On Wednesday the federal cabinet approved a draft bill to reform Germany’s Disability Equality Act (BGG). The proposal requires all existing federal buildings to become fully barrier‑free by 2045. Companies would be obliged to provide mobile ramps or other accommodations when necessary, enabling customers with disabilities to access goods and services. The bill also establishes a federal competence centre for Easy Language and German Sign Language and seeks to simplify the certification process for assistance dogs.
Bundesarbeitsministerin Bärbel Bas (SPD) welcomed the measure as a step toward removing obstacles for people with disabilities, saying that “the more barriers we eliminate, the stronger our society becomes”. She added that the reform furthered an important goal of the coalition agreement.
The German Institute for Human Rights criticised the draft. Leander Palleit, head of the institute’s UN Convention monitoring office, argued that the proposal falls short of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He noted that private companies are not required to be barrier‑free, only to act upon individual requests; even small adjustments to products or services are routinely deemed “unreasonable” irrespective of actual costs.
Palleit also pointed out that the draft offers only minimal sanctions and complaint mechanisms, rendering the prohibition on discrimination in the private sector largely ineffective. He urged Bundestag members to revise the bill so that the private sector would gradually commit to greater accessibility, citing the United States as an example where statutory obligations drive widespread implementation.
With demographic changes accelerating, the institute warned that further barriers could severely restrict older people and those with disabilities from accessing health care, housing, culture, and leisure. “The current draft risks doing exactly that” Palleit said. “It falls behind the UN Convention’s obligations and is also economically unsustainable in the long run”.
