What is accessibility?

Web accessibility is about ensuring that everyone, including people with disabilities, such as visual, hearing, motor or cognitive impairments, is able to use and interact with websites and applications. 

To achieve this, the European Commission requires that all its websites, mobile and web-based applications, comply with the Web Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102).

The relevant technical rules are set out in European accessibility standard EN 301 549, which closely follows the industry standard, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

The target compliance level is WCAG 2.1, Level 'AA'.

Creating content in line with these standards will ensure that all users – regardless of the device or software they are using – can access and use the information, services, and tools we provide. However, always think about your users, not just about being compliant.

To meet the European Commission's web accessibility standards, websites and mobile apps must comply with EN 301 549 v3.2.1 and WCAG 2.1, Level 'AA'. This applies also to downloadable files (published after September 2018, except if older but still useful for administrative tasks).

The World Wide Web Consortium published WCAG 2.2 in October 2023. However, conformance of the Commission’s web presence is based on the current version of EN 301 549. Until EN 301 549 has been updated to reflect changes in WCAG 2.2, conformance to criteria introduced by this new version of WCAG remains voluntary. The update of EN 301 549 to WCAG 2.2 is scheduled for September 2025.

WCAG principles

The European Commission uses the industry standards “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” (WCAG) published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the standards organisation for the web. Each guideline has testable 'success criteria' (61 in total). WCAG divides the success criteria into three "levels" of accessibility (A, AA and AAA) that require increasing effort to implement.

WCAG consists of four design principles:

Perceivable

• provide text alternatives for non-text content 
• provide captions and other alternatives for multimedia 
• create content that can be presented in different ways
• make it easier for users to see and hear content

Operable

• make all functionality available from a keyboard
• give users enough time to read and use content
• do not use content that causes seizures or physical reactions
• make it easier to use inputs other than keyboard

Understandable

• make text readable and understandable
• make web pages appear and operate in predictable ways
• help users avoid and correct mistakes

Robust

• make sure content can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents 

Obligations for Commission site owners 

All Commission websites and mobile apps must meet level 'AA' as a minimum.  

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is an international, legally binding instrument setting minimum standards for the rights of people with disabilities. All European Union (EU) Member States have signed and ratified it. The main elements of the UN Convention are reflected in the European disability strategy 2010-2020.  

As part of its disability rights strategy for 2021-2030, the Commission committed to adopting an action plan on web accessibility. This plan will help ensure compliance of EU websites, including documents published on these websites and online platforms, with European accessibility standards. Specifically, it requires web-based content to comply with the latest version of WCAG. 

DG Communication has been mandated to implement the Commission's web accessibility action plan by 2025. 

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview

Understanding WCAG 2.1 

Techniques for WCAG 2.1 

How people with disabilities use the web

Web accessibility fundamentals

E-Learning on creating accessible publications 

Need further assistance on this topic? Please contact the team in charge of Europa Domain Management (EU Login required).