Accessible Customer Service Standard Regulation, duties of organizations that provide goods or services in Manitoba
M.R. 171/2015, ss. 3 (c), 4-10 and 12-13 (accessible customer service)
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
As of .
What it requires
- If you are an organization subject to the Act that provides goods or services directly to the public or to another organization in Manitoba and has one or more employees in Manitoba, establish and implement measures, policies and practices respecting barrier-free access to the goods or services you provide (ss. 3 (c) and 4 (1)).
- In doing so, identify the barriers to accessible customer service in your goods or services, seek to remove those you are responsible for, impose a fee for accommodating a person disabled by a barrier only if you cannot reasonably accommodate the person otherwise, provide access by alternate means where a barrier cannot reasonably be removed, and seek to prevent new barriers (s. 4 (2)).
- Keep your actions consistent with the purposes and principles of the Act and with your obligation to make reasonable accommodations under The Human Rights Code (s. 4 (3)).
- Make reasonable efforts to communicate with a person who self-identifies as disabled by a barrier in a manner that takes the barrier into account (s. 5).
- Recognize in your policies that a person disabled by a barrier may use assistive devices, may be accompanied by a support person and may be accompanied by a service animal, and reasonably accommodate the use of those devices (ss. 6 to 8).
- If you provide goods or services at particular premises, let the person and the support person enter together and keep access to the support person, and give advance notice of any amount payable in respect of the support person (s. 7 (2) and (3)).
- Make sure any feature of your built environment meant to give barrier-free access is available for use, and if it is unavailable give notice of the reasons, an estimate of when it will be available and any alternate means of access, displayed prominently on the premises and on your website, if you have one, or given by other reasonable means (s. 9).
- Make reasonable efforts to provide a process for receiving and responding to feedback about the accessibility of your goods or services that suits persons disabled by barriers, and for documenting your resulting actions and making that documentation available on request (s. 10).
- Comply with the measures, policies and practices you establish (s. 12).
- Make sure training about accessible customer service is or has been provided to those who provide your goods or services directly to the public or to another organization in Manitoba, including employees, agents and volunteers, and to those who develop or implement your measures, policies and practices, covering the matters in section 13 (2), as soon as reasonably practicable after the duties are assigned and on an ongoing basis when your measures change (s. 13).
- Section 15 on accessibility of public events does not apply to an organization subject to the Regulation by operation of clause 3 (c) (s. 15 (3)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Failing to comply with an accessibility standard as required under section 20 is an offence under section 34 (1) (b), and a person guilty of an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $250,000 (s. 34 (3)). A director, officer, employee or agent of a corporation who authorized, permitted or acquiesced in the corporation's offence is also guilty of an offence (s. 34 (2)). A person who pays an administrative penalty may not be charged with an offence for that non-compliance unless it continues after the payment (s. 31 (4)).
Penalty structure
Section 34 (3) states one ceiling of $250,000 for a person guilty of an offence under the Act, on summary conviction, with no separate amount for a corporation and no amount per day. Section 29 (1) lets the director require payment of an administrative penalty "in the amount determined in accordance with the regulations", and neither the Act nor any of the five regulations made under it, as listed on , sets that amount.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- CAD
- Fixed cap
- 250,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
An inspector whom the minister appoints under section 23 of The Accessibility for Manitobans Act, together with the director appointed under subsection 22 (1)
What it reaches
Instrument type
a regulation made under an act
Obligation class
Governance, Disclosure
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- provides goods or services directly to the public or to another organization in Manitoba
- has one or more employees in Manitoba
What this law does
Section 3 applies sections 4 to 15 of the Regulation to any other organization subject to the Act that meets the tests in clause 3 (c), on the day that is three years after the Regulation came into force. The Regulation came into force on , or on the day it was registered, whichever was later. It was registered on . The Government of Manitoba states that the Accessible Customer Service Standard Regulation came into force for all organizations on .
Departments of the government, government agencies, universities, colleges, health authorities, the City of Winnipeg, other cities, school divisions and school districts came under sections 4 to 15 earlier, and their duties are not described here. Section 4 requires an organization to establish and implement measures, policies and practices respecting barrier-free access to the goods or services it provides.
Those measures must identify existing barriers, seek to remove the barriers the organization is responsible for, impose a fee for accommodating a person only where the organization cannot reasonably accommodate the person otherwise, provide access by alternate means where a barrier cannot reasonably be removed, and seek to prevent new barriers.
Section 9 requires notice that a feature of the built environment is unavailable to be displayed prominently on the applicable premises and on the organization's website, if it has one, or given by other reasonable means. Section 10 requires reasonable efforts to provide a process for receiving and responding to feedback about the accessibility of its goods or services.
Section 13 requires training about accessible customer service for the persons who provide the goods or services on the organization's behalf. Section 15 on accessibility of public events does not apply to an organization subject to the Regulation by operation of clause 3 (c). Sections 11 and 14, on documentation, bind these organizations only if they meet the scale tests stated in those sections.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface.