Blog | 09 July 2020
Accessibility Part 1: What is it?
The Web Accessibility Directive is all over the news now, and no wonder. As of September 23, 2020, the directive is strictly enforced, which is why many of us need to take measures in our environments to meet the requirements. Here we go through what's involved.
The Act on the Accessibility of Digital Public Services is based on the EU Directive and applies to the public sector, state and municipal companies and tax-funded actors providing public services.
The law requires that new websites, intranets, extranets, documents and apps are accessible in accordance with the directive. The Directive itself is not new, it has been around for a while. Therefore, many parts of your environments should already be compliant.
What is the situation for websites and intranets?
Websites published after September 23, 2018 must already comply with the Web Accessibility Directive. However, if the website was published before that date, it must comply with the guidelines as of September 23, 2020.
For intranets, the rules are slightly different. If you launched a new intranet after September 23, 2019, it must comply with the requirements from September 23, 2020. However, if the intranet was published before September 23, 2019, your intranet must comply with the Web Accessibility Directive when it is redesigned. This may involve a redesign, a change of platform or a major rework.
You must also offer users or visitors the opportunity to read about your accessibility efforts in an 'accessibility statement'. The accessibility statement should complement all your interfaces and should be updated regularly. Visitors to the website, users of the intranet, as well as the supervisory authority DIGG (Agency for Digital Government) should be able to access the report easily and read about your accessibility work.
An opportunity
Why not look at the directive as a carrot? An opportunity to work through our environments and thereby get a better overview of what we actually have. Time must be set aside. Securing your website or intranet so that all visitors can access the information you want to share is almost a bonus. The directive is based on the idea of solidarity, that everyone should have the same opportunities to access information, with or without disabilities. The more you think about it, the more obvious it seems. At Sitevision, we have been working with accessibility for a long time and the tool has built-in support functions that can assist you in your work. Our modules and the way we teach Sitevision have accessibility as a common thread.
Where should you start?
You've already come a long way. By reading this text, you have already got started. It's about having a conscious plan, a strategy for your environment and your work. Someone in your organization should own the issue and drive it forward. There is a lot of information to read, a lot of work to do and a lot of information to be produced. Internally, you may need to broaden your skills and you will need to allocate time to achieve the goal. The target for accessible websites and intranets by September 23, 2020.
Brief summary
The law applies to:
- Public sector
- State and municipal companies
- Tax-funded entities providing public services
Key dates
September 23, 2020
- The law on accessibility to digital public services comes into force.
- Websites must meet the requirements
- Video and audio must be compliant
September 23, 2019
- Intranets published before this date must be made accessible when redesigned.
- Intranets published after this date must already comply by September 2020.
- Archived material, published before this date, that does not contain administrative data or is updated does not need to be adapted.
September 23, 2018
- Documents published after this date should already comply with the Directive by September 2020.
- Documents published before this date that are not required for administrative tasks do not need to be adapted.
In our next blog post, we will take a closer look at features in Sitevision that assist you in creating content in different ways.