A comprehensive guide to understanding and complying with Directive (EU) 2016/2102 - the European legislation ensuring public sector websites and mobile apps are accessible to all citizens
The Web Accessibility Directive, formally known as Directive (EU) 2016/2102, is European legislation that mandates accessibility requirements specifically for websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies across all EU member states. Adopted on October 26, 2016, this directive represents a crucial step in ensuring that government services, public information, and essential digital resources are accessible to all European citizens, including persons with disabilities.
The directive is built on the fundamental principle that access to public sector information and services is a basic right. In an increasingly digital world, where many essential services—from tax filing to health records, from educational enrollment to benefit applications—are delivered primarily or exclusively online, accessibility is not just a convenience but a necessity for full participation in society.
The Web Accessibility Directive covers approximately 100,000 public sector websites and countless mobile applications across the EU. This massive scope reflects the directive's ambition to fundamentally transform how public services are delivered digitally, ensuring that no citizen is left behind due to inaccessible technology.
The path to the Web Accessibility Directive began in the early 2000s when several EU member states started implementing national accessibility requirements for public sector websites. However, this led to fragmentation—different countries had different requirements, different standards, and different enforcement mechanisms. A public sector body operating across borders faced inconsistent obligations, and citizens experienced vastly different levels of accessibility depending on their location.
In 2010, the European Commission launched the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, which identified accessibility of goods and services, including websites, as a priority area. The strategy explicitly called for legislative measures to improve web accessibility. This led to years of consultation with member states, disability organizations, public sector bodies, and technical experts.
The directive that emerged in 2016 was carefully crafted to achieve several objectives:
The directive enshrines the principle that all citizens, regardless of disability, must have equal access to public sector information and services. This means that accessibility isn't an optional enhancement or a "nice to have"—it's a fundamental requirement for delivering public services in the digital age.
By establishing common technical standards (EN 301 549, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA), the directive creates a level playing field. A public sector website in Portugal must meet the same accessibility standards as one in Finland. This harmonization benefits both public bodies, who can leverage shared knowledge and tools, and citizens, who experience consistent accessibility across the EU.
The directive requires public sector bodies to publish accessibility statements explaining their conformance level, known issues, and contact mechanisms for feedback. This transparency ensures accountability and gives citizens a clear path to report problems and request assistance.
Member states must establish monitoring mechanisms to assess compliance on an ongoing basis. The European Commission receives regular reports on the state of web accessibility across the EU, creating pressure for continuous improvement and identifying areas where additional support is needed.
The Web Accessibility Directive applies to public sector bodies, which is defined broadly to ensure comprehensive coverage. Understanding whether your organization falls under this definition is critical:
This includes central/federal government ministries and agencies, regional governments, local municipalities, and any administrative body exercising public authority. Examples include:
Public universities, colleges, schools, and other educational establishments funded by public budgets are covered. This extends to:
Public hospitals, clinics, and health authorities must ensure their digital presence is accessible:
Organizations that are established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character, and either:
Examples include public broadcasting corporations, chambers of commerce governed by public law, professional regulatory bodies, and certain cultural institutions like publicly funded museums.
Organizations formed by one or more public sector bodies are also covered. This includes inter-municipal cooperation bodies, regional development agencies formed by public authorities, and joint ventures between public sector entities.
While the directive is comprehensive, it includes specific exemptions that recognize practical limitations:
Websites and mobile apps of public service broadcasters and their subsidiaries, as well as bodies or their subsidiaries fulfilling a public service broadcasting mission, are exempt. However, this exemption has limitations—it doesn't apply to websites that provide essential online services like applying for broadcast licenses or submitting content.
Websites and apps of schools, kindergartens, and nurseries are exempt unless they provide essential online services. If a school website is purely informational (contact details, general information), it may be exempt. But if it offers online enrollment, grade portals, or learning management systems, those services must be accessible.
Certain types of content are exempt from accessibility requirements:
Public sector bodies may claim that compliance would impose a disproportionate burden, meaning the benefits of compliance would not justify the costs. However, this is a high bar to clear:
This exemption should be used sparingly and only for specific features, not entire websites. Simply claiming something is "too expensive" isn't sufficient—you must demonstrate that the burden is truly disproportionate relative to the public body's circumstances.
