Accessibility is more than a buzzword. Jurisdictions one after the other, including the United States and Canada, are making accessibility compliance mandatory. On June 28, 2025, the new European Accessibility Act will come into effect and enforcement will begin.
What’s it all about?
Accessibility is about your communications and interactions with customers and clients. Are there barriers for people with disabilities or the elderly? Accessibility seeks to put everyone on an equal footing by requiring such things as text alternatives and text-to-speech for people with sight impairments, and closed captioning and subtitling for those with hearing impairments.
Do accessibility requirements apply to the private sector?
In a word: yes. The new European act covers a broad swath of products and services from the private sector:
- Websites and mobile apps
- Audiovisual media services
- Banking services
- Smartphones and communication technology
- Computers and operating systems
- E-books, e-readers, and e-commerce experiences
- Passenger transport services
- Self-service devices such as ATMs and ticketing machines
Why is this happening now?
The new rules will actually make doing business in Europe easier. Until now, the continent has been a patchwork of legislation and guidelines, even within individual countries. Now one set of rules will apply across Europe.
The European standard (EN 301 459) adopts the latest version of the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). There are three levels of compliance: A, AA, and AAA, with AA now mandatory. The difference between levels is a matter of user experience. For instance, level A says that you must be able to navigate a website using a keyboard, level AA adds that navigation must remain consistent throughout the site, and level AAA further adds that no activities may time out. There are numerous other points of compliance.
Accessibility goes well with translation
Like translation, accessibility is one of the later steps in the document production process and often entails language ability. At TRSB, we have an accessibility team that works in tandem with our translation teams to go over each compliance step.
We check everything—images, tables, contrast, links, type size—and provide a compliance report (PAC or Adobe Acrobat Pro). If you also require PDF compliance with the universal accessibility standard (PDF/UA), we handle that too. You receive a compliance report that documents our quality control process and completion of the WCAG checklist.
Time to head to Europe!
The European Union’s 700+ million inhabitants produce 14% of the world’s economic output. That’s quite a market! With our language and accessibility expertise at TRSB, we’re the perfect partner to help take you there.
