COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the document Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the accessibility of public sector bodies' websites
Date: 2012-12-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, Internet address, access to information, approximation of laws, facilities for people with disabilities, public institution

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 3.12.2012  
SWD(2012) 402 final 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

Accompanying the document 

Proposal for a Directive 

of the European Parliament and of the Council on the accessibility of public sector 
bodies' websites  

{COM(2012) 721 final} 
{SWD(2012) 401 final} 

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   EN 

 
 
 
  
 
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

Accompanying the document 

Proposal for a Directive 

of the European Parliament and of the Council on the accessibility of public sector 
bodies' websites  

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  present  document  is  the  executive  summary  of  the  impact  assessment  carried  out  in 
preparation  of  the  proposal  for  the  approximation  of  laws,  regulations,  and  administrative 
provisions of the Member States on web-accessibility. 

Most  Member  States  have  developed  their  own  policies  and  specifications  for  web-
accessibility  based  on  W3c  WAI  WCAG,  resulting  in  fragmentation  of  the  market  for  web 
developers.  By  harmonising  web-accessibility  specifications  for  a  set  of  basic  public  sector 
services, an important step to solve the problem of fragmentation and insecurity in the market 
would be achieved, generating benefits for governments and citizens, and a bigger and better 
web-accessibility market.  

Definitions and background 

Information  and  Communication  Technologies  in  general,  and  the  Internet  in  particular,  are 
major drivers of economic growth. 

Web-accessibility  refers  to  principles  and  techniques  to  be  observed  when  constructing 
websites, in order to render the content of these websites accessible to all users, in particular 
those  with  disabilities1.  There  are  internationally  recognised  and  technology-neutral 
guidelines  for  the  design  of  accessible  websites  and  content:  the  Success  Criteria  and 
Conformance  Requirements  Level  AA  in  version  2.0  of  the  Web  Content  Accessibility 
Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). A European standard 
that  includes  web  accessibility  based  on  those  guidelines  is  under  development  within  the 
European Commission Mandate 376. 

Web-accessibility is of great importance for public sector bodies, as it allows them to extend 
their  reach  and  to  fulfil  their  public  sector  responsibilities.  The  number  of  government 
websites  (ca  380.500  in  EU)  and  public  sector websites  (ca.  761.000  in  the  EU)  is  growing 

1 

According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, persons with 
disabilities  include  those  who  have  long-term  physical,  mental,  intellectual  or  sensory  impairments 
which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on 
an equal basis with others. 

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rapidly.  While  web-accessibility  is  beneficial  to  all  users,  it  is  essential  for  people  with 
disabilities (15 % of the EU population, or 80 million people).2  

The  web-accessibility  market  comprises  all 
those  described  as  web-developers: 
professionals and companies specialised in designing the technical architecture and content of 
web pages, parties writing software tools to create and implement web pages, and companies 
providing relevant consulting services and web-development training. In the EU, this market 
still has plenty of room for growth, as fewer than 10 % of websites comply with WGAC 2.0. 
 2 billion, but realises less than 10 % of its 
The EU web-accessibility market is estimated at €
potential.  Harmonisation  will  lead  to  better  market  conditions,  more  jobs,  lower  web-
accessibility costs and more accessible websites: a triple win for governments, businesses, and 
citizens. 

2. 

POLICY CONTEXT, PROCEDURAL ISSUES AND CONSULTATION