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Decree of the President of the Republic, March 1st 2005, No. 75

Implementation Regulations for Law 4/2004 to promote the access for the disabled to computer technologies

Published on the Official Gazette n. 101 on May 3rd, 2004

 

The published text was translated in English by the Information Systems Accessibility Office at CNIPA (National Organism for ICT in the Public Administration) with the sole aim of facilitating a better comprehension of it.
The translation does not have official status, therefore the only official text is the one published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, in Italian.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

Having regard to Article 87 of the Constitution;

Having regard to Article 17(1) of Law No. 400/1988, August 23 1988;

Having regard to Article 10 of Law No. 4/2004, January 9 2004, on measures to promoteaccessto computer technologies for the disabled;

Having regard to the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers dated August 9 2001 (published on the Official Journal No. 198, 27.08.2001) delegating Mr. Lucio Stanca, Minister without portfolio, to act on the authority of the President of the Council of Ministers regardinginnovation and technologies issues;

Having regard to Legislative Decree No. 39, dated February 12 1993, concerning regulations relating to automated ICT systems in the public administration, in pursuance of Article 2(1) of Law 421/1992, October 23 1992, and its subsequent amendments;

Having regard to the preliminary resolution taken by the Council of Ministers during the meeting of August 9 2004;

Having consulted the widest spectrum of disabled associations , as well as a highly representative number of expert accessibility developers and hardware and software producers;

Having acquired the agreement of the permanent State/Regions Conference, in pursuance of Article 8 of Legislative Decree No. 281/1997, August 28 1997, during the session of September 28 2004;

Having regard to the opinion expressed by the advisory division of the Council of State for legislation during the meeting of October 25 2004;

Having notified the European Commission in accordance with the procedure provided for in Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and Council of June 22 1998, modified by Directive 98/48/EC of the European Parliament and Council of July 20 1998, implemented by Law No. 317/1986, June 21 1986, and modified by Legislative Decree No. 427/2000, November 23 2000;

Having regard to the opinion of the relevant Parliamentary committees;

Having regard to the resolution of the Council of Ministers taken during the meeting of February 25 2005;

At the suggestion of the Minister for Innovation and Technologies, in concert with the Minister for Equal Opportunities; 

 

ISSUES

 

the following regulations:

 

Art. 1
(Definitions)

 

1. For the purposes of these regulations the following definitions apply:

a) accessibility: in pursuance of Article 2(1)(a) of Law No. 4/2004, January 9 2004, the capability of ICT systems, in accordance with the attained technological knowledge and its limits, to deliver services and provide information that anyone can avail of without discrimination including disabled users who need the support of technologies or special configurations;

b) assistive technologies: in pursuance of Article 2(1)(b) of Law No. 4/2004, January 9 2004, the tools and the technical hardware and software solutions that make it possible to overcome the initial diadvantages associated with accessing the information and services provided by ICT computer systems;

c) evaluation: process used to control the compliance of the services with accessibility requirements;

d) technical check: evaluation conducted by experts also using computer tools on the the basis of technical parameters;

e) subjective check: evaluation of the quality level of services which have already been deemed to be accessible by the technical evaluation. This evaluation must be carried out involving the end user -disabled ones also- on the basis of empirical considerations;

f) usability: the capability of a service to meet criteria of simplicity and ease of use, efficiency, suitability with users' needs, attractiveness, and satisfaction when using the product;

g) private subjects: subjects who do not fall into the categories listed in Article 3 of Law No. 4/2004;

h) evaluators: subjects enrolled in the appropriate list and qualified to certify the accessibility features of a service.

 

Art. 2
(Criteria and general principles for accessibility)

 

1. Services carried out using computer systems are accessible if they have the following requirements:

a) the contents of a service are accessible to users;

b) the information provided is available, which means that it also has the following features:

1) simplicity and ease of use which ensures, among other things, that the actions to perform in order to obtain services and information should always be alike;

2) efficiency which ensures, among other things, the separation of content, the presentation and interface operational methods, and also provides the opportunity to access information through different sensorial channels;

3) effectiveness and correspondence to users' needs whichensures, among other things, that the actions to perform in order to obtain information and services correctly are device-independent;

4) user satisfaction which ensures, among other things, the access to services and information without unjustified inconveniences or constraints on the user;

c) the service design is compatible with the guidelines set out in the Communications, Recommendations and Directives on accessibility of the European Union, with acknowledged international regulations and with the advice provided by national or international public or private organizations working in this field such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

2. Specific technical rules which regulate the accessibility of teaching and training tools, as mentioned in Article 5 of Law No. 4/2004, shall be issued by Decree by the Minister for Innovation and Technologies acting in cooperation with the Minister for Education, University and Research in agreement with the permanent State/Regions Conference and the National Centre for ICT in the Public Administration (Cnipa).

 

Art. 3
(Accessibility evaluation)

 

1. Cnipa takes actions to set up a list of evaluators, to provide for its technical maintenance and to display such a list and its registration requirements and procedures on its own Web site.

2. Legal entities that wish to apply for registration in the abovementioned list will have to demonstrate that:

a) they guarantee impartiality and independence in the execution of their activities;

b) a set of tools suitable for the application of the technical and subjective checks mentioned above in Article 1(1), letters d) and e) respectively is available;

c) professional people with experience in using the application of the abovementioned methodologies and people who are fit to interact with persons with specific disabilities are available.

3. In order to meet the requirements expressed in paragraph 2(a), the evaluators, when applying for registration, shall undertake:

a) not to make assessments on websites they were involved in setting up;

b) not to make assessments in any case in which they could have a specific influence on the evaluators own interests or on the interests of someone associated with him through business relationship;

c) not to work on the development of Web sites or services for at least 24 months after having evaluated them.

