Brussels, 15/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 12 June, the Telecoms Council looked at the work undertaken on the draft directive to facilitate access to public sector websites.
This directive seeks to introduce harmonised specifications to ensure that these administrative services are more widely accessible, particularly to people with disabilities and at a reduced cost.
The Latvian Minister for Transport, Anrijs Matiss, asserted that “the Latvian presidency has continued to examine this proposal. The member states support the objectives”. The minister also explained that the discussions at the Council of the EU workgroup mainly focused on the question of directive's scope. The Commissioner for the Digital Economy, Günther Oettinger, said: “We want an accessible system, free of obstacles”. He said he hoped that there would be a Council position, “as soon as possible so that negotiations can be concluded with the European Parliament as quickly as possible”.
According to the draft directive, harmonised access criteria should be binding for certain kinds of public sector website bodies. Member states will be free to apply the requirements to other public websites not covered by the directive. Further discussions on this dossier will be necessary in order to reach a common Council position.
At this stage, many concerns raised by previous presidencies at the Council still appear relevant. These difficulties involve: 1) the scope; 2) the use of standards; 3) the legal basis; 4) the costs and advantages of implementing the proposal.
The Latvian Presidency put forward a number of proposals on these points in an effort to obtain a compromise. On the question of scope, it is proposing to exclude certain types of content but these exceptions will need to be more clearly defined in order to guarantee the necessary legal security with regard to the content covered and the content that is not, explains the Council. (Isabelle Lamberty)