Public procurement as a means to achieving social gains – progress and challenges in European legislation and standards for accessible information and communication technology

Abstract

This article explores the European Commission goal of improving the quality and level of accessibility in mainstream information and communication technology (ICT) goods and services available in Member States through the use of public procurement legislation and performance standards. Over the past two decades, the Commission has encouraged Member States to adopt common requirements for accessibility and to strengthen efforts to use these requirements in public procurement. In the absence of significant improvements in the level of accessibility over this time, the Commission has more recently committed to bringing forward legislative proposals to harmonize the accessibility requirements used by Member States. A new procurement directive package contains stronger obligations on public bodies to include accessibility as mandatory requirements in Technical Specifications. In parallel to this, a standardization mandate by the Commission to the European Standards Organizations (ESOs) concluded in March 2014 with the publication of the first European standard on ICT accessibility. In light of these developments, this article analyses the trajectory of European policy in the field of accessibility over the last two decades, and the interplay between European public procurement, standardization and law. It examines how far these developments have succeeded in bringing into being a public procurement eco-system that will nudge the market in Europe to producing affordable and accessible ICT products and services for persons with disabilities.