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<DIV class=Ct><FONT face="Times New Roman">The U.S. Access Board has released
for public comment a proposed rule </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">updating
accessibility requirements for information and communication technology (ICT;
</FONT><A class="ot-anchor aaTEdf" style="dir: ltr"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communications_technology"
rel=nofollow target=_blank jslog="10929; track:click"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communications_technology</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">) in the federal sector covered by Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act [36 CFR Parts 1193 and 1194 Electronic and Information
Technology Accessibility Standards]. The rule also would jointly update
guidelines for telecommunications equipment subject to Section 255 of the
Communications Act.<BR><BR>The proposed rule updates various requirements to
address fundamental shifts and trends in the market, such as the convergence of
technologies and the increasingly multi-functional capabilities of products like
smart phones. Another key goal of this update is to promote consistency with
other requirements in the U.S. and abroad in order to improve accessibility and
to facilitate compliance. A leading reference, the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG; </FONT><A class="ot-anchor aaTEdf" style="dir: ltr"
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/" rel=nofollow target=_blank
jslog="10929; track:click"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">), is incorporated into the rule and applied to web-based
content as well as to offline documents and software. The Board is proposing
other revisions that will harmonize the rule with voluntary consensus standards,
including those issued by other countries and international bodies such as the
European Commission due to the global nature of the ICT market.<BR><BR>Public
comments on the rule, as well as on a preliminary assessment of its estimated
costs and benefits, are due on or before May 28, 2015. The Board also will hold
public hearings on the rule in San Diego on March 5 and in Washington, DC on
March 11. In addition, the Board will conduct a public webinar to review the
proposal on March 31.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV class=Ct><A class="ot-anchor aaTEdf" style="dir: ltr"
href="http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=ATBCB-2015-0002" rel=nofollow
target=_blank jslog="10929; track:click"><FONT style='face: "Times' New
roman?>http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=ATBCB-2015-0002</FONT></A></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>