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The Updated Code of Practice for Part iii of the Disability Discrimination Act
by Martin Sloan, published 25 March 2002
On February 27 2002, the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) published a new draft of the Code of Practice for Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. This Code of Practice, which applies to service providers, was mainly revised to take account of the new duties in relation to physical access to buildings which come into being in 2004, but also includes several other revisions.
The most interesting is that contained in Paragraph 2.17, which potentially goes a long way to clarifying the law in relation to the accessibility of Web sites. Para 2.17 states that it is the provision of the service, not the nature of it that is important. Whilst this is a carbon copy of Para 2.15 in the earlier Code, what is interesting is the addition of a new example to illustrate this point:
An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking service to the public on its Website. This is the provision of a service and is subject to the Act.
It is therefore now quite clear that the DRC views e-commerce as coming within the scope of the Act. Whilst this does not clarify the situation regarding other types of Web sites it would seem logical that the majority would be included. For one many sites have some degree of e-commerce attached to them and others act as information for potential customers.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the SOCOG argument is still valid. This landmark Australian case involving the Sydney Olympics Website held that in Australia service providers had a duty under Australian disability discrimination laws to provide their sites in an accessible form. Although not binding on UK courts, it is arguable that this case could form the basis of an action in the UK . The Web site involved in SOCOG was primarily an information site giving promotional information and, latterly, results and reports on events at the Olympics. As this was free-of-charge, and free-of-charge services are expressly included in the UK legislation, there is no reason to see why the law in the UK should not extend to such informative or promotional sites.
The Code of Practice that accompanies the DDA is not an express statement of the law, but rather a guide to service providers as to what the law is likely to be - and something which the courts are required to take into account when considering issues arising under the Act. As the DRC state:
[t]he Code sets out our understanding of the law but there is undoubtedly some ambiguity and there are areas that will require testing in the courts.
Therefore whilst it still cannot be said that there is a definite legal requirement under the UK's Disablity Discrimination Act for Web sites to be provided in an accessible form the argument is getting stronger. Whilst Web accessibility will likely be one of these ambiguous areas which will not be fully clarified until adjudicated on, the prudent service provider will recognise the likelihood of there potential obligations and act sooner rather than later.
Further References
On this site - Web Accessibility and the DDA
Other web references:
Disclaimer
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of all information and links contained within this article, it is the responsibility of the user/reader to check the accuracy of relevant facts before entering any financial or other commitment based upon them. If you do happen to come across any inaccuracies, DMAG would appreciate your help in informing us.