The National Confederation of Persons with Disabilities (ESAMEA) has urged the government to strengthen enforcement of digital accessibility rules after finding that only 20% of the public sector websites examined included a mandatory accessibility statement.
In its submission to a public consultation on the government’s latest report on the accessibility of public websites and mobile applications, the confederation welcomed the decision to seek public feedback, noting that no such consultation had taken place during the previous three monitoring periods.
ESAMEA said the low level of compliance should prompt the Ministry of Digital Governance to take immediate action to ensure all public bodies meet their legal obligations.
An accessibility statement is a formal declaration on a public body’s website or app explaining how accessible it is to users with disabilities and how it complies with legal standards.
The EU Web Accessibility Directive requires public sector websites and mobile applications to be accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities, to perceive, understand, navigate and interact with the internet.
