Digital accessibility, necessity, and regulations

What is digital accessibility?

The Netherlands is home to around 2 million people who have one or more impairments*. For instance reduced or no eyesight, poor to no hearing. To visit your website or use your app, they rely on supporting software such as a screen reader. By making your website or app digitally accessible, you make them accessible to everyone.

Digital accessibility is not just user-friendly, but even mandatory for cultural organisations. Since September 2019, newly launched websites and apps need to meet all the mandatory accessibility requirements right from the start. Does your website or app comply with the law?

How to make your website accessible

Websites, apps, PDFs, forms and ticket shops operated by cultural organisations must be digitally accessible. For the reader’s ease, from now on we’ll just talk about testing websites for their accessibility. But the rules and this explanation apply just as well for testing apps, forms, and other means of digital communication.

When building, filling and maintaining a website (or hiring someone to do so for you), you need to adhere to the accessibility guideline Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (Opens an external link), also known as WCAG 2.1. These are rules concerning design choices, content, and the technical aspects of the website. To read the rules in straightforward language, go to digitoegankelijk.nl (Opens an external link)

Who do you make your website accessible for?

• Visually impaired visitors who use screen reading software to navigate the website.
• Colour-blind visitors who can only see texts and pictures if they are displayed with sufficiently contrasting colours (relation of 3:1).
• Deaf or hearing-impaired visitors who can understand a video more easily if there are subtitles.
• Making your website accessible is for the benefit of people like culture lover Guus, portrayed in the video below. 

Voor wie maak je een site toegankelijk?

• Slechtzienden die schermlezerssoftware gebruiken om door de site te navigeren.
• Kleurenblinden die teksten en afbeeldingen alleen kunnen zien als de kleuren voldoende contrast van elkaar hebben (verhouding 3:1).
• Slechthorenden en doven die een video beter begrijpen met een ondertiteling.

Jouw site toegankelijk maken doe je bijvoorbeeld voor cultuurliefhebber Guus uit de onderstaande video.

What status will my website be awarded?

There are two types of statuses to indicate the accessibility of your website. The WCAG 2.1 rules are the starting point, and at the same represent the point score for the status. The WCAG 2.1 comprises three accessibility levels:

• A (mandatory minimum)
• AA (desired level for Dutch public authorities)
• AAA (highest level attainable)

The Netherlands has introduced an accessibility level based on the letters E through A. To comply with the law, you must minimally attain the Dutch C status. But that doesn’t mean you’re done. You also need to publish the research report plus an action plan that explains what you intend to do to eventually obtain the Dutch A status (which is equivalent to the WCAG 2.1 status AA).

What do the Dutch accessibility labels signify?

The table below, derived from the government website digitaaltoegankelijk.nl (Opens an external link), shows the requirements for each label.

Status A

• An accessibility statement is available.
• A complete and correct inspection was performed less than three years ago.
• The website or app fulfils all 50 of the accessibility criteria.
• A new inspection is not necessary within the next six months because the current inspection is still valid (less than three years old).
• The website or app complies with the law on digital accessibility.

Status B

• An accessibility statement is available.
• A complete and correct inspection was performed less than three years ago.
• The website or app fulfils less than 50 of the accessibility criteria.
• A new inspection is not necessary within the next six months because the current inspection is still valid (less than three years old).
• The website or app complies with the law on digital accessibility, conditional on the formulation of measures and demonstrable yearly improvement.

Status C

• An accessibility statement is available.
• No complete and correct inspection has been performed, or the last inspection dates from more than three years ago.
• It is not known how many of the accessibility criteria are fulfilled on the website or app.
• A new inspection is due to take place within six months.
• The website or app complies with the law on digital accessibility, but only for the first six months after publication of the statement.

Status D

• An accessibility statement is available.
• No complete and correct inspection has been performed, or the last inspection dates from more than three years ago.
• It is not known how many of the accessibility criteria are fulfilled on the website or app.
• No new inspection is due to take place within six months.
• The website or app does not comply with the law on digital accessibility.

Status E

• No accessibility statement is available.
• No complete and correct inspection has been performed, or the last inspection dates from more than three years ago.
• It is not known how many of the accessibility criteria are fulfilled on the website or app.
• No new inspection is due to take place within six months.
• The website or app does not comply with the law on digital accessibility.

How to inspect the accessibility of your website

You can test or have your website tested according to the WCAG-EM inspection method. This can be performed by an inspection agency that is specialised in digital accessibility, or by a certified colleague. Submit the report on the government website, digitaaltoegankelijk.nl, to obtain an accessibility statement and status. If your website fulfils all 50 requirements at levels A and AA of the European standard WCAG 2.1, then your website is awarded the Dutch A accessibility status. Publish the statement and the inspection, and possibly an action plan to obtain the Dutch A status, on your website. Update the report and status every year. If anything changes in the meantime, you must incorporate this in the statement right away. The updates to the statement should reflect improvements.

* Source rijksoverheid.nl (Opens an external link) 14 June 2023