A/HRC/10/48 page 14 sectors such as health, education and so on; or they might decide to include disability amongst the otherwise prohibited grounds in general legislation and then proceed to integrate equality and non-discrimination guarantees in sectoral legislation. 3. Accessibility 41. The Convention recognizes accessibility both as a general principle of the Convention as well as a stand-alone provision. Article 9 recognizes an accessible environment as instrumental to the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities to independent living and full participation in all areas of life and requires States parties to take appropriate measures to ensure access to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communication, including information and communication technologies and systems, and to other facilities open to the public. 42. For accessibility legislation to be effective, it is necessary first and foremost that minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of services and facilities open to the public be adopted. Such standards and guidelines should be comprehensive and address the various types of barriers that persons with different impairments might face. Provisions should be made with reference both to new and existing buildings and regulate a time frame and the nature of interventions required for progressive conformity, in consultation with organizations of persons with disabilities. 4. Recognition before the law, legal capacity and decision-making 43. Article 12 of the Convention requires States parties to recognize persons with disabilities as individuals before the law, possessing legal capacity, including capacity to act, on an equal basis with others. Article 12, paragraphs 3 and 4, requires States to provide access by persons with disabilities to the support they might require in exercising their legal capacity and establish appropriate and effective safeguards against the abuse of such support. The centrality of this article in the structure of the Convention and its instrumental value in the achievement of numerous other rights should be highlighted. 44. Article 16, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights already requires the recognition of legal personality of persons with disabilities. The implementation of the obligations contained in article 12, paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5, of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on the other hand, requires a thorough review of both civil as well as criminal legislation containing elements of legal competence. 45. In the area of civil law, interdiction and guardianship laws should represent a priority area for legislative review and reform. Legislation currently in force in numerous countries allows the interdiction or declaration of incapacity of persons on the basis of their mental, intellectual or sensory impairment and the attribution to a guardian of the legal capacity to act on their behalf. Whether the existence of a disability is a direct or indirect ground for a declaration of legal incapacity, legislation of this kind conflicts with the recognition of legal capacity of persons with disabilities enshrined in article 12, paragraph 2. Besides abolishing norms that violate the duty of States to respect the human right to legal capacity of persons with disabilities, it is equally important that measures that protect and fulfil this right are also adopted, in accordance with article 12, paragraphs 3, 4 and 5. This includes: legal recognition of the right of persons with