Web Accessibility Directive: better feedback mechanism, more expertise needed

On 8 December, the European Commission published its evaluation report covering the first three years of the application of the Web Accessibility Directive (WAD).

The review is based on the results of a public consultation held in 2021, Member States' monitoring reports and an in-depth external study. The period of the review overlaps with the accelerated digital transformation brought on by the pandemic. The pandemic also showed how critical public sector body (PSB) crisis information was, with a sudden need to replace face-to-face interaction for digital solutions.

There has been some progress in implementing the directive, but there is still a long way to go. The general opinion is that the directive has been more effective at improving the accessibility of public sector websites at the national level – on government websites. Websites and applications belonging to local and regional authorities and bodies lagged behind.

Some key points include:

• Accessibility statements are often missing on websites or mobile applications. This is a major issue as it is the main way for users to report inaccessible content and access information about the enforcement body. We welcome that this will likely be a focus for monitoring agencies going forward.
• Little use has been made of the feedback mechanism. In some instances, this was due to the inaccessibility of the feedback mechanism itself.
• While all countries have appointed enforcement bodies and set up formal enforcement procedures, the effect seems to be limited, and some individuals who complained reported negative experiences. Enforcement must be improved.
• There is confusion about compliance (what it means in practice) and about standards. Some Member States created their own compliance system, while others didn’t use the correct standard. This makes monitoring results between countries almost impossible to compare. There is ample room for improvement, as most of the websites and mobile applications monitored did not comply with all of the requirements.
• About a third of the people surveyed reported no changes in their experiences. Respondents in northern and southern European countries reported a slightly better experience compared to those in central and eastern European countries. The main accessibility issues identified were navigation and accessing forms, followed by video content.
• Several countries introduced training on accessibility topics, mostly targeting employees in public sector bodies.
• Opinions differed over the involvement of people with disabilities in implementing the directive. Some countries set up permanent committees with representatives from organisations of persons with disabilities, industry, academia and public authorities. Many said they involved end-user groups and relevant organisations in the process of selecting websites and mobile applications to be tested for monitoring. However, 60% of DPOs reported little or no involvement.
• There is generally a lack of accessibility experts in Europe. In addition, staff who work on digital content or web development lack web accessibility skills. There has been an increase in the number of service providers, but not enough to meet demand, so the cost of accessing expertise remains high.
• Several countries went beyond the scope of the directive in their national laws. Some opted to include schools, kindergartens and nurseries in their legislation. Others limited the technical exemption (e.g. time-based media or third-party content). Most of the public consultation respondents were in favour of removing the current exemptions and expanding the scope. For example, there was strong support for the full inclusion of schools, universities, NGOs, online mapping services, live videos, extranets/intranets and third-party content.

REHACARE.com; Source: European Disability Forum