Accessibility

Access is the appropriate way of organizing the physical environment, buildings, facilities, transport, technology, information and communication systems, products and services. Accessibility allows people with special needs to use them on an equal basis with other people. It is essential for leading an independent life and participating in social, professional, and economic life.

The main goal of the Act of July 19, 2019 on ensuring accessibility for people with special needs is to improve the living conditions and functioning of people with special needs. The Act implements the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (an international legal instrument that sets minimum standards for the equal treatment of these people).

A person with special needs is a person who, due to their characteristics or circumstances, must take additional actions or apply additional means to overcome barriers to participate in various spheres of life on an equal basis with other people.

 

ACCESSIBILITY MUST BE ENSURED IN THREE AREAS: information-communication, architectural, and digital.

 

1. Information-communication accessibility:

  • introduction of elements facilitating communication (e.g., a Polish sign language interpreter),
  • the use of technology that will facilitate hearing for people with hearing impairments (e.g., induction loops),
  • placement on the website of a file with information about the activities of the public entity (the file must contain machine-readable text, content recorded in Polish sign language, and easy-to-read content),
  • adapting other methods of communication at the request of a person with special needs.

 

2. Architectural accessibility:

  • enabling free access to vertical and horizontal spaces of buildings and all floors for people with limited mobility,
  • providing specialist means that will allow access to all places in the building (does not apply to technical rooms),
  • providing visual, auditory, or tactile information that informs about the layout of rooms,
  • enabling entry to the building with an assistance dog,
  • ensuring effective evacuation of people with special needs.

 

3. Digital accessibility

  • ensuring the accessibility of websites and mobile applications according to the WCAG 2.1 standard (detailed guidelines are included in the act on ensuring digital accessibility),
  • adapting the layout, structure, and content of the page so that they are legible, e.g. for people with visual impairments,
  • providing multimedia, developed in accordance with the WCAG 2.1 standard,
  • ensuring alternative access to content published on the site.

The accessibility certificate aims to confirm whether the entity referred to in art. 5 paragraph 1 of the Act on Ensuring Accessibility for People with Special Needs (i.e., an entrepreneur and a non-governmental organization referred to in art. 3 paragraph 2 of the Act of April 24, 2003 on Public Benefit Activities and Volunteering), provides accessibility to people with special needs.

 

The certification includes:

1. verification of meeting the minimum requirements referred to in art. 6 of the Act on Ensuring Accessibility to People with Special Needs, by conducting an accessibility audit;

2. formulation of detailed recommendations in the field of improving the provision of accessibility to people with special needs by a given entity;

3. issuance of an accessibility certificate;

 

Only entities that have the organizational resources, personnel, and tools to properly carry out certification, selected by the minister responsible for regional development after conducting an open recruitment, can perform the certification. An accessibility certificate is a document confirming the fulfillment of the minimum requirements referred to in art. 6 of the Act on Ensuring Accessibility for People with Special Needs. It is issued for a specific entity for a period of four years from the date of issuance.

 

The certificate includes:

1. designation of the entity carrying out the certification;

2. the name of the entity for which it was issued, and the address of its registered office;

3. certificate number and designation;

4. a brief description of ensuring accessibility to people with special needs in terms of the minimum requirements referred to in art. 6 of the Act on Ensuring Accessibility for People with Special Needs;

5. validity period of the certificate;

6. date of issue and signature of the authorized person;

 

In addition, the certificate may include recommendations for improving the provision of accessibility to people with special needs by a given entity.

 

During the validity period of the certificate:

 

1. The entity to whom the certificate was issued is obliged to meet the minimum requirements referred to in Article 6 of the Act on Ensuring Accessibility to People with Special Needs.

 

2. The entity carrying out the certification may carry out checks to confirm that the minimum requirements referred to in Article 6 of the Act on Ensuring Accessibility to People with Special Needs are met by the entity to whom the certificate was issued.

 

If the entity to whom the certificate was issued ceases to meet the minimum requirements referred to in Article 6 of the Act on Ensuring Accessibility to People with Special Needs, the entity carrying out the certification withdraws the certificate.

 

In case of withdrawal of the certificate, the entity carrying out the certification is obliged to notify the minister responsible for regional development and the entity to whom the certificate was issued about the withdrawal of the certificate, indicating at the same time the factual and legal justification.

 

An entity applying for a certificate, an entity to whom a certificate has been issued, has the right to lodge a complaint to the administrative court within 30 days from the date of delivery of the notification of refusal to issue a certificate or withdrawal of the certificate. The provisions of the Act of August 30, 2002 - Law on proceedings before administrative courts - on appealing administrative decisions to the court apply accordingly in proceedings before the court.

 

The minister responsible for regional development makes public, on his page of the Public Information Bulletin, information about entities to whom a certificate has been issued.

 

COST OF OBTAINING AN ACCESSIBILITY CERTIFICATE OR HOW MUCH DOES THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS COST

 

The amount of the certification fee is regulated in the agreement between the certifying and certified entity.

 

According to Article 22(3) of the Act of July 19, 2019 on Ensuring Accessibility for People with Special Needs, the certification fee paid to the entity carrying out the certification cannot exceed:

 

1. Three times - in case of conducting activities in one facility,

 

2. Six times - in case of conducting activities in two to five facilities,

 

3. Ten times - in case of conducting activities in six to ten facilities,

 

4. Twenty times - in case of conducting activities in eleven to twenty facilities,

 

5. Thirty times - in case of conducting activities in more than twenty facilities

 

- the average monthly salary in the national economy in the calendar year last announced by the President of the Central Statistical Office based on the provisions of the Act of December 17, 1998 on pensions and pensions from the Social Insurance Fund (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 53, 252 and 568), established as of the date of submission of the application for the issuance of the certificate.

 

APPLICATION FOR ISSUANCE OF AN ACCESSIBILITY CERTIFICATE

 

The certification is carried out at the request of the entity applying for the certificate. The application contains the name and address of the headquarters of the entity applying for the certificate, as well as an indication of the scope of the activities carried out.

 

The application should be submitted to the entity carrying out the certification on a form in accordance with the template specified in the Regulation of the Minister of Finance, Funds and Regional Policy of March 4, 2021 on the detailed requirements that entities carrying out accessibility certification must meet, the template of the application for issuance of an accessibility certificate, and the template of the accessibility certificate.

 

The application can be submitted in paper form or electronically using the means of electronic communication referred to in the Act of July 18, 2002 on Providing Services by Electronic Means (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 344). However, an application submitted using electronic means of communication must be signed with a qualified electronic signature. The entity applying for a certificate cannot be factually or legally linked to the entity carrying out the certification.

 

The entity carrying out the certification, within a period not longer than 3 months from the date of submission of a complete application:

 

1. In the case of finding that the entity applying for the certificate meets the minimum requirements referred to in Article 6, delivers the certificate to this entity in paper form or

 

2. Notifies the entity applying for the certificate of the refusal to issue the certificate.

 
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Last modified: Wednesday, 17 May 2023, 9:27 PM