Electronic accessibility or eAccessibility (eAcc) refers to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by persons with disabilities.
CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI jointly addressed the European Commission Mandate M/376, by developing a new European standard making ICT products and services accessible for all. The document sets out a set of accessibility requirements for public procurement of ICT products and services, which ensure that publicly procured systems do not introduce any accessibility barriers.
This work was managed by the CEN-CENELEC and ETSI Joint Working Group (JWG) ‘eAccessibility’ for which UNE held the secretariat and was financed by the EC/EFTA.
In January 2014, CEN, CENELEC and ETSI announced the publication of the EN 301549 ‘Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe’, as the first European Standard for accessible ICT products and services.
A revised version of EN 301549:2019 ‘Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe’ is now available on the ETSI website and through National Standardization Bodies and National Committees. EN 301549:2019is the most up-to-date standard for ICT accessibility and was developed through an inclusive process with the active involvement of relevant stakeholders.
The new European Standard is complemented by a series of three Technical Reports (CEN/CLC/ETSI TR 101550:2022, CEN/CLC/ETSI TR 101551:2014, and CEN/CLC/ETSI/TR 101552:2014), currently under review by the JWG 'eAccessibility'. Together, these documents set out accessibility requirements that can be applied to a wide range of products and services related to ICT, including computers, smartphones and other digital devices, ticketing machines, websites, and emails.
Through an agreement between the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, the accessibility requirements contained in these documents are consistent with other global accessibility requirements.
In December 2022, CEN, CENELEC and ETSI accepted the EC mandate M/587 to revise and develop new standards in support of the European Accessibility Act.
The JWG 'eAccessibility' is currently working on the revision of EN 301549. Find out more by viewing this video on how to contribute to EU standardisation on accessibility