4. Interested administrations may ask for a non-binding advice from an evaluator registered in the list mentioned in paragraph 1 for the verification of the accessibility requirements of services acquired in accordance with the procedures or the contracts listed in Article 4, paragraph 1) and 2) of Law No. 4/2004.

5. The Decree of the Minister for Innovation and Technologies, as mentioned in Article 11 of Law No. 4/2004, shall set:

a) the technical specifications necessary to fulfil the requirements listed above in paragraph 2 letters b) and c);

b) the ceiling levels of fees that private subjects shall awardevaluators in remuneration for the activities listed in paragraph 1, taking account of the lowest corporate management costs increased by ten per cent;

c) the amount that private subjects shall owethe Presidency of the Council of Ministers - Innovation and Technologies Department - for the administrative expenses related to the activities mentioned in Article 4(1), and the extent of the amount owed to Cnipa, as provided for in Article 7(2), for the fulfillment of the inspectorial duties mentioned in Article 7.

6. The failure to fulfil these registration requirements shall result in the deregistration from the list mentioned in Article 1; in the event that the evaluator should default on the obligations accepted, deregisration shall also occur in pursuance to paragraph 3.

7. In the circumstances listed in paragraph 6, Cnipa shall inform the evaluator of its intention to proceed, after thirty days, with the deregistration from the abovementioned list; the evaluator can reply by filing a written statement. Cnipa shall also take steps to publish such deregistration on its Web site.

 

Art. 4
(Procedures to apply for evaluation)

 

1. Private subjects shall ask the Presidency of the Council of Ministers – the Innovation and Technologies Department - for authorization to display the logo and attach it to the certificate provided for in Paragraph 2. The logo can be used only while the certificate is valid.

2. Private subjects shall select an evaluator who, once he has carried out his activity, shall issue an accessibility certificate in the event of a positive result. The validity of such a certificate shall not exceed twelve months and may state the quality level attained as explained in Article 5.

3. The Presidency of the Council of Ministers - Innovation and Technologies Department, shall use the support of Cnipa, regulated by a special agreement, to enforce the measure referred to in paragraph 1.

4. The implementation of this Article shall be achieved within the parametres of ordinary budget appropriations, without the need for the State to set aside extra or special funding in its budget.

 

Art. 5
(Logo that certifies the possession of the requirement of accessibility)

 

1. The logo that certifies that the technical check was positive shall be represented by a sienna coloured personal computer along with three stylized human figures, coloured sky-blue, light-blue and amaranth from left to right respectively, that come out of the computer monitor with their arms raised; at the end of the subjective check, the attained quality level shall be denoted by one to three asterisks positioned inside the computer keyboard.

2. The correspondence between the logo, with or without the asterisks, and the different service quality levels, shall be formalized, along with a model of the logo itself, in the Decree provided for in Article 11 of Law No. 4/2004.

 

Art. 6
(Cases in which the accessibility evaluation must be updated)

 

1. In event of substantial changes to a web site or services and in the event ofthe renewal of the authorization mentioned in Article 4(1), private subjects shall promptly contact a registered evaluator to update their accessibility evaluation. The evaluator, after carrying out the evaluation, shall issue a new certification to the applicant and, at the same time, send a copy to the Administration to update the logo’s terms of validity and quality level; if the authorisation is renewed this copy must be posted at least fifteen days before the expiry of the authorization itself.

 

Art. 7
(Inspectorial control power over private subjects)

 

1. As for private subjects, Cnipa, after sending a notification to those involved, shall verify the maintainence of the accessibility requirements of websites and services. This task may be achieved also by means of evaluators registered in the list provided for in Article 3(1), provided that the latter have not been involved in the setting up, maintenance or certification of the web site or service itself. The logo may be updated to the established level of compliance and its terms of validity shall be updated as well.

2. If the established accessibility level should be lower than the one corresponding to the logo in use, the private subject shall bear the actual costs of the inspection, and shall also contribute to the costs of the inspectorial activities carried out in pursuance of Article 3(5)(c). This contribution shall not amount to more than twice the actual costs of the inspection.

 

Art. 8
(Usage of the logo by the subjects listed in Article 3(1) of Law 4/2004)

 

1. The Public Administrations and the subjects listed in Article 3(1) of Law No. 4/2004, who wish to use the logo on their websites or services, shall carry out independently an accessibility evaluation on the basis of the technical rules defined by Decree by the Minister for Innovation and Technologies, in pursuance of Article 11 of Law No. 4/2004; a positive evaluation, which has been reported to Cnipa, allows the entity to use the logo.

 

Art. 9
(Controls which can be carried out on the subjects listed in Article 3(1) of Law No. 4/2004)

1. In order to enforce the Law every Public Administration shall appoint a person in charge of ICT accessibility among its executive staff. In the event that no specific appointment is made, this position shall be held by the person in charge of ICT systems, as provided for in Article 10 of Legislative Decree No. 39/1993; the enforcement of this paragraph shall not entail further or higher costs for the Administrations involved and there shall not be any extra charges for the execution of such activities.

2. In pursuance of Article 7(1)(b) of Law No. 4/2004, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers - Innovation and Technologies Department -with the support of Cnipa, after having sent a notification to the Administration involved, shall verify how the accessibility requirements of web sites and delivered services have been complied with and inform the executive in charge about the result; should some shortcomings be detected, the Public Administration involved shall be asked to prepare an adjustment plan specifying the activities it proposes to carry out and within what time schedule.

3. The Regions, the autonomous Provinces and local bodies shall organise independently the monitoring of the enforcement of this Decree in accordance with their own systems of government/management.

4. The Minister for Innovation and Technologies, on the basis of the outcome of the checks mentioned in paragraph 2, shall report annually to the Parliament, and inform the permanent State/Regions Conference also.