The directive applies to both websites and mobile applications operated by public sector bodies:
This includes all publicly accessible websites, including:
Mobile apps include application software designed for use on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets:
Mobile applications must comply with the same WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards adapted for mobile platforms, meaning they must be operable with assistive technologies like screen readers (VoiceOver on iOS, TalkBack on Android), provide sufficient touch target sizes, work in both portrait and landscape orientations, and support platform accessibility features.
The Web Accessibility Directive references the harmonized European standard EN 301 549 as the technical specification for compliance. This standard, "Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services," adopts the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA almost verbatim for web content.
In practical terms, this means that if your website or mobile app meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA, it's considered compliant with the directive's technical requirements. WCAG 2.1, published in June 2018 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), builds on WCAG 2.0 by adding 17 new success criteria focusing on mobile accessibility, low vision, and cognitive disabilities.
The four foundational principles of WCAG—known by the acronym POUR—organize all accessibility requirements:
WCAG 2.1 added several success criteria that specifically address mobile accessibility challenges:
Public sector websites often provide downloadable documents. While some older documents are exempt, documents essential for administrative processes or published after September 2018 must be accessible:
Every website and mobile app covered by the directive must provide a detailed, comprehensive accessibility statement. This is not optional—it's a legal requirement. The statement must be provided in an accessible format and kept up to date.
The European Commission provides a template and online tool to help public sector bodies create compliant accessibility statements. While you can create your own statement from scratch, using the official template ensures you include all required information.
Your accessibility statement must include the following elements:
You must declare one of three conformance levels:
Be honest in your assessment. Falsely claiming full conformance when issues exist can undermine trust and expose you to complaints.
If you are partially conformant or not conformant, you must specifically identify which content is not accessible and explain why:
For each piece of non-accessible content, provide accessible alternatives where possible. For example, if a PDF is not accessible, provide the information in accessible HTML format.
Explain how the statement was prepared:
Provide a clear, accessible mechanism for users to:
Inform users about the enforcement procedure available if they are not satisfied with your response to their complaint. Include:
The accessibility statement must be easy to find:
The statement itself must be provided in an accessible format—it would be ironic if an accessibility statement were not accessible!
Each EU member state must establish a monitoring body responsible for ensuring compliance with the directive. These bodies conduct regular assessments of public sector websites and mobile apps to verify conformance with accessibility requirements.
Monitoring follows a structured methodology defined by the European Commission in Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1524. The monitoring approach includes:
Member states must monitor representative samples that include:
Every three years, member states must submit reports to the European Commission on the results of monitoring, including:
The Commission publishes summary reports showing the state of web accessibility across the EU, creating transparency and accountability.
Member states must establish enforcement procedures to handle complaints about non-compliance. While specific procedures vary by country, they generally follow this pattern:
If a user encounters accessibility barriers, they should first contact the public sector body directly through the feedback mechanism in the accessibility statement. The body typically has 15-30 days (depending on national rules) to respond.
If the response is unsatisfactory or no response is received, the user can escalate to the national enforcement body. Complaints should include:
The enforcement body investigates complaints, which may include:
While consequences vary by member state, they may include:
Understanding the directive's timeline is essential for ensuring compliance:
If you're reading this guide, all deadlines have passed. Your websites and mobile apps should already be compliant. If not, you should prioritize remediation immediately.
Each EU member state has transposed the directive into national law. While the core requirements are harmonized, implementation details vary. Examples include:
Consult your country's enforcement body for specific national requirements, templates, and guidance materials.
Start with a comprehensive assessment of your current state:
Create a remediation roadmap:
Accessibility knowledge must be widespread:
Make accessibility part of your standard workflow:
Use the EU template or create a comprehensive statement including all required elements. Be honest about your current conformance level and known issues. Link to the statement from every page.
Accessibility is ongoing, not one-time:
Q: Does this directive apply to private businesses?
