EN 301 549: European standard for digital accessibility
EN 301 549 enables European organizations to measure the accessibility of websites, electronic documents and non-web software such as native mobile apps, against documented success criteria for all people, including those with disabilities. The harmonized standard also serves as a specification to meet the minimum requirements of the European Web Accessibility Directive (WAD).
What is EN 301 549?
EN 301 549 (pdf) is the European standard of Accessibility requirements for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products and services in the European Union. The norm is developed by the European Standardization Committees CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.
All (semi) public sector websites in the European Union (EU) have to meet the standard as of September 23, 2020. All mobile apps in the (semi) public sector have to meet the standard by June 23, 2021. This is drawn up in the Web Accessibility Directive 2016/2102 that is transposed into national legislation in all EU member states. Public sector bodies have to comply, and need to prove their level of accessibility through an accessibility statement against the EN standard. This report can not be older than 3 years.
The European standard adopts the latest version of the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) which help support many laws and standards around the world. In this case, it directly references WCAG 2.1 AA and follows the same structure for Web (Chapter 9), Non-web documents (Chapter 10) and non-web software like mobile apps (Chapter 11). EN 301 549 also follows the same underlying WCAG principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust (P.O.U.R.).
For the private sector, Europe developed the EU Directive 2019/882, also known as the European Accessibility Act. This directive is applicable to specific sectors including e-commerce, banking, e-books, and electronics. This EU directive must be transposed into national law by June 28, 2022. The legislation will apply from 28 June 2025. EN 301 549 is expected to be the applicable standard for European industry.
Businesses should start implementing the standard as soon as possible to be ready in 2025 and thus make sure it fits into their development plans and processes.
The European Commission published an overview of the latest changes in the 3.2.1 version.
Like WCAG, EN 301 549 has three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA. Level A refers to the lowest level of conformance (minimum) and Level AAA is the highest (maximum). Level AA is the mandatory level. It is not recommended that Level AAA conformance be required as a general policy for entire sites because it is not possible to satisfy all Level AAA Success Criteria for some content.
Important EN 301 549 Considerations
There are a few situations within Europe where a more specific local law or standard takes transcends EN 301 549. Examples are BITV in Germany and RGAA in France.
EN 301 549 is also unique in that it goes beyond WCAG, extending to cover biometrics. The standard requires people with disabilities to have access to technology that scans biological data, including facial recognition and fingerprints. While this may not be a prominent ICT for all, knowing it may be on the horizon for you is an important consideration.
How to take action and conform to EN 301 549
Here are some actions you can take to ensure that your websites and applications are accessible:
- Have a complete accessibility audit performed on your site and apps to determine your current level of accessibility. Use the audit report to provide evidence of accessibility conformance or for accountability of your accessibility declaration based on EN 301 549.
- Determine which parts of your site or app need to be prioritized based on usage and the severity of the accessibility barriers. It may be helpful to consult with accessibility experts to ensure you’re starting with a strong remediation strategy.
- Train your developers, testers, and content creators in accessibility concepts and techniques and provide support to help them fix your accessibility issues.
- Equip your development teams with tools to integrate accessibility testing into all stages of the development process going forward.
Benefits of EN 301 549 Conformance
Serving a wider audience
Accessible content will widen your available target audience opening new revenue opportunities.
Decreased legal risk
Be ready for current and future European legislation: where public sector already needs to be compliant since 2020, most businesses in the EU need to be accessible by June 28, 2025.
Increased Search Presence
Providing page titles, semantic heading structure, alternative text for images and transcripts for audio visual files makes your content more discoverable by search engines.
Better overall user experience
Studies show that optimizations made in UI/UX for accessibility also benefit people without disabilities.
Helpful Resources
Helpful Resources
EN 301 549 for US companies
What does European accessibility standard EN 301 549 mean for US organizations?
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Compliance or Conformance?
How Deque Can Help
Deque accessibility experts have the knowledge and skills today to help you with EN 301549 / WCAG 2.1 conformance. We have our own European office and years of experience with this EU standard. Because we helped define WCAG 2.1 and were actively involved in implementation testing, we’re among a small group of accessibility professionals ready to help you now.
Additionally, Deque services, training, and tools are continually updated with the latest in accessibility requirements. With immediate support of EN 301549 / WCAG 2.1 across our services and training and inclusion of automated rulesets in the next release of our accessibility testing library Axe-core, your team will be equipped to achieve its compliance goals. Contact us if you’d like help with EN 301549 / WCAG 2.1 now.
Audit
Most accessibility projects begin and end with an audit – they assess the current state of your site or application’s accessibility resulting in a clear accessibility report.
Remediation
Getting help from our team of experts will ensure your accessibility fixes will meet your compliance requirements as quickly and effectively as possible.
Axe™ Testing Tools
The Axe DevTools, Axe Auditor and Axe Monitor products enable accessibility experts and development to test and maintain accessibility end-to-end.
