BETA


2016/2952(RSP) Resolution on sign languages and professional sign language interpreters

Progress: Procedure completed

Legal Basis:
RoP 132-p2

Events

2017/03/22
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2016/11/23
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2016/11/23
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 661 votes to 6, with 23 abstentions, a resolution on sign languages and professional sign language interpreters.

The text adopted was tabled by the EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, Greens/EFA and EFDD groups.

Members recalled that as full citizens, all persons with disabilities, including deaf and hard-of-hearing people, including those who use sign language and those who do not, have equal rights and are entitled to inalienable dignity, equal treatment, independent living, autonomy and full participation in society.

The TFEU requires the Union to combat discrimination based on disability when defining and implementing its policies and activities.

There are approximately one million deaf sign language users in the EU1 and 51 million hard-of-hearing citizens, many of whom are also sign language users.

It is against this background that this resolution is adopted. It stressed the need for qualified and professional sign language interpreters, which can only be met on the basis of the following approach:

official recognition of national and regional sign language(s) in Member States and within EU institutions, formal training (university or similar, equivalent to 3 years of full-time studies, corresponding to the training required of spoken language interpreters), registration (official accreditation and quality control system, such as continuing professional development), formal recognition of the profession.

Aware that disproportionality or undue burden cannot be claimed to defend the failure to provide accessibility, Members considered that the provision of sign language interpretation may constitute an accessibility measure or a reasonable accommodation measure , depending on the situation.

Accessibility : Members reiterated their commitment to making the political process as accessible as possible, including through the provision of professional sign language interpreters and recognised the importance of minimum standards to ensure accessibility, especially in view of new and emerging technologies, such as the provision of internet-based sign language interpreting and subtitling services.

Members are aware of the importance of accurate and precise interpretation and translation services and stressed the need for specialised and highly qualified professional sign language interpreters.

Employment, education and training : Members noted that reasonable accommodation measures, which include the provision of professional sign language interpreters, must be taken to ensure equal access to employment, education and training. They emphasised that deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing students and their parents must be provided with the opportunity to learn the national or regional sign language of their environment through pre-school services and in schools.

It is also necessary to:

include sign language in educational curricula in order to raise awareness and increase the use of sign language; take measures to recognise and promote the linguistic identity of deaf communities; encourage the learning of sign language in the same way as foreign languages.

Parliament urged that the principle of freedom of movement for deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing people within the EU be guaranteed, especially in the context of Erasmus+ and related mobility programmes.

European Union institutions : Members recognised that the EU institutions must represent best practice examples for their staff, elected officials and interns and vis-à-vis EU citizens regarding the provision of reasonable accommodation and accessibility, which includes the provision of sign language interpretation. While recognising that the EU institutions have a system in place to provide sign language interpretation via their respective interpreting departments for accessibility purposes, Members urged the institutions to utilise such existing systems also when providing reasonable accommodation for staff and/or elected officials, effectively minimising the administrative burden on the individual and the institutions.

Lastly, Parliament strongly urged Parliament’s visitors’ service to cater for the needs of deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing visitors by directly providing access in a national or regional sign language and speech-to-text services.

Documents
2016/11/23
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2016/11/22
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2016/11/16
   EP - Motion for a resolution
Documents
2016/11/16
   EP - Motion for a resolution
Documents

Documents

Activities

Votes

B8-1230/2016 - Résolution #

2016/11/23 Outcome: +: 661, 0: 23, -: 6
DE IT FR ES PL GB RO BE PT NL EL HU CZ SE AT BG SK FI HR LT DK IE SI LV EE MT CY LU
Total
88
67
66
51
50
59
32
21
20
25
19
19
19
19
18
15
13
12
11
10
11
9
8
6
6
6
5
4
icon: PPE PPE
202

Finland PPE

2

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Cyprus PPE

1

Luxembourg PPE

2
icon: S&D S&D
178

Netherlands S&D

3

Croatia S&D

2

Ireland S&D

For (1)

1

Slovenia S&D

For (1)

1

Latvia S&D

1

Estonia S&D

For (1)

1

Malta S&D

3

Cyprus S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
67

Italy ECR

2

Romania ECR

For (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

2

Greece ECR

For (1)

1

Czechia ECR

2

Bulgaria ECR

1
2

Croatia ECR

For (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
64

United Kingdom ALDE

1

Romania ALDE

3

Sweden ALDE

2

Austria ALDE

For (1)

1

Croatia ALDE

2

Denmark ALDE

For (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Slovenia ALDE

For (1)

1

Latvia ALDE

1

Estonia ALDE

3

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
48

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

3

Czechia GUE/NGL

2

Sweden GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Denmark GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Ireland GUE/NGL

3

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
46

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

4

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Netherlands Verts/ALE

2

Hungary Verts/ALE

2

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Croatia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Lithuania Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Slovenia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Estonia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: ENF ENF
35

Germany ENF

Against (1)

1

Poland ENF

2

United Kingdom ENF

Abstain (1)

1

Romania ENF

1

Belgium ENF

For (1)

1

Netherlands ENF

3

Austria ENF

Against (1)

4
icon: EFDD EFDD
36

Germany EFDD

Abstain (1)

