Digital signatures and accessibility

Dear All,
After this thread came up the other day I promised that I would do some more research on the subject. Well, I contacted the UK government department about how they are dealing with the issue of accessibility and digital contracts and signatures. I received a long reply that also dealt with other things, but I thought that I would send you all the relevant bits as you will probably find them beneficial in the future:

Accordingly we [the UK Government] wish to make digital signatures available through the maximum number of access channels. 
The consultation papers will be available on GovTalk www.govtalk.gov.uk. [They are going to] contact [me] when these are published, and [they] hope that [I] will take the opportunity to read and comment on them. In the meantime, [they] have passed a copy of [my] email to the policy team for their information.
So, if anyone is interested in what the UK is doing regarding the accessibility of digital signatures and contracts then this is the place to find out about it and read the documentation when it becomes available. I will post the URL for the documentation once it becomes available as this is an area that I believe needs careful consideration. Also, the European Union is in the process of creating new legislation on accessibility and commerce on the Web, so I will keep all informed as to how that is developing as soon as I know anything. Please feel free to post up the material if you receive it before me (or if I am on holiday for example).
Kind regards to all
Simon


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