Web accessibility in different countries

For its part, the standard UNE-EN 301 549:2022 is the Spanish version made by AENOR (entity responsible for the development of technical standards in Spain) of the European standard EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (2020-08) published in ETSI. The standard EN 301 549 v3.2.1 (2021-03) “Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services” specifies the functional accessibility requirements applicable to products and services that include ICT (websites, software, native apps, documents, hardware, etc.). In addition to describing the testing procedures and evaluation methodology to follow for each accessibility requirement. This new version has been declared by the European Commission as the new harmonized standard for the application of the Directive (EU) 2016/2102 on Web Accessibility, through the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1339, of 11 August 2021 replacing the standard EN 301 549 V2.1.2 (2018-08) previous. Therefore, since February 12, 2022, it is the standard that applies in Spanish Public Administrations. It can be consulted in English on the ETSI website. In Spain, this standard has materialized in the UNE-EN 301549:2022 standard prepared by AENOR.

The UNE 139803:2004 standard is a Spanish standard, which has taken as a starting point for its implementation the Guidelines for the Accessibility of Content on the Web 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the Web Consortium (W3C). In most accessibility requirements, both standards are equivalent, but the UNE standard is slightly more demanding and has increased the priority of some of these requirements. Therefore, a portal that complies with the UNE standard will also comply with WCAG 1.0. However, a portal that complies with WCAG 1.0 may have to make some modifications to achieve a certain level of accessibility according to the UNE standard. Spanish legislation, through the ROYAL DECREE 1494/2007, of November 12, which approves the Regulation on the basic conditions for the access of people with disabilities to the information society obliges Public Administration websites to comply with priority requirements 1 and 2 specified in the UNE standard.

As a public sector organization, the European Parliament ensures equal access to information for all users, with or without disabilities, regardless of the device or program they use and the environment in which they work, so that they can use the information, services and tools we provide. Parliament is committed to making its websites accessible and we are actively working to improve the experience of all users by increasing accessibility and ease of use. Part of this work is to ensure that our products and content comply with current standards, including those mentioned in the Directive on the accessibility of EU websites (Official Journal of the EU), which came into force in December 2016. Under this Directive, public sector organizations must apply the European standard EN 301. 549 on their websites and online tools. This standard is based on the latest version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, conformance level AA. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines were developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative. They are aimed at all web content providers, authors, developers and designers. In fact, the European Parliament’s own website is in the process of being optimized in order to apply the European standard EN 301. 549 and partially complies with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, conformance level AA. Every user should be able to:

• Enlarge most of the website up to 300% without problems;
• Navigate most of the website using the keyboard only;
• Navigate most of the website using assistive technology, such as a screen reader or magnifier.

In the current state we can affirm that the four great developments of recent years are:

• The normEN 301 549 ‘Appropriate accessibility requirements for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe’, updated in 2018 and already equivalent to WCAG 2.1, to which European and Spanish legislation refers, to establish accessibility requirements for software (such as native apps), hardware, electronic documents, websites, etc.
• The approval in 2014 of theDIRECTIVE 2014/24/EU on public procurement (and others more specific), with many allusions to accessibility, already transposed into Spanish legislation.
• The publication of the Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of October 26, 2016, on the accessibility of websites and applications for mobile devices of public sector bodies, transposed into Spanish legislation in September 2018 by the Real Decree 1112/2018, which establishes the accessibility requirements for public sector websites and apps.
• The publication of the European Accessibility Act, Directive 2019/882 on accessibility requirements for products and services, which establishes accessibility requirements for both products (computers, mobile phones, ATMs, etc.) and services (e-books, e-commerce websites and apps, banking, transportation companies, etc.).

Likewise, outside Europe, other countries such as the United States have similar legislation. At the beginning of 2017, the US Access Board published the accessibility standard for ICT services and products covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act: the final rule ‘Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards ang Guidelines’, the equivalent in the United States to our European regulation EN 301 549. Compliance with it came into force on January 18, 2018. The big news is that the requirements are harmonized with the EN 301 549 and, therefore, with regard to websites and electronic documents, with WCAG 2.0, the objectives have been not only to update the accessibility requirements and make them easier to understand and comply with but also to harmonize them with international standards such as the European standard EN 301 549, ‘Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services applicable to public procurement in Europe’ of the EU, or as the WCAG. 2.0 In the United States, the most important law related to web accessibility is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It still has no references to the accessibility of websites, but in 2006, three blind people sued an American company with the NFB (National Federation of the Blind). and damages to the plaintiffs. The company also had to provide training to developers on accessibility.

Other countries apply other regulations. For example, we name the following: -Hong Kong: government sites must comply with WCAG 2.0 AA -India: government sites must comply with WCAG 2.0 but at level A -Israel: all government sites and business sites with an annual turnover greater than 500,000 ILS must comply with WCAG 2.0 AA -Japan: its regulations (X 8341-3:2016) is equivalent to WCAG 2.0. It is mandatory for central and local government sites and commercial sites are encouraged to comply as well. -China: the GB/T 37668-2019 standard applies, which refers to WCAG 2.0 and 2.1.