Web Accessibility Directive
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The Directive on the accessibility of websites and mobile applications also known as Directive (EU) 2016/2102 was adopted by the European Union (EU) in 2016.[1] This Directive applies to public sector organizations of member states of the European Union. The goal was to ensure that all public sector organizations were accessible for the 80 million people with disabilities in the EU.[2]
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This EU Directive gave each member state until 2018 to be transposed into national legislation.[3][4] Each member country is responsible for implementing national legislation that conforms.[5][6] A minimum level of harmonization is required which Member States must maintain. National legislation can exceed these minimum requirements, and some countries have chosen to do so. In transposing this EU Directive to national legislation, there was no need to extend it beyond the public sector organizations, but France chose to go beyond the minimum.[7]
The Web Accessibility Directive Expert Group (WADEX) was established to provide support on the implementation of the Directive.[8]
The EU also implemented four Commission Implementing Decisions to complete the directive. These implementing decisions are legally binding acts within the European Union and are directly applicable in all member states of the EU. "Implementing decisions are always limited in scope. Their aim is to ensure uniform implementation of European legislation, and the subject-matter of any implementing decision serves that goal alone."[9] The related implementing decisions provide a model accessibility statement (2018/1523),[10] monitoring methodology and arrangements for reporting (2018/1524),[11] harmonised standard for websites and mobile application (2018/2048,[12] updated by 2021/1339).[13]
The EU's new European Accessibility Act complements the Web Accessibility Directive and applies to the private sector, thus impacting a much larger number of people.