MeAC – Measuring Progress of eAccessibility in Europe

Legislation/regulations

While there is no legislation or regulation specifically addressing eAccessibility of public websites in Poland, there are some recommendations (i.e. Informatization Strategy for Republic of Poland: ePoland 2004-2006, accepted by The Council of Ministers 13.01.2004), but these are non-binding.

There are a number of legal acts that could, in principle, offer a legal basis for public website accessibility. Article 61 of the Polish Constitution guarantees the right of access to public information; the Act on Access to Public Information (6 Sept. 2001) defines the types of information that should be accessible, but not the ways to ensure accessibility. The Act of 2005 on the Computerisation of Activities of Entities Performing Public Tasks appears to provide a basis for eAccessibility since it gives the right to all citizens to contact public authorities electronically. However, it does not appear that implementation has referred to eAccessibility to date, and web accessibility guidelines were not included in the Council of Ministers regulation on minimal requirements for telematic systems in public administration.

Other initiatives

Relevant recent initiatives include:

• Resolution of the Internet Society Poland Board nr 18/2006 (4/10/2006) about standards used during development and realisation of Internet services.
• ISOC recommendations about translation into Polish of WAI and other relevant documents.
• Ministerial document “Proposed directions of Information Society development in Poland to 2020″ which makes numerous mention of accessibility of IS technologies for disabled people.

The Project Infostart (“research for friendly administration”) was realised by PFRON (State Fund for Disabled People) in the framework of action 1.4 of the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development. The programme aimed at analysing the needs of disabled people in relation to the Internet and has also identified standards for website creation (connected with WCAG) which will be promoted among the public sector / eGovernment webmasters. The project ended with a report and guidelines/standards for website creation (in accordance with WCAG).

The White Book for the Public Information Bulletin proposed that the regulation should be amended to include accessibility requirements for the online version, as well as for all other public administration websites (WAI guidelines for accessibility for people with disabilities, older people or those who use less popular operating systems and internet browsers). However, it is unclear whether this proposal will be implemented.

As part of the Informatization Strategy for the Republic of Poland: e-Poland 2004-2006, the “Poland Gateway” project (Wrota Polski) aimed to promote eGovernment. The Strategy called for barrier-free access to information for all citizens and prevention of digital exclusion, which should imply that the portal and its services should be accessible to disabled people.

Regarding private websites, there is no legislation or regulation, however it is reported that a number of private websites fulfil the basic criteria of e-Accessibility, corresponding to WAI guidelines. The website osiolki.net publishes lists of accessible / inaccessible websites.

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