1

France EFDD

1

Poland EFDD

1

Czechia EFDD

Abstain (1)

1

Sweden EFDD

2

Lithuania EFDD

For (1)

1
icon: NI NI
13

Germany NI

2

France NI

2

Poland NI

Abstain (1)

1

United Kingdom NI

2

Hungary NI

2

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

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events/2
date
2016-11-23T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2016-0442_EN.html title: T8-0442/2016
summary
events/2
date
2016-11-23T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2016-0442_EN.html title: T8-0442/2016
summary
docs/0/docs/0/url
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New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2016-0442_EN.html
activities
  • date: 2016-11-22T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20161122&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2016-11-23T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2016-0442 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T8-0442/2016 body: EP type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
committees
    docs
    • date: 2016-11-16T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B8-2016-1230&language=EN title: B8-1230/2016 type: Motion for a resolution body: EP
    • date: 2016-11-16T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B8-2016-1241&language=EN title: B8-1241/2016 type: Motion for a resolution body: EP
    • date: 2017-03-22T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=27855&j=0&l=en title: SP(2017)148 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
    events
    • date: 2016-11-22T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20161122&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
    • date: 2016-11-23T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=27855&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
    • date: 2016-11-23T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2016-0442 title: T8-0442/2016 summary: The European Parliament adopted by 661 votes to 6, with 23 abstentions, a resolution on sign languages and professional sign language interpreters. The text adopted was tabled by the EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, Greens/EFA and EFDD groups. Members recalled that as full citizens, all persons with disabilities, including deaf and hard-of-hearing people, including those who use sign language and those who do not, have equal rights and are entitled to inalienable dignity, equal treatment, independent living, autonomy and full participation in society. The TFEU requires the Union to combat discrimination based on disability when defining and implementing its policies and activities. There are approximately one million deaf sign language users in the EU1 and 51 million hard-of-hearing citizens, many of whom are also sign language users. It is against this background that this resolution is adopted. It stressed the need for qualified and professional sign language interpreters, which can only be met on the basis of the following approach: official recognition of national and regional sign language(s) in Member States and within EU institutions, formal training (university or similar, equivalent to 3 years of full-time studies, corresponding to the training required of spoken language interpreters), registration (official accreditation and quality control system, such as continuing professional development), formal recognition of the profession. Aware that disproportionality or undue burden cannot be claimed to defend the failure to provide accessibility, Members considered that the provision of sign language interpretation may constitute an accessibility measure or a reasonable accommodation measure , depending on the situation. Accessibility : Members reiterated their commitment to making the political process as accessible as possible, including through the provision of professional sign language interpreters and recognised the importance of minimum standards to ensure accessibility, especially in view of new and emerging technologies, such as the provision of internet-based sign language interpreting and subtitling services. Members are aware of the importance of accurate and precise interpretation and translation services and stressed the need for specialised and highly qualified professional sign language interpreters. Employment, education and training : Members noted that reasonable accommodation measures, which include the provision of professional sign language interpreters, must be taken to ensure equal access to employment, education and training. They emphasised that deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing students and their parents must be provided with the opportunity to learn the national or regional sign language of their environment through pre-school services and in schools. It is also necessary to: include sign language in educational curricula in order to raise awareness and increase the use of sign language; take measures to recognise and promote the linguistic identity of deaf communities; encourage the learning of sign language in the same way as foreign languages. Parliament urged that the principle of freedom of movement for deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing people within the EU be guaranteed, especially in the context of Erasmus+ and related mobility programmes. European Union institutions : Members recognised that the EU institutions must represent best practice examples for their staff, elected officials and interns and vis-à-vis EU citizens regarding the provision of reasonable accommodation and accessibility, which includes the provision of sign language interpretation. While recognising that the EU institutions have a system in place to provide sign language interpretation via their respective interpreting departments for accessibility purposes, Members urged the institutions to utilise such existing systems also when providing reasonable accommodation for staff and/or elected officials, effectively minimising the administrative burden on the individual and the institutions. Lastly, Parliament strongly urged Parliament’s visitors’ service to cater for the needs of deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing visitors by directly providing access in a national or regional sign language and speech-to-text services.
    • date: 2016-11-23T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
    links
    other
      procedure/legal_basis/0
      Rules of Procedure EP 132-p2
      procedure/legal_basis/0
      Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 123-p2
      procedure/subject
      Old
      • 4.10.06 People with disabilities
      • 4.10.08 Equal treatment between persons, non-discrimination
      New
      4.10.06
      People with disabilities
      4.10.08
      Equal treatment of persons, non-discrimination
      4.40.15
      Vocational education and training
      procedure/subtype
      Old
      Resolution on statements
      New
      Resolution on statement
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      Sign language and professional sign language interpreters
      New
      Resolution on sign languages and professional sign language interpreters
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      • date: 2016-11-22T00:00:00 body: EP type: Debate in plenary scheduled
      • date: 2016-11-23T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote in plenary scheduled
      committees
        links
        other
          procedure
          reference
          2016/2952(RSP)
          title
          Sign language and professional sign language interpreters
          legal_basis
          Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 123-p2
          stage_reached
          Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage
          subtype
          Resolution on statements
          type
          RSP - Resolutions on topical subjects
          subject