Legislation/regulations
While there is no direct law on web accessibility of public websites, the recently revised (2001) Hellenic Constitution states that “everyone has the right to participation in [the] Information Society” (Article 5A, Section I). The facilitation of access to electronic information, as well as the production, exchange and dissemination of this information, is an obligation of the State. However W3C-WAI WCAG 1.0 is used as a web accessibility standard in an increasing number of National funded projects.

Other initiatives

The eGovernment Framework (e-GIF) includes the statement that “government information systems should be designed in such a way to support channels that provide accessibility for people with special needs”.
In March 2004, the University of Crete (C. Stephanidis (Ed.) (2004). Universal Access and Equal Participation of people with disabilities in the Information Society, available at: http://www.infosoc.gr/NR/rdonlyres/0B306F9C-A819-4F96-ABB1-A21945D1D2B3/1092/final_report.pdf )
published a study on “Universal Access and equal participation of people with disabilities in the Information Society”. This was a once-off study, funded under the Operational Programme Information Society (OPIS) and commissioned by the Secretariat for the Information Society, Hellenic Ministry of Economy and Finance. In the context of this study, a total of 256 websites were evaluated for their accessibility. One of the main outcomes of this report was that 79% of the evaluated Greek websites did not pass the evaluation. The report also identified the consequences of this situation for the socio-economic inclusion of disabled people in the Information Society and the needed and possible conditions and requirements as first priorities to be included in the agenda of the Greek government.

In relation to certification, there is no single body that is legally responsible for web accessibility evaluation/certification. However, the Centre for Universal Access and Assistive Technologies of the Institute of Computer Science, Foundation of Research and Technology – Hellas (ICS-FORTH) has proposed the adoption of a web accessibility certification mechanism and carries out web accessibility evaluations on a regular basis.

The issue of web accessibility legislation was a subject of discussion of the Task Force on “Universal Access and Usability in the Information Society by all citizens, including people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups” of the Secretariat for the Information Society of the Hellenic Ministry of Economy and Finance. The Task Force had an advisory role to the Secretariat for the Information Society on issues related to the planning and implementation phases of the Operational Programme “Information Society”, and completed its operation in 2004. Additionally, the role of the Task Force was to propose specific activities in the context of implementation of the eEurope Action Plan at national level.
The Greek eGovernment portal http://www.kep.gov.gr is intended to provide information on various issues related to ICT and disability and to offer e-learning courses on the use of ICT by these groups. It will also provide information to web designers on guidelines for designing accessible web pages. These guidelines will be followed by all public sector websites. The guidelines are based on the WCAG.
At present, a national project entitled “Access for the disabled to eGovernment services”, coordinated by the Institute for Social Protection and Solidarity (IKPA) and funded under the Operational Programme Information Society (OPIS) of the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance, in the context of FP6 develops fully accessible online services for disabled citizens in Greece. The project has already developed a number of online services for eGovernment. Existing content, which is currently unavailable in accessible formats, has been transformed and become available through the platform that was developed. Moreover, the project produced a survey of best practice examples related to eGovernment in Europe and guidelines for the development of accessible web portals, as well as a study collection and analysis of user requirements for public administration services for the disabled. FORTH-ICS is responsible for the design and development of the accessible on-line platform.
It appears that there has not yet been direct attention to accessibility of private web sites.