Evaluation accessibility statements

All websites and apps covered by the Web Accessibility Policy require an accessibility statement. The declaration shall state, inter alia, whether the respective digital offers meet the accessibility requirements and whether there is content or elements that are not (yet) accessible. On www.digitalbarrierefrei.at (external link) you can find all relevant information on the accessibility statement (external link).

As part of the monitoring, we collected and evaluated some data in connection with the accessibility statements. When the accessibility statements were collected, it became clear that not all declarations are up-to-date. Accessibility statements are living documents and must be reviewed and, where appropriate, updated at least once a year. The date of the last verification shall be indicated in the accessibility statement.

Share of accessibility statements

• Monitoring period 2022:
  • 55% of websites and apps have an accessibility statement
  • 45% have no accessibility statement
• Monitoring period 2023:
  • 51% of websites and apps have an accessibility statement
  • 49% have no accessibility statement
• Monitoring period 2024:
  • 57% of websites and apps have an accessibility statement
  • 43% have no accessibility statement

Feedback mechanism

There must be a so-called feedback mechanism in the accessibility statement – a means of contact within the facility itself that users can contact if they encounter barriers. Almost all barrier declarations of¬freedom meet this requirement and have provided a feedback-mechanism:

• Monitoring period 2022:
  • 96% of accessibility declarations have provided a feedback contact
  • 4% did not provide feedback contact
• Monitoring period 2023:
  • 98% of accessibility declarations have provided a feedback contact
  • 2% did not provide feedback contact
• Monitoring period 2024:
  • 97% of accessibility declarations have provided a feedback contact
  • 3% did not provide a feedback contact

Disproportionate burden

The accessibility statement shall indicate if individual barriers could not be removed due to disproportionate burden. It is often stated here, for example, that no audio description can be provided for videos hosted via YouTube. It is also often mentioned that older (PDF) documents could not be made available barrier-free.

• Monitoring period 2022:
  • 44% of accessibility declarations indicate disproportionate burden
  • 56% do not indicate a disproportionate burden
• Monitoring period 2023:
  • 56% of accessibility declarations indicate disproportionate burden
  • 44% do not indicate a disproportionate burden
• Monitoring period 2024:
  • 40% of accessibility declarations indicate disproportionate burden
  • 60% do not indicate a disproportionate burden

Conformity status from the accessibility statements

A section in the accessibility statement describes whether the respective website or app is fully, partially or incompatible with the accessibility requirements. This is a statement made by the operators of the website or app.

"Fully compatible" means: all accessibility criteria are met without exception. "Partially compatible" means that at least half of the accessibility criteria are met. "Incompatible" means that more than half of the accessibility criteria are not met.