MeAC – Measuring Progress of eAccessibility in Europe

Legislation/regulations

The E-Government Law 2004 requires that web services of public administrations be designed and structured in such a way as to comply with international standards, including facilitating unhindered access for disabled persons. The law covers all public bodies at state, regional and municipality level, including schools, hospitals, etc. It stipulates that by 1st January 2008, all government / public administration websites should be accessible. Specifically, all sites providing information and transaction services should comply with international accessibility standards (WAI level A). Development of software applications for eGovernment and digital signatures must also comply with accessibility criteria.

Although the Act itself does not seem to envisage any sanctions for non-compliance, there may be some scope for redress stemming from its interaction with the Disabled Persons Equal Opportunities Act 2005 which, inter alia, deals with access to public services. If the public websites are not accessible after 1st January 2008, this could be interpreted as discrimination under the Equal Opportunities Act.

As regards private websites, the Disabled Persons Equal Opportunities Act 2005 has relevance due to the requirement for equal access to services offered in public. While the Act does not refer to e-accessibility, services covered may include access to public websites (also covered by the eGovernment Act) or access to e-services of companies (which is within the scope of the Consumer Protection Act). There have been a number of appeals on private websites taken by the Litigation Association of NGOs Against Discrimination (Klagsverband), for example, with companies in the airline and mobile telecoms sectors.

Other initiatives

In conformity with the e-Europe Initiative, Austria has committed itself to adjusting all public web services according to the WAI level A.

The Federal Ministry for Social Security, Generation and Consumer Protection published a brochure entitled “Guidelines for the design of barrier free websites” in 2003. The brochure describes the general requirements for the design of barrier free websites and also focuses on specific requirements in relation to the different needs of disabled people (e.g. people with visual, hearing and other impairments). The guidelines refer to WAI guidelines. Thus, even though the WAI guidelines are not directly referenced in subsequent legislation (e.g., the E-Government Act and Equal Opportunities Act), these pieces of legislation have effectively endorsed the criteria for e-accessibility for public websites based on WAI. In addition, the E-Government Quality mark scheme requires conformity with WAI.

Conformity with the WAI Guidelines (Level A) is one of the criteria that must be fulfilled in order to obtain the Austrian E-government Quality Mark, which demonstrates and confirms that a site fulfils the standards and specifications of the Austrian eGovernment strategy. However, it has been reported that the significance of this quality mark for eAccessibility may be limited in practice.

After the implementation of the ‘eGovernment Offensive’ launched in 2003 by the Federal Government, the coordination structure for eGovernment has been consolidated in 2005 with the establishment of the Platform ‘Digital Austria’. The aim of ‘Digital Austria’ is to ensure active participation of all levels of government. It supports the implementation of the eGovernment Act at a local level.

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