CALL FOR EVIDENCE

FOR AN IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Title of the initiative

European Disability Card

Lead DG (responsible unit)

DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Unit D3

Likely type of initiative

Legislative

Indicative timetable

Q4-2023

Additional information

https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1139&langId=en 

This document is for information purposes only. It does not prejudge the final decision of the European Commission on whether this initiative will be pursued or on its final content. All elements of the initiative described, including its timing, are subject to change.

A. Political context, problem definition and subsidiarity check

Political context

In Union of Equality – Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030, the Commission announced that by the end of 2023, it will propose to create a European Disability Card that will be recognised in all Member States. In her 2022 State of the Union address, President von der Leyen listed the European Disability Card among the key initiatives for 2023. Therefore, the Commission included the card in its work programme.

The card will promote persons with disabilities’ right to free movement and residence across the EU by facilitating the mutual recognition of disability status for card holders within the EU. It will build on the experience of the EU parking card for people with disabilities, and the EU Disability Card pilot project. This pilot project took place in eight Member States (Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Malta, Romania and Slovenia) in 2016-2018. The pilot introduced a card for voluntary mutual recognition of disability status for access to benefits and services in the areas of culture, leisure, sport and transport (transport was not included in all countries). The Study assessing the implementation of the pilot action on the EU Disability Card and associated benefits concluded that there is potential for larger-scale action.

The initiative will help implement principles 3, 17 and 20 of the European Pillar of Social Rights on equal opportunities, inclusion of people with disabilities, and access to essential services, respectively. It is also in line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 26). It responds to the Conference on the Future of Europe proposal on anti-discrimination, equality, and quality of life, which aims to take action to harmonise living conditions across the EU and improve people’s socio-economic quality of life.

The initiative will support the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 10: ‘Reduce inequality within and among countries’).

Problem the initiative aims to tackle

Around 87 million people in the EU have some form of disability. They still face hurdles that may prevent or deter them from moving freely, especially because there is no mutual recognition of disability status among Member States. When moving to another Member State, for example to work or study, persons with disabilities usually need to undergo a specific assessment to have their disability status recognised by the host country. Some service providers offer preferential conditions to persons with disabilities, but they do not always provide such conditions to persons with disabilities from other Member States, arguing that they do not have a recognised disability in the host country.

The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (Article 21) lays down the right of all EU citizens to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. The TFEU (Article 56) and the Directive on services in the internal market (2006/123/EC) prohibit discrimination on the basis of nationality. However, service providers are not explicitly obliged to recognise the disability status certified in a different country of origin. This may lead to indirect discrimination on the basis of nationality in some cases, or at least to uncertainty as to whether service providers will recognise the disability status.

Such problems could be tackled by ensuring access to certain preferential conditions or discounts, for example those provided automatically across the EU to older people on the basis of their age or as family tickets/discounts. The EU Disability Card pilot project proved that these challenges can be successfully tackled. However, the EU Disability Card’s voluntary nature also meant that it only covered a limited number of Member States and services.

The free movement of persons with disabilities within the EU may also be hampered as regards their independent mobility. For many persons with disabilities, private car transport is the best or only possibility of getting around independently. Therefore, they should be able to park as close to their destination as possible. The availability of parking facilities reserved for persons with disabilities is key. The EU parking card for people with disabilities was designed to address this. Currently, there is a voluntary common format for Member States. However, even when available, some national parking cards deviate from the recommended EU model, are issued at local level (meaning that the format can also differ within the same Member State), or contain features that might hinder their recognition across borders.

Basis for EU action (legal basis and subsidiarity check)

Legal basis

Given the problem definition and the proposed objectives, Article 21 TFEU (on free movement of persons) could be the appropriate legal basis (depending on the final scope of the initiative).

Practical need for EU action

The initiative falls under EU shared competence. It will fully respect the subsidiarity principle and national powers as it will not affect the mechanisms in place at national level, granting the disability status based on national assessments (including issuance of national cards/certificates), nor lead to any harmonisation of disability assessment status or disability definition at EU level.

EU action is needed and justified to improve the free movement of persons with disabilities and mutual recognition of disability status, in particular with respect to access to services across all Member States, and, by doing so, to improve the functioning of the single market of services, which can be only done at EU level.

Acting at EU level will make it possible to build on recognised good practices at both national and EU level, while Member States are expected to intensify their support for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and in light of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. EU-level action would introduce uniform rules, facilitate issuance, and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of recognition of the disability card with a European model.

B. Objectives and policy options

The European Disability Card intends to ensure free movement and equal enjoyment of rights for persons with disabilities in the EU by facilitating the mutual recognition of disability status across Member States. European Disability Card holders would benefit from the same preferential conditions for access to relevant services in all Member States, irrespective of where their disability status was granted.

The European Disability Card will not replace national disability cards. Its scope will not cover benefits in the area of social security / social protection (i.e. (non-)contributory cash benefits or benefits in kind), access to which is governed by national rules and, in a cross-border context, by Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and No 987/2009 on the coordination of social security systems.

