose (84 per cent).© DeHavilland Information Services plc
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