§ 14.20   Obligations.

   (a) General Obligations. (1) With respect to equipment manufactured
   after the effective date of this part, a manufacturer of equipment used
   for advanced communications services, including end user equipment,
   network equipment, and software, must ensure that the equipment and
   software that such manufacturer offers for sale or otherwise
   distributes in interstate commerce shall be accessible to and usable by
   individuals with disabilities, unless the requirements of this
   subsection are not achievable.

   (2) With respect to services provided after the effective date of this
   part, a provider of advanced communications services must ensure that
   services offered by such provider in or affecting interstate commerce
   are accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, unless
   the requirements of this paragraph are not achievable.

   (3) If accessibility is not achievable either by building it in or by
   using third party accessibility solutions available to the consumer at
   nominal cost and that individuals with disabilities can access, then a
   manufacturer or service provider shall ensure that its equipment or
   service is compatible with existing peripheral devices or specialized
   customer premises equipment, unless the requirements of this subsection
   are not achievable.

   (4) Providers of advanced communications services shall not install
   network features, functions, or capabilities that impede accessibility
   or usability.

   (5) Providers of advanced communications services, manufacturers of
   equipment used with these services, and providers of networks used with
   these services may not impair or impede the accessibility of
   information content when accessibility has been incorporated into that
   content for transmission through such services, equipment or networks.

   (b) Product design, development, and evaluation. (1) Manufacturers and
   service providers must consider performance objectives set forth in
   § 14.21 at the design stage as early as possible and must implement such
   performance objectives, to the extent that they are achievable.

   (2) Manufacturers and service providers must identify barriers to
   accessibility and usability as part of such evaluation.

   (c) Information Pass Through. Equipment used for advanced
   communications services, including end user equipment, network
   equipment, and software must pass through cross-manufacturer,
   nonproprietary, industry-standard codes, translation protocols, formats
   or other information necessary to provide advanced communications
   services in an accessible format, if achievable. Signal compression
   technologies shall not remove information needed for access or shall
   restore it upon decompression.

   (d) Information, documentation, and training. Manufacturers and service
   providers must ensure that the information and documentation that they
   provide to customers is accessible, if achievable. Such information and
   documentation includes, but is not limited to, user guides, bills,
   installation guides for end user devices, and product support
   communications. The requirement to ensure the information is accessible
   also includes ensuring that individuals with disabilities can access,
   at no extra cost, call centers and customer support regarding both the
   product generally and the accessibility features of the product.

   return arrow Back to Top