Telecommunications Access Advisory Committee
November 6-8, 1996
The Telecommunications Access Advisory Committee was created by
the Access Board to provide recommendations on accessibility
guidelines for telecommunications equipment and customer
premises equipment under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The
Board will use the advice from the Committee as the basis for a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to be issued in early 1997. At its
fourth meeting, the Committee took the following actions:
- Accepted the application of Netscape to join the Committee.
- Agreed to exchange information with European experts working
on similar issues, to help promote consistency; a mirror Web site
will be created.
- Subcommittees met the afternoon of November 6, and all day
November 7 and 8.
- The Compliance subcommittee worked through its draft document
and flagged and prioritized issues. The following additional issues
were also raised and will be addressed in the coming weeks: 1)
should the guidelines require manufacturers to follow specific steps
but give suggested strategies; 2) can the use of "Access Engineers"
be required or only suggested; 3) how to make the process clear and
understandable; 4) content of a Declaration of Conformity; 5) how to
deal with the transition from now until "Access Engineers" are
available. The Process subgroup of the Guidelines subcommittee met
with the Compliance subcommittee to discuss overlapping issues
including documentation, product testing and specialized CPE.
- The Guidelines subcommittee draft contains performance
guidelines, including goals and strategies, followed by a rationale.
The document also includes definitions and suggested techniques for
providing access in specific cases. The document suggests that a
current list of strategies and techniques for access be maintained
by the Board or another agency.
- Future meeting dates are December 16-18, and January 14-
15.