Ships a consumer interface, in Ontario

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, S.O. 2005, c. 11 · Read the law's page

• If an accessibility standard made under the Act applies to you, comply with it within the time period the standard sets (s. 13).
• File an accessibility report with a director annually or at the other times the director specifies, make the filed report available to the public, and include a signed statement certifying that the information is complete and accurate (ss. 14 and 15).
• Small organizations are exempt from filing accessibility reports: those with fewer than 20 employees for every standard, and those with 20 to 49 employees for every standard except customer service (O. Reg. 191/11, s. 86.1).
• At a director's request, provide reports or information on your compliance with the accessibility standards (s. 17).
• Do not give false or misleading information in an accessibility report or to a director, and do not fail to comply with an order of a director or the Tribunal (s. 37 (1)).
• Do not intimidate, coerce, penalize or discriminate against a person because the person sought enforcement of the Act, co-operated with an inspector or provided information in an inspection or proceeding (s. 37 (2)).
• If you are a director or officer of a corporation, take all reasonable care to prevent the corporation from committing an offence under section 37 (s. 37 (4)).

O. Reg. 191/11, ss. 11-13 (feedback, accessible formats and communication supports, emergency information) · Read the law's page

• If you have a process for receiving and responding to feedback, make it accessible to persons with disabilities by providing or arranging accessible formats and communications supports on request, and notify the public that they are available (s. 11 (1) and (2)).
• On request, provide or arrange accessible formats and communication supports for persons with disabilities in a timely manner that takes into account the person's accessibility needs due to disability, at a cost no more than the regular cost charged to other persons (s. 12 (1)).
• Consult the person making the request on the suitability of an accessible format or communication support, and notify the public that they are available (s. 12 (2) and (3)).
• Large organizations meet section 12 from January 1, 2016 and small organizations from January 1, 2017 (s. 12 (5)).
• If you prepare emergency procedures, plans or public safety information and make it available to the public, provide it in an accessible format or with appropriate communication supports, as soon as practicable, on request (s. 13 (1)).
• The standards do not apply to products and product labels except as Part II provides, to unconvertible information or communications, or to information you do not control directly or indirectly through a contractual relationship (except as sections 15 and 18 require); if you treat information as unconvertible, give the requester an explanation and a summary (s. 9 (2) and (3)).

O. Reg. 191/11, ss. 15, 16 and 18 (educational and training institutions) · Read the law's page

• If you are an educational or training institution within section 15 (2), such as a career college or a private school, and notification of need is given, provide educational or training resources or materials in an accessible format that takes into account the accessibility needs due to disability of the person to whom they are to be provided, by procuring or obtaining by other means an accessible or conversion ready electronic format where available, or by arranging for a comparable resource in an accessible or conversion ready electronic format if the resources or materials cannot be procured, obtained by other means or converted into an accessible format (s. 15 (1), paragraph 1).
• If notification of need is given, provide student records and information on program requirements, availability and descriptions in an accessible format to persons with disabilities (s. 15 (1), paragraph 2).
• Provide educators, meaning employees involved in program or course design, delivery and instruction, with accessibility awareness training related to accessible program or course delivery and instruction, in addition to the training section 7 requires, and keep a record of the training with the dates on which it is provided and the number of individuals to whom it is provided (s. 16 (1), (2) and (4)).
• If you operate a library of an educational or training institution, then on request provide, procure or acquire by other means, where available, an accessible or conversion ready format of print, digital or multimedia resources or materials for a person with a disability (s. 18 (1)).
• Special collections, archival materials, rare books and donations are exempt from the library duty (s. 18 (2)).
• Meet section 18 for print-based resources or materials from January 1, 2015 and for digital or multimedia resources or materials from January 1, 2020 (s. 18 (3)).
• Sections 15 and 16 applied to large organizations from January 1, 2013 and to small organizations from January 1, 2015 under the schedules as filed; Ontario Regulation 165/16 revoked those schedules (ss. 15 (3) and 16 (3) as filed; O. Reg. 165/16, s. 8).
• Sections 15, 16 and 18 bind every obligated organization of the kind each names, large or small; an obligated organization provides goods, services or facilities to the public or other third parties and has at least one employee in Ontario (ss. 1 (3) and 2).
• The information and communications standards do not apply to products and product labels except as Part II specifically provides, to unconvertible information or communications (it is not technically feasible to convert them, or the technology to convert them cannot readily be obtained), or to information you do not control directly or indirectly through a contractual relationship, except as sections 15 and 18 require; if you treat information as unconvertible, give the requester an explanation and a summary (s. 9 (2) to (4)).

