Directive (EU) 2016/2102 on barrier-free access to the websites and mobile applications of public bodies

This directive, adopted in 2016, is intended to enforce and standardize barrier-free access to public websites throughout Europe. It is based on the A and AA criteria of WCAG 2.1 and also requires the presence of an accessibility statement on every website. If certain criteria cannot be met, this must be justified. Accessible alternatives to individual non-compliant pages must be provided, for example contact or information points for students with disabilities.

The implementation of the directive takes place via a feedback mechanism. In Saxony, this means monitoring and advice from the German Center for Accessible Reading.

The EU directive has also set concrete deadlines for enforcement, but all of these have already been reached. That means at the moment all new file formats (e.g. PDFs) as well as those still relevant to active administrative procedures must be accessible. In general, websites, intranets/extranets and mobile applications must also meet the criteria.

However, there are also exceptions for which the accessibility requirements are not valid due to disproportionate burden. These include:

• Documents published prior to 09/23/2018 that are irrelevant to active administrative procedures
• Live streaming audio or video
• Videos published prior to 09/23/2020
• Maps when an accessible alternative exists for the essential information
• Archive areas that have not been updated since 23.09.2019 are no longer updated

Legal situation in Germany

At the federal level, Directive 2016/2102 is implemented by the Ordinance on the Creation of Barrier-Free Information Technology (BITV). This gives the holders of public authority, in particular federal authorities, specifications on how they should implement accessibility at the technical level in accordance with the Disability Equality Act. In May 2019, the BITV was updated to version 2.0 to be compliant with the EU directive accordingly.

In Saxony, the Barrier-Free Websites Act, which implements the BITV at the state level, has been in effect since May 2019. According to this, all design aspects of a public body's website must be barrier-free, with the exception of the case where this "represents a disproportionate organizational, financial or personnel burden" (§ 2 para. 3).

The respective web editors themselves are responsible for the barrier-free design of the TUBAF website. The URZ web team can only play an advisory role here. To support you in your work, we provide the software Siteimprove. This is a tool that specializes in accessibility and regularly checks the entire website for problems according to the applicable guidelines. The fixes must then be made by the appropriate responsible parties. If you do not yet have access to Siteimprove and would like to work with this tool, please feel free to contact us.