The Ministry of Finance (Department of Financial Services) has notified the “Accessibility Standards and Guidelines for infrastructure and services in Insurance Sector”, with an intent to address accessibility needs of persons with disabilities in respect of the facilities and services pertaining to Insurance Sector. These Harmonized guidelines aim to make insurance services accessible to the persons with physical disabilities in compliance with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016.
Key Highlights:
- Infrastructure accessibility- Harmonized guidelines and Standards of Universal Accessibility in India, 2021 issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will be required to be followed in respect of every building owned, operated/ used and /or managed in the insurance sector.
- Service accessibility- Provisions must be made for the home collection and delivery of insurance and/or claim documents for persons with disabilities, through insurance agents, by post, courier, or electronic means. Insurance offices are required to provide all necessary assistance to ensure that no person with a disability is denied access due to a lack of accessible services.
- Information and communication technology accessibility- The Website and apps should be designed and developed in such way that they are accessible by all people, whatever may be their hardware, software, language, culture, location, or physical or mental ability. Documents which are required to be placed on websites shall be in electronic publication (ePUB) or Optical Character Reader (OCR) based pdf format.
Source: Ministry of Finance
