Many countries have now introduced legislation relating to accessibility. As well as legislation many countries have also produced standards. In the majority of cases all government websites have to follow this standard and all private sector websites are expected to follow in order to comply with the legislation that is in place. Many of these are loosely based on the W3C’s WCAG 1.0 standard.
This page provides brief information about the legislation and standards that are in place in various countries around the world relating to web accessibility. For those that require further information about the legislation and standards in a particular country, links have been provided to a full copy of the legislation or standard.
In Australia Web Accessibility is covered under Section 24 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1992, which covers access to goods, services and facilities. In relation to Web Accessibility The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HEROC) state that the DDA applies to.
“any individual or organisation developing a World Wide Web page in Australia or
maintaining a web page on an Australian server”
To ensure that companies meet this legislation the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission has produced the World Wide Web Access: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes. These describe how the DDA relates to Web Accessibility and provide very brief help and advice about how to comply with the DDA 1992, it also provides links to additional information e.g. the WCAG 1.0 guidelines. The National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) have produced the Guide to Minimum Website Standards, this document gives web developers specific advice about how they can make there websites accessible so that it meets the DDA 1992 legislation.
Guidelines currently being developed.
In Canada Web Accessibility is covered under the Canadian Human Rights Act 1977. To help web developers meet this legislation the Canadian government has produced the Common Look and Feel Guidelines (CLF). These contain a section about Web Accessibility, which gives advice and guidance about how websites can be made accessible. In May 2000 the Canadian government stated that all government websites must meet all of the priority 1 and priority 2 guidelines (for more information about these visit the WCAG 1.0 page) as part of the CLF.
Denmark has no known legislation relating to Web Accessibility. However it has produced the National Guidelines for Accessible Web Design. These guidelines provides information to web developers about how to make websites accessible.
As part of the eEurope initiative the European Union Commission proposed “eEurope an Information Society for All” in 1999. This document was a commitment by the European Union and its member states to make public websites accessible. This was then adapted into “eEurope Action Plan” in 2002. The action plan has five key targets one of which was that all public sector websites within the EU are made accessible to people with disabilities. To help achieve this goal they have stated that all public sector web sites within the EU must conform to the WCAG 1.0 standard. They set up a committee called the “eAccessibility Expert Group” to monitor the progress of the member states as they redevelop their public sector websites to meet the WCAG 1.0 “AA” standard.
The Finland government have produced the JHS129 guidelines as part of the Public Accommodation Recommendations. These recommendations relate to the development of e-services the guidelines and they include specific recommendations about web pages.
The French government have produced a standard that all public sector websites must follow, this is called the “mission pour les technologies de l’information et de la communication”. The website also contains information about W3C guidelines, links to online testing tools and recommendations from the Council of Europe relating to Web Accessibility.
The Irish Government have produced the Recommended Government Guidelines on Web Publications for Public Sector Organisations. This contains guidelines relating to accessibility, it states that all government websites must meet all of the WCAG 1.0 priority 1 and priority 2 guidelines.
In March 2001 the Italian government produced there guidelines relating to accessible websites “linee guida per l’organizzazione, l’usabilita e l’accessibita del siti web delle pubbliche amministrazioni”. In creating this document the Italian government is implementing their version of the EU initiative discussed above.
Web Accessibility has been included as one of the six main targets of the e-Luxembourg program.
Currently developing guidelines.
The New Zealand government has produced Guidelines for New Zealand Websites. This provides information to web developers about how they can make there websites accessible. The guidelines are loosely based on the WCAG 1.0 standard, however there are some differences between the New Zealand Guidelines and the WCAG 1.0 standard.
In 1999 Portugal became the first European nation to pass a resolution specifically related to Web Accessibility. A none-profit making group called the Portuguese Accessibility Special Interest Group (PASIG) created Portugal’s Web Accessibility guidelines. They assessed the accessibility of the Portuguese governments online information. As a result of that assessment the PASIG group created the “Internet Accessibility Guidelines”, to which all Portuguese websites must conform. These guidelines were submitted to the Portuguese parliament of February 17th 1999.
In 2001 the National Internet Advisory Committee (NIAC) released a report discussing disability issues, one of the issues discussed in the report was Web Accessibility. The report stated that guidelines were needed in order to assist web developers in designing accessible websites for people with disabilities.
Accessibility to information was included as part of a government bill called “from patient to citizen – a national action plan for disability policy”. One of the aims of the bill was to make information accessible to people with disabilities. Since 2001 all government authorities have had to make their information accessible to people with disabilities, this includes information on websites. However Web Accessibility guidelines or legislation have not yet been produced.
Currently developing guidelines.
Web Accessibility is covered under Section 21 of Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995. All government websites must follow the e-envoy standards for Web Accessibility. These standards also provide a useful resource for web developers of private sector websites who are looking for guidance about how to make their websites accessible.
In the United States all Federal Agency websites must follow the Section 508 guidelines. These are very similar to the WCAG 1.0 guidelines, although there are some differences. Private sector websites do not have to meet the Section 508 guidelines, although they are encouraged to do so. It is unclear as to whether or not there is legislation in place relating to the accessibility of private sector company websites. There have been a number of legal cases relating to Web Accessibility that have been brought under the Americans With Disabilities Act 1990. Some of these cases have been successful and some have not. The debate as to whether or not the ADA applies to websites revolves around whether or not the Internet is a physical space, as the ADA only applies to physical spaces. There has been some debate for many years as to whether or not the Internet is a physical space, as you cannot physically see it.