German Act to guarantee the Equality of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Entry into force: May 1, 2002)

By Klaus Lachwitz, Lebenshilfe Germany

Draft-Translation

 

Part One: General Provisions

§ 1 (Purpose of the Act)

It is the purpose of this Act to eliminate and to avoid the discrimination of persons with disabilities and to guarantee their participation in society with equal rights and status to enable them to lead a self-determined life by taking into account their specific needs.

§ 2 (Disabled Women)

In order to implement the equal rights of women and men the special needs of women with disabilities are to be considered and existing disadvantages are to be removed. In doing so specific measures are permitted to promote the implementation of the equality of rights and status of women with disabilities and to abolish existing forms of discrimination.

§ 3 (Disability)

Persons are disabled if their physical functioning, mental capacity or psychical health in all probability and for more than six months deviates from the typical condition of persons of the same age and if, therefore, their participation in social life is affected.

§ 4 (Barrier-free Life)

Buildings and other facilities, arrangements of transportation, technical articles for daily use, information systems, acoustic and visual sources of information, communication equipments and other designed living spaces are barrier-free, if they are accessible for persons with disabilities and may be used by them in the common way without specific complications and without the need to be supported by a third party.

§ 5 (Target Agreements)

(1) Unless prohibited by laws and other legal sources, associations which are officially admitted pursuant to section 13 subsection 3 of this Act and enterprises or associations of enterprises representing the different branches of trade and industry should, for their materially and locally relevant range of organisation and activities, enter into agreements with the aim to establish barrier-free living conditions.

(2) Target agreements aiming at the establishment of barrier-free living conditions contain in particular

1. the determination of the parties of the agreement and other regulations for the scope of
application and the period of validity of the agreement,

2. the fixing of minimum requirements with regard to the future modification of arranged
living conditions in accordance with section 4 of this Act in order to guarantee barrier-free
accessibility and utilization.

3. the date or a time-table to fulfil the agreed minimum standards.

They may, furthermore, contain an agreement on penalties in case of failure to meet the contractual terms or in case of delay.

(3) An association under of subsection 1 which demands negotiations is obliged to announce this towards the target agreement register (subsection 5) by giving notice of the parties of the negotiations and the objectives of the negotiations. The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs will officially publish this announcement in its internet homepage. Within four weeks other associations pursuant to subsection 1 are entitled to accede to these negotiations by presenting a statement towards the already negotiating parties. If the associations representing persons with disabilities have formed a joint negotiation committee or if it is certain that only one association is negotiating, the negotiations have to start within four weeks.

(4) There is no entitlement to negotiate under subsection 1 sentence 3

1. during running negotiations in accordance with subsection 3 for associations of persons
with disabilities which did not enter into negotiations,

2. with regard to enterprises which announce to accede to a target agreement which is already
negotiated by an association of enterprises,

3. for the scope and period of validity of a target agreement already agreed upon ,

4. with regard to enterprises which already acceded to a fixed target agreement by accepting
all rights and duties without any restrictions/provisos.

(5) The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs keeps a target agreement register which will give evidence of the conclusions, modifications or terminations of target agreements under subsections 1 and 2. Any association of persons with disabilities which enters into a target agreement, delivers a publicly certified copy of the target agreement to the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs. Moreover the text must be provided by e-mail. Furthermore the association of persons with disabilities is obliged to announce any modification or termination of the target agreement within one month.

 

§ 6 (Sign Language and other Aids to communicate)

(1) The German sign language is recognized as an independent language.

(2) Sound substituting signs are recognized as a communication form of the German language.

(3) Persons with hearing impairments or persons with speaking disabilities are, on the basis of specific laws, entitled to make use of the German sign language or sound substituting signs. If they do not use sign language or sound substituting signs they are, on the basis of specific laws, entitled to apply other instruments of communication.

