Persons with Disabilities Law 127(I)/2000, Articles 6, 8(3), 9, 9Γ and 9Δ, equal treatment in goods, facilities and services, reasonable accommodation, offences and complaints

Article 6(1) provides that a person with a disability receives equal treatment with the other citizens of the Republic in the provision of goods, facilities or services. Article 6(1) treats as discrimination the provision to a person with a disability of treatment that is less favourable than that given to another person, relates to a ground connected with the disability and is not justified.

Article 6(2) lists as unequal treatment the refusal of services, the offer of services of a lower standard, the offer of goods and services on inferior terms, and the failure to make changes to services or facilities that makes their use impossible or unjustifiably difficult for a person with a disability.

Article 6(2) gives as examples of such changes the creation of suitable means of access and facilities for comfortable and safe use, and the use of special means, instruments or persons for communication and information for certain categories of persons with disabilities. Article 8(3) provides that television stations are to make arrangements so that, for certain hours, news bulletins are comprehensible to the deaf.

Article 9(1) provides that the principles of Articles 4, 5, 6 and 8 apply through appropriate measures that ensure reasonable accommodation to the maximum of the available resources. Article 9(2) defines reasonable accommodation as the necessary and appropriate modifications and adjustments that do not impose a disproportionate or unjustified burden, and treats a burden as not disproportionate when measures taken under State policy for persons with disabilities sufficiently offset it.

Article 9(3) makes it an offence for a person, without reasonable cause, to commit an act, action or omission that amounts to adverse discrimination against a person with a disability, punishable by a fine of up to four thousand pounds or imprisonment of up to six months or both. Article 9(3) provides that reasonable cause includes all cases where the appropriate measures to ensure reasonable accommodation cannot be taken or were not taken.

Article 9(4) punishes the officer of a legal person who consented to, connived at or tolerated the offence, and punishes the legal person with a fine of up to seven thousand pounds. Article 9(5) sets a fine of up to two thousand pounds for an offence committed by gross negligence, and four thousand pounds for the legal person.

Article 9Γ entitles any person who considers that a breach of the Law affects them in relation to discriminatory treatment to complain to the Commissioner for Administration, who examines the complaint under the Combating of Racial and Certain Other Discrimination (Commissioner) Law. Article 9Δ lets organisations or legal persons with a legitimate interest in ensuring that the Law is observed exercise that right with the complainant's approval, on the complainant's behalf or in support.

The right to sue in court under Article 9A concerns discriminatory treatment in employment. Article 29 brings the Law into force on its publication in the Official Gazette, except Articles 5 and 14 to 24, which come into force on a day the Council of Ministers sets by Notification. The Official Gazette No. 3420 of 21 July 2000 published the Law.