Accessibility for JIS Standard

November 10, 2005 September 30, 2023

The CIAJ has announced that the "JIS X 8341-4: Guidelines for Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities – Information and Communications Equipment, Software and Services – Part 4: Telecommunications Equipment" has been deliberated by the Japan Industrial Standards Committee, established as a JIS standard, and notified in an official government gazette. These guidelines define items which are essential and items which are desirable from an accessibility standpoint in the planning, development and design stages so that telecommunications equipment can be operated without difficulty by all people, including older persons and persons with disabilities.

Categorization
▪ Highest tiers of the standard ISO/IEC Guide 71: “Guidelines for standards developers to address the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities” were translated into JIS standard JIS Z8071. (* 1)
▪ Middle tiers of the standard The JIS Z8071 mentioned above was used as the basis for JIS X8341-1 “Guidelines for older persons and persons with disabilities – information and communications equipment, software and services – Part 1: Common Guidelines.”
▪ Lower tiers of the standard Separate specifications for individual equipment. (* 2)

The JIS standard established on Oct. 20^th are categorized in the lower tiers.

*1 Guidelines to be applied when creating not only ICT-related standards, but any standard incorporating accessibility considerations.
*2 Part 2: Information Processing Equipment (JIS X8341-2), and Part 3: Web Content (JIS X8341-3) have already been established.

Outline of the Standard
1) Info-Communications Access Council released the second edition of the “Telecommunications Accessibility Guidelines for Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities” on May 26, 2004.

Part 1: Common Guidelines (JIS X8341-1), the standardization of accessibility for telecommunications equipment mentioned earlier, was based on this second edition.

2) Composed of the main text and attachments, the main text sets consideration requirements common to all telecommunications equipment into standards. In the attachments, considerations by equipment type – fixed line telephones (including IP telephones), mobile telephones, facsimile telephones, and video telephones – are listed.

3) Level of necessity are categorized into “essential items,” indicating features without which some users will not be able to utilize the basic functions of the equipment, and all other functions as “recommended items.”

Significance of Standardization

According to the Law Concerning Standardization, central and local public entities must support JIS in their procurement, and it can be assumed that government offices throughout Japan, including central ministries and their local offices, will apply this JIS standard when procuring telecommunications equipment. Upon such occasions, it is hoped that:

(1) by having indicated the basic items for consideration, equipment providers will incorporate the Guidelines into their planning, development, and design stages.

(2) the digital divide will diminish as accessible equipment become more widely available to all people, including older persons and persons with disabilities.

International Standardization Measures
As for international standardization, preparations for an ITU-T Recommendation on accessibility for telecommunications equipment and services in 2006 are under way, based on a proposal submitted by Japan to SG16.

Via: CIAJ