 

Part Two: Obligation to guarantee Equality and barrier-free Accessibility

§ 7 (Prohibition with regard to Public Bodies to discriminate against Persons with Disabilities)

(1) Public offices and other facilities of the State authorities including corporations under public law, public institutions and foundations, should, within the scope of their tasks, actively support the targets under section 1 of this Act and should consider them by planning measures. The same applies for the Federal authorities of the German Länder including public corporations, institutions and foundations as far as they execute Federal law. In all areas where persons with disabilities are disadvantaged in comparison with non-disabled persons specific measures to reduce and eliminate such disadvantages are permitted. By applying laws to actively execute the equality of rights of women and men the specific needs of disabled women must be taken into consideration.

(2) Public authorities under subsection 1 must not discriminate against persons with disabilities. Such a discrimination exists if disabled and non-disabled persons are, without compelling reasons, treated differently and if, therefore, the possibility to take part in social life on equal terms is directly or indirectly affected.

(3) Specific provisions to prohibit all forms of discrimination against persons with disabilities are not affected by this Act. This applies for Social Code Nine (IX).

 

§ 8 (Accessibility of physical Environments and Traffic Arrangements)

(1) New buildings and renovation or construction projects of the State authorities including Federal corporations, institutions and foundations under public law should, in accordance with the generally accepted technical rules, be accessible without barriers. There may be exceptions from these rules, if it is possible to guarantee obstacle-free conditions by other methods and measures. Legal provisions of the Federal States, in particular building regulations, are not affected by this subsection.

(2) Other building equipments, public rails, places, traffic arrangements and public transport facilities are to be designed in a barrier-free manner. Provisions of Federal States which prescribe further guarantees for the accessibility of society and physical environments are not affected by this subsection.

 

§ 9 (Right to use Sign Language and other Instruments of Communication)

(1) Persons with hearing impairments or speaking disabilities are, according to decrees under subsection 2 of this section, entitled to communicate with public authorities under section 7 subsection 1 sentence 1 of this Act with sign language, sound substituting signs and other instruments of communication, if this is required to execute personal rights in administrative procedures. Public authorities are, on request of the entitled person, obliged to guarantee translation by sign interpreters or by providing other instruments of communication to the extent required. Moreover they are obliged to take over the expenses.

(2) The Federal Ministry of the Interior, in agreement with the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, prescribes in detail on the basis of decrees approved by the Bundesrat

1. reason and scope of the right to make use of a sign interpreter or other instruments of communication.

2. the way how to provide sign interpreters and other appropriate instruments of communication between public authorities and persons with hearing impairments or speaking disabilities.

3. the principles for an appropriate reimbursement of expenses due to the employment of interpreters or the use of other instruments of communication.

4. the different instruments of communication which are appropriate in the sense of subsection 1.

 

§ 10 (Configuration of Official Notices, Directions and Forms)

(1) Public authorities under section 7 subsection 1 sentence 1 are obliged to take into consideration the disability of a person by using official notices, orders, directions, public treaties and printed forms. Blind persons and persons with visual impairments are, according to decrees under subsection 2 of this section, entitled to receive public notices, orders, directions, treaties and forms in a way which enables them to gain direct access to the information contained in these official documents without additional costs, if this specific form of information is required to execute personal rights within administrative procedures.

(2) The Federal Ministry of the Interior, in agreement with the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, prescribes by decrees which are not dependent from the approval of the Bundesrat, on which occasions and in which way the documents mentioned in subsection 1 must be readable for blind persons and persons with visual impairments.

 

§ 11 (Barrier-free Information Technics)

(1) Public authorities under section 7 subsection 1 sentence 1 are, according to the decree described in the following sentence 2, obliged to design their internet websites, homepages and other instruments of computerized information in a way that persons with disabilities may use these information technics without any barriers. The Ministry of the Interior, in accordance with the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, prescribes by a decree which is not dependent from the approval of the Bundesrat, in accordance with technical, financial and organizational possibilities

1. the group of persons with disabilities comprised by the decree.

2. the applicable technical standards and the date of their application.

3. the areas and the kinds of public informations.

(2) The Federal Government will use its influence that private enterprises and services offering websites and computerized information will except to guarantee technical standards according to subsection 1 by target agreements under section 5.

 

(Draft translation by Klaus Lachwitz, c/o Bundesvereinigung Lebenshilfe für Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung e. V., Raiffeisenstraße 18, D – 35043 Marburg, GERMANY

Marburg, September 6, 2002)