O. Reg. 191/11, s. 14 (accessible websites and web content) · Read the law's page

• If you provide goods, services or facilities to the public or other third parties and are a large organization (an organization with 50 or more employees in Ontario, other than the Government of Ontario, the Legislative Assembly or a designated public sector organization), make your internet website and web content conform with WCAG 2.0 at Level AA, other than success criteria 1.2.4 Captions (Live) and 1.2.5 Audio Descriptions (Pre-recorded) (s. 14 (2) and (4)).
• The duty covers websites and web content, including web-based applications, that you control directly or through a contractual relationship that allows for modification of the product, and web content published on a website after January 1, 2012, except where meeting the requirement is not practicable (s. 14 (5)).
• New internet websites (a website with a new domain name, or an existing domain undergoing a significant refresh) had to conform with WCAG 2.0 Level A by January 1, 2014, and all internet websites and web content with Level AA by January 1, 2021 (s. 14 (4) and (7)).
• The Regulation names WCAG 2.0, the World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation dated December 2008, and does not name a later version (s. 14 (7)).

O. Reg. 191/11, s. 6 (2) (self-service kiosks) · Read the law's page

• When designing, procuring or acquiring a self-service kiosk (an interactive electronic terminal, including a point-of-sale device, intended for public use that allows users to access one or more services or products or both), have regard to its accessibility for persons with disabilities (s. 6 (2) and (5)).

O. Reg. 191/11, s. 17 (producers of educational or training material) · Read the law's page

• If you are a producer of educational or training textbooks for educational or training institutions, make accessible or conversion ready versions of the textbooks available to the institutions upon request; this has applied since January 1, 2015 (s. 17 (1) and (3)).
• If you are a producer of print-based educational or training supplementary learning resources for educational or training institutions, make accessible or conversion ready versions of the printed materials available to the institutions upon request; this has applied since January 1, 2020 (s. 17 (2) and (3)).
• The duty falls on every obligated organization that is such a producer, large or small, meaning one that provides goods, services or facilities to the public or other third parties and has at least one employee in Ontario (ss. 1 (3), 2 and 17).
• The information and communications standards do not apply to products and product labels except as Part II specifically provides, to unconvertible information or communications (it is not technically feasible to convert them, or the technology to convert them cannot readily be obtained), or to information you do not control directly or indirectly through a contractual relationship, except as sections 15 and 18 require (s. 9 (2) and (4)).

O. Reg. 191/11, Part IV.2, ss. 80.45-80.51 (customer service standards) · Read the law's page

• Develop, implement and maintain policies governing how you provide goods, services or facilities to persons with disabilities, and use reasonable efforts to keep them consistent with the principles of dignity and independence, integration, equal opportunity, and communication that takes the person's disability into account (s. 80.46 (1) and (2)).
• Establish a process for receiving and responding to feedback about the way you provide goods, services or facilities to persons with disabilities, specify the actions you will take on a complaint, make the process accessible through accessible formats and communication supports on request, and make information about it readily available to the public (s. 80.50 (1) to (4)).
• If persons with disabilities usually use other facilities or services of yours to obtain, use or benefit from your goods, services or facilities and those are temporarily disrupted, give the public notice of the disruption with its reason, anticipated duration and any alternative facilities or services (s. 80.48 (1) and (2)).
• Permit a person with a disability accompanied by a guide dog or other service animal, or by a support person, to enter premises you own or operate and to which the public has access, together with the animal or the support person, unless the animal is otherwise excluded by law from the premises (s. 80.47 (1), (2) and (4)).
• Ensure that every employee and volunteer, every person who participates in developing your policies and every other person who provides goods, services or facilities on your behalf is trained as soon as practicable on providing them to persons with disabilities, and train on changes to your policies (s. 80.49 (1) to (4)).
• Unless you are a small organization, keep records of the training, and prepare documents describing your policies, feedback process, temporary-disruption steps and training policy, give a copy to any person on request and notify people that the documents are available (ss. 80.46 (4) and (5), 80.48 (3) and (4), 80.49 (5) to (7), 80.50 (5) and (6)).
• When you must give a document to a person with a disability, provide it or its information on request in an accessible format or with communication support, in a timely manner and at no more than the regular cost charged to other persons (s. 80.51).