The initiative will build on the scope of the pilot EU Disability Card. Its legal basis, its exact scope and the nature of the planned legislative instrument will be determined based on an impact assessment analysis.

Multiple options – scope and instrument – are being considered, subject to an impact assessment. The baseline option would mean leaving in place the two current cards – the EU parking card based on the 1998 Council Recommendation and the EU Disability Card adopted as a pilot in eight Member States with voluntary participation of service providers in the areas of culture, leisure, sport and (to a more limited extent) transport. However, our societies are ageing and new EU rules (notably the European Accessibility Act) are being implemented. This will increase the need for Member States to pay particular attention to the needs of persons with disabilities in cross‑border situations. However, it is less likely that this would happen equally and at the same pace everywhere. Policy options explored will look into possibilities to make the application of one or both cards binding; to use the card for all services offering preferential conditions in the single market; and to merge the two cards.

The impact assessment will also consider alternative, non-binding legislative instruments, such as a recommendation. It will also elaborate on the possible digitalisation of the card.

C. Likely impacts

In general, the economic impacts are not expected to be significant and would mainly affect the categories of stakeholders listed below.

-Service providers offering preferential conditions and benefits (e.g. free or cheaper tickets) to persons with disabilities from other Member States. Any cost increase for service providers could be compensated by an increase of customers with disabilities and their family/friends. The impact assessment will explore the implications for small to medium-sized enterprises, including the implications for small transport providers.

-Public authorities responsible for producing/printing the new cards and potentially subsidising certain services (such as public transport, culture, leisure, sport activities, etc.). The assessment of the EU Disability Card pilot showed that production costs are low. They could be reduced by combining the European Disability Card with the EU parking card. 

-People/consumers, in particular persons with disabilities. The initiative would bring savings on their expenditure on those services in the single market that are providing preferential conditions, including sales of tickets or services.

In terms of social impacts, this initiative is expected to increase persons with disabilities’ welfare as they will be able to better enjoy their right to free movement, in particular with respect to preferential conditions for access to some services, equal to those offered to national card holders. This would also likely have a positive impact on persons with disabilities’ travelling, and support the development of higher-quality services because of accessibility needs. The positive impact on employment is expected to be negligible.

No significant environmental impacts are expected.

D. Better regulation instruments

Impact assessment

An impact assessment will investigate the policy options for a European Disability Card and corresponding impacts against a ‘business as usual’ baseline. The impact assessment will pay particular attention to subsidiarity, proportionality, flexibility, operational feasibility, legislative simplicity, and the administrative costs of implementation. An external study to gather the most recent and up-to-date information will feed into the impact assessment to support the Commission’s analysis. Evidence on the functioning of the pilot EU Disability Card and the EU parking card scheme will be also taken into account. This includes the Study assessing the implementation of the pilot action on the EU Disability Card and associated benefits  and the Commission Staff Working Document Evaluation of the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020.

Consultation strategy

The consultation will collect opinions on the new initiative, especially on the possible areas of services to be included and on the possibility of merging the pilot EU Disability Card with the EU parking card to create a single European Disability Card.

The Commission will promote consultation activities on the ‘Have your say’ website and through other relevant channels that will be accessible for persons with disabilities. Several methods will be used:

-this call for evidence will be open for 4 weeks in 24 languages and available on the ‘Have your say’ website; and

-a 12-week online public consultation will be published in the 24 official EU languages on the ‘Have your say’ website at the beginning of 2023.

The questionnaires will be accessible for persons with disabilities to ensure access on an equal basis with others.

Specific consultation activities will target Member State authorities, EU organisations of persons with disabilities (notably through the Disability Platform), and EU-level organisations of service providers, including transport providers.

The Commission will promote the consultations via the Disability Platform. Member State representatives will be asked to promote the consultations among national stakeholders (primarily persons with disabilities and service providers in the single market, including transport). Civil society organisations will be asked to promote the consultations among their national members.

The Commission will make the consultation results publicly available. A factual summary report will be published online within 8 weeks of closing the public consultation. A synopsis report of all consultation activities will be annexed to the impact assessment.

Why are we consulting?

The Commission wants to ensure that the impact assessment and the proposal for a European Disability Card well reflect the general public interest across the EU.

The consultation aims to: (i) gather service providers’ and the general public’s views on the initiative; (ii) collect opinions and evidence on the problem and various solutions (policy options) to address it; and (iii) create a robust and evidence-based analysis. The consultation will help ensure the overall quality of the impact assessment.

Target audience

Three main categories of stakeholders have been identified:

-persons with disabilities and their organisations; 

-public authorities (national, regional and local) responsible for:

oaccess to services, free movement, policies for persons with disabilities, and – in the case of the countries participating in the EU Disability Card pilot – managing the EU Disability Card pilot in the Member States and producing the card;

othe EU parking card;

oproviding subsidies to services, etc.; and

-providers of services in the single market, including public and private transport providers.

Members of the general public that have an interest in this area and people associated with persons with disabilities (e.g. family members, friends, their employers, etc.) might also be an important target audience.