European governments failing on Web accessibility

NEWS Nearly all public service websites across Europe fail to meet international accessibility standards, according to an EU report published on 24 November 2005.

The study, issued by the UK presidency to coincide with its ministerial e-government conference, reveals that only 3% of public websites fully comply with the minimum standard of accessibility under the internationally accepted W3C guidelines.

Out of 436 public sector websites surveyed, 10% pass some but not all of the criteria under the standard, 17% "marginally fail" to meet the guidelines and 70% fail.

The most common reason for failure is that websites don't provide an adequate text alternative for images. The other main deficiency is a lack of information explaining the relationship between frames on a webpage.

Among its recommendations, the report says that the W3C accessibility guidelines should be built into EU procurement practices. It also proposes that a target is set for all public websites across the EU to comply with basic accessibility standards by 2010 and that cross governmental centres of excellence for e-accessibility are established.

Speaking on behalf of the UK Presidency, Cabinet Office minister Jim Murphy, said he is "encouraged" by some instances of good practice but that "widespread failings" need to be addressed.

"eAccessibility is an issue for all of us. We know that able and disabled people use online services more when they are designed to meet their needs. The main reason for investing in electronic service delivery is to enable people to access the service more easily. Making technology more inclusive is hugely important for the social and economic well-being of the EU, and that's why we are making digital inclusion a key issue at this conference today."

The report titled eAccessibility of public sector services in the European Union, was commissioned for the UK presidency of the EU to evaluate eAccessibility and establish the scope of public policy towards the issue.