Fw: accessible procurement policies

Hi all,

Thanks for your responses.  I realize that I may have not been clear on what I meant by accessible procurement so let me just elaborate a little.

By accessible procurement by government, I mean an obligation for government to buy, among other things, accessible information technologies for its use or that of the public.  The best known example of this would be Section 508 which obligates the US federal government to buy accessible computers, software, telecommunications equipment, videos, Web sites, etc.  This is a broader approach then an obligation to provide accessible Web sites because it specifies that the governement must ensure accessibility to all products or services it buys from a third party.  We find this strategy interesting here in Québec because, among other things, it can have interesting repercussions on employment in governement for persons with disabilities as well as ensure accessible offer of government-funded educational activities using information technologies.  From our understanding, this policy has had a significant impact on the IT field because it has forced vendors to adjust to the requirements of its biggest client.

Since our provincial governement is in the process of defining its e-government policy, we feel that an obligation in the area of accessible procurement would be an interesting means of ensuring that all e-governement strategies take disability needs into account.

Best regards,

Catherine


----- Original Message ----- 
From: zara 
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org 
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 11:06 AM
Subject: accessible procurement policies


Greetings all,

I am researching the aformentionned subject and would like to get information about which countries have adopted accessible government procurement policies for information technologies.  I know the States have section 508, Canada has its own policy as well as the province of Ontario.  Which other countries, if any, have adopted similar strategies ?

Thanks for your input,

Catherine


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Catherine Roy
zara@arobas.net
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