No. The Web Accessibility Directive applies only to public sector bodies. Private businesses must instead comply with the European Accessibility Act (EAA). However, if your private business provides services on behalf of a public sector body, the contract may require accessibility.
Q: My organization is partially publicly funded. Am I covered?
It depends on your specific circumstances. If you are a "body governed by public law" (financed predominantly by public budgets, subject to management supervision by public authorities, or having a board with a majority of public appointments), you are likely covered. When in doubt, consult your national enforcement body.
Q: What's the difference between this directive and the EAA?
The Web Accessibility Directive applies to public sector websites and mobile apps, with deadlines in 2019-2021. The EAA applies to private sector products and services, with deadlines in 2025-2030. Both reference the same technical standard (WCAG 2.1 Level AA via EN 301 549) but cover different entities.
Q: Are intranets covered?
Yes, intranets published or substantially revised after September 23, 2019 must comply. Older intranets that haven't been updated are exempt.
Q: What about archived websites we no longer update?
Websites not updated or edited after September 23, 2019 are exempt from the directive. However, if the content is still important and actively used, you should consider making it accessible as good practice.
Q: Do I need to support old browsers?
You must ensure your website works with assistive technologies and modern browsers. You don't necessarily need to support ancient browsers, but your site should degrade gracefully and core functionality should still be available even if some features don't work perfectly in older browsers.
Q: Can I use WCAG 2.2 or must I stick to 2.1?
WCAG 2.1 is currently referenced by EN 301 549 and therefore by the directive. However, WCAG 2.2 is backwards compatible—anything that meets 2.2 also meets 2.1. Using 2.2 is fine and demonstrates commitment to latest best practices.
Q: What about third-party content like embedded videos or maps?
Third-party content not funded or developed by you and not under your control is exempt. However, you should still choose accessible third-party tools where possible, and provide accessible alternatives when embedding content. For example, if you embed a YouTube video, ensure it has captions and provide a transcript.
Q: Are PDF documents covered?
PDFs published before September 23, 2018 are exempt unless they're essential for active administrative processes. PDFs published after that date must be accessible. Make PDFs accessible by properly tagging them, or better yet, provide information as HTML instead of PDF whenever possible.
Q: How do I make scanned documents accessible?
Scanned documents are essentially images and are very difficult to make accessible. Use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert scans to text, then create a properly tagged PDF or preferably convert to HTML. For historical scanned documents exempt from the directive, consider providing accessible summaries or transcriptions of important information.
Q: How do I test for compliance?
Use a combination of automated tools, manual testing, and user testing. Automated tools can find about 30-40% of issues. Manual testing using keyboard navigation and screen readers is essential. Testing with real users who have disabilities provides the best insight into actual usability.
Q: Do I need to hire an external auditor?
Not necessarily, but it's often helpful. External auditors bring expertise and objectivity. If you have internal accessibility expertise and resources, you can conduct your own audits. However, for initial assessments or comprehensive reviews, external auditors can provide valuable independent verification.
Q: What if we can't afford to make everything accessible immediately?
Create a prioritized remediation plan. Focus first on critical barriers, high-traffic pages, and essential services. Document your plan and progress in your accessibility statement. Consider whether disproportionate burden might apply to specific features (though this should be used sparingly). Communicate with your enforcement body about your timeline if needed.
Q: Can we claim disproportionate burden because we have limited resources?
Disproportionate burden must be assessed case-by-case for specific content or features, not as a blanket exemption. Limited resources alone are not sufficient justification—you must demonstrate that the cost of compliance is truly disproportionate relative to the benefit and the size and budget of your organization. This exemption should be used rarely and documented carefully.
Q: What happens if someone files a complaint against us?
Respond promptly and professionally. Review the issue, explain what you're doing to fix it, and provide a timeline. If you can't fix it immediately, offer alternative means of access. Most enforcement bodies prefer collaborative resolution rather than punitive action, especially if you demonstrate good faith efforts to comply.
Each EU member state has designated an enforcement body responsible for monitoring and enforcing the directive. Contact your national body for country-specific guidance, templates, and support. They can provide information about national implementation laws, monitoring procedures, and complaint procedures specific to your country.
