Web Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102)

Directive (EU) 2016/2102 requires accessible websites and apps of public sector bodies in the EU.

What is the Web Accessibility Directive?

The Web Accessibility Directive (WAD) is Directive (EU) 2016/2102 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies. Public sector bodies are the State, regional or local authorities, bodies governed by public law and associations of such bodies (Art. 3(1)). They make their websites and apps perceivable, operable, understandable and robust (Art. 4). The Directive takes effect through national law. Member States had to transpose it by 23 September 2018 (Art. 12(1)).

The obligations apply in stages (Art. 12(3)):

Public sector bodies publish an accessibility statement, update it regularly and include a feedback mechanism and a link to the enforcement procedure (Art. 7(1)). The enforcement procedure must be adequate and effective (Art. 9(1)). Art. 5 allows exceptions where compliance would impose a disproportionate burden; the body explains them in the statement (Art. 5(4)). For documents, Art. 1(4)(a) matters: office file formats published before 23 September 2018 are excluded unless they are needed for active administrative processes. According to recital 26, these include PDF and Microsoft Office documents.

The benchmark is harmonised standards, compliance with which gives a presumption of conformity (Art. 6(1)). As a fallback, Art. 6(3) names EN 301 549 V1.1.2 (2015-04). According to the FFG, EN 301 549 V3.2.1 lists the rules: WCAG 2.1 AA plus some additional criteria.

Germany and Austria compared

Both countries transpose the Directive for the federal level with their own rules. Austria applies the three dates from Art. 12(3) in § 10 WZG, but there the date of 23 September 2019 covers websites not yet published when the WZG entered into force; in Germany, § 12b Abs. 3 BGG ties the publication of the accessibility statement to the same dates.

Germany

For federal public bodies, §§ 12 to 12c BGG and the BITV 2.0 apply. They make their websites and mobile applications accessible, including the intranet (§ 12a Abs. 1 BGG). Documents form part of websites (§ 2a Abs. 1 BITV 2.0). The BITV 2.0 has no exception for older office files. Archives that contain no content needed for active administrative processes and were not updated or revised after 23 September 2019 are excluded (§ 2 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BITV 2.0). Conformity is presumed where offerings meet harmonised standards (§ 3 Abs. 2 BITV 2.0). The body replies to notifications about barriers within one month at the latest (§ 12b Abs. 4 BGG). Every three years, the Länder report to the federal monitoring body on the websites and apps of their public bodies (§ 12c Abs. 2 BGG); we do not cover the state laws here.

Austria

The WZG transposes the Directive for the federal level (§ 1 Abs. 2 WZG). It applies only to websites and apps of the federal government and federal-related bodies (§ 2 Abs. 1 WZG). The Länder have their own state laws; according to the FFG, all nine Länder have adopted the Directive into their state laws. Office files published before 23 September 2018 are excluded unless they are needed for ongoing administrative procedures (§ 2 Abs. 3 lit. a WZG). The body answers notifications of defects within two months (§ 4 Abs. 3 WZG). According to the FFG, neither the Directive nor the WZG provides for sanctions or penalties. Read more about the Länder and municipalities in accessibility in municipalities and state laws.

Practical example

An old form can fall under the obligation despite the cut-off date. An Austrian federal body offers an application form as a PDF that was created from Word in 2017 and is still used for ongoing procedures. The exception in § 2 Abs. 3 lit. a WZG then does not apply. A German federal authority cannot rely on the publication date for such a PDF, because the BITV 2.0 contains no such exception.

• Take stock: Word, PowerPoint and PDF files with publication date and purpose.
• For each file, check whether an exception applies (Art. 1(4)(a) of the Directive, § 2 Abs. 3 lit. a WZG, § 2 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BITV 2.0).
• Name inaccessible parts and the reasons in the statement (Art. 7(1)(a)).

The criteria that apply to documents are described in PDF/UA, WCAG and EN 301 549 for documents. If you do not want to convert your files yourself, you can have accessible documents prepared.

See also

• WZG (Austrian Web Accessibility Act)
• BITV 2.0 (German Barrier-free Information Technology Ordinance)
• EN 301 549 (harmonised standard for ICT accessibility)
• Accessibility statement