EU agreement to make public sector websites more accessible

On 3rd May 2016 the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission reached an agreement on a Directive on web accessibility which sets up the first rules to make the websites and mobile applications of the public sector more accessible for people with functional (vision and hearing) impairments.

As an increasingly major source of information, the internet is now becoming more and more essential in the everyday lives of all EU citizens. Enabling everyone to access the internet must therefore be a priority, even more so given that the number of people affected by a disability is expected to rise with the ageing of the population in Europe.

The agreed Directive will apply to the public sector, from administrations, courts and police departments to public hospitals, universities and libraries. A mechanism will also be made available for citizens to request the content they can not access.

More information:

• European Commission’s press release
• European Disability Forum (EDF) press release