MeAC – Measuring Progress of eAccessibility in Europe

Legislation/regulations

The Law for Equal Rights and Opportunities, Participation and Citizenship of People with Disabilities (Law n° 2005-102 of 11 February 2005), Article 47, makes accessibility of all public online services mandatory. Public digital communication services (public websites in particular, but also phone and TV services) must be accessible to people with disabilities according to international standards. The law does not specify further the services that are concerned, nor does it refer to specific standards.

A decree related to the law will state the rules, methodology, delays (not more than 3 years) and penalties. This decree should also specify measures concerning training courses for the civil servants in charge of these public services. The decree has not been published yet. Several versions have been circulated and submitted to the Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel), but were rejected. After the decree has been published there may be an order making its application mandatory. Organisations representing people with disabilities have complained about the long delay in implementation.

There is no direct legal or regulatory obligation for the accessibility of private websites.

Other initiatives

The public agency in charge of this field is the Direction Generale pour la Modernisation de l’Etat (DGME), which is part of the Ministre délégué au Budget et à la Réforme de l’Etat. Previously, the agency was called the ADAE.

The history of developments in relation to web accessibility in France goes back to Recommendations from the Inter-ministerial Committee on State Reform (CIRE) of November, 2000 stating that “all State web sites should be accessible to visually impaired people.” In July 2003, the CISI Committee (Comité Interministériel pour la Société de l’Information) published decisions, among them the principle of making Web accessibility mandatory for public on-line services, and the development of a Web accessibility label with BrailleNet, in line with the WCAG 1.0. The consequences of this decision were publication of a reference document based on BrailleNet AccessiWeb early in 2004; and Article 47 of law n° 2005-102 of 11 February 2005 (see above).

More recently, France has developed an eAccessibility Action Plan. On this basis, a guidelines document for Accessibility in Administration (RGAA) is being designed for launch at the end of 2007. It is anticipated that the guidelines will integrate relevant rules, conditions of accessibility, auto-evaluation methods, and training and will include an enforcement scheme.

Currently, the only official technical reference concerning eAccessibility in France is the Référentiel accessibilité des services Internet de l’administration française. This document was published by the ADAE (Agence pour le Développement de l’Administration Electronique) in February, 2004. It was intended to provide a technical, methodological and organisational framework on the accessibility of French administration sites and services over the internet and intranet. It was comprised of two parts: one dedicated to the presentation of accessibility criteria and the second one on usability criteria. It is based on AccessiWeb criteria from the BrailleNet Association, with a clear coverage of the WCAG 1.0.

AccessiWeb provides documentation, services (label, audits, training), and a professional working group. The label AccessiWeb was created by the association BrailleNet in 2003. It certifies the conformity of a website with the WCAG 1.0 through 3 levels and 92 criteria: Bronze, Silver and Gold. There is no link between the label and the legislation / regulations on accessibility of public websites. The label is on a voluntary basis, it requires an audit by BrailleNet or authorised organisations. The websites which have obtained the label are displayed in a Gallery on the www.accessiweb.org.

Although there is no official label for Web Accessibility in France, AccessiWeb is a de facto national label. Association BrailleNet has developed a contractual policy with public administrations for auditing their websites and displaying the AccessiWeb label.

Sign On Line is part of the national programme on eGovernment (ADELE 2004-2007) aiming to support access to public services for deaf and hearing-impaired people who use sign language. Through this, a deaf person can come to the counter “Signes en ligne » of his/her local government office at a certain time and the public sector employee connects via the internet to “signes en ligne” and gets in contact with a LSF (French Sign Language) translator by videoconferencing.

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