Telecommunications
To be able to communicate and interact whether by telephone,
fax, e-mail or electronic media is a crucial and decisive factor for every
citizen and business. The policy of the European Union towards the information
society has from the beginning taken into account the need to avoid a "two-tier
society", divided between those who have access to the new possibilities
and are comfortable using them and those who are excluded from fully enjoying
their benefits.
In order to ensure universal service for telecommunications to all European users, the European Parliament and the Council have adopted in 1998 the Directive 98/10 on open network provision to voice telephony and on universal service for telecommunications in a competitive environment. The aims of this Directive are to ensure the availability throughout the Community of good quality fixed public telephone services and to define the set of services to which all users, including consumers, should have access in the context of universal service in the light of specific national conditions, at an affordable price. The Directive states that fundamental requirement of universal service is to provide users on request with a connection to the fixed public telephone network at a fixed location, at an affordable price.
The Directive requests the Member States, where appropriate, take suitable measures in order to guarantee access to and affordability of all fixed public telephone services for disabled users and users with special social needs. Specific measures for disabled users could include, as appropriate, making available public text telephones or equivalent measures for deaf or speech impaired people, providing services such as directory enquiry services free of charge or equivalent measures for blind or partially sighted people, and providing itemised bills in alternative format on request for blind or partially sighted people.
On 25 February 1998, the Commission adopted its first Monitoring Report on universal service in telecommunications in the European Union which assesses the scope, level, quality and affordability of universal service on the eve of full liberalisation. The report stresses that some Member States have put in place specific mechanisms to involve consumers and groups representing the interests of particular groups of users, such as those with disabilities, in decisions relating to telecommunications services. In the context of further monitoring developments, the Commission announced its intention to focus on areas which appear to be of the greatest concern including households without telephone service, affordability and related consumer protection issues, the situation of low income and disabled users, and, in the context of the growing use of Internet.
On 9 March 1999 the Council and the European Parliament also adopted the Radio Equipment & Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (R&TTE) Directive which inter alia gives the Commission the powers to decide that apparatus within certain equipment classes or apparatus of particular types must be so constructed that it supports certain features in order to facilitate its use by users with a disability.
