A World-wide Survey of Laws Pertaining to Service Dogs for the Physically Disabled and Current Trends in Enforcement

Abstract

These remarks analyze the salient features of laws pertaining to service dogs for the physically disabled and current trends in their enforcement in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, and select European countries (the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Russia, Ireland, Finland, and Slovakia). I attempt to identify recent trends in legislation affecting the accessibility of disabled people to public facilities and public transportation in advanced industrial societies.
In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) upholds the right of disabled persons accompanied by service animals to access public facilities and transportation and prescribes civil penalties of up to $50,000 for violations of the law. The ADA is enforced by the Department of Justice, particularly the 93 US Attorneys' Offices representing the Federal Government at the district court and court of appeals levels. In the United Kingdom, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) protects the accessibility rights of service-dog users based on the principle of non-discrimination. The Disability Rights Commission provides the machinery for finding remedies and resolving grievances. In Canada, provincial statutes guarantee accessibility rights to guide-dog users.
In France, the Special Measures Law to Maintain Social Order protects the rights of guide-dog users, stipulating 2000 French Francs in civil penalties for transgressors, and in Italy, similar protections are afforded by the Law Protecting the Rights of Access of Guide-dog Users to Public Transportation and Shops, which specifies fines of between 500 and 2,500 Euros for violators. In Spain, a Cabinet order and provincial statutory laws guarantee accessibility rights, with large civil fines for violations. In Australia, the rights of service animal users are protected by the Disability Discrimination Act, which ordains up to six months' imprisonment for violations.
In New Zealand, guide-dog users are guaranteed accessibility rights by the Human Rights Act, which prescribes up to NZ$3,000 for infringements of the Act. The Dog Control Act also ensures accessibility not only for guide-dog users but also for companion-dog users and trainers, with up to one year's imprisonment for violators. South Korea's Social Welfare Law guarantees guide-dog users access to public places and transportation and imposes up to 2 million won in civil penalties on transgressors.
In Japan, we have the Service-Dog Law for the Physically Disabled, which assures the accessibility of service-dog users to public facilities, working places and housing operated by government agencies, public transportation, and non-governmental facilities, but non-governmental working places and housing remain problem areas requiring further efforts by concerned private agencies. At present, these agencies are not liable to any penalties for violations of the law. Moreover, there is no mechanism for finding remedies to problems or resolving grievance for those to whom access is denied.
Other countries, such as Russia, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Finland, and Slovakia, have no specific laws governing the accessibility of guide-dog users to public facilities and transportation per se, but users enjoy de facto access to government buildings, catering facilities, hospitals, cultural facilities, shops, etc. through the goodwill and support of informed staff members.
In conclusion, we note a clear trend in the industrial world toward legalizing the rights of service-dog users to have ready access public facilities and transportation based on the principle of non-discrimination, in accordance with UN international conventions protecting and promoting the rights and dignity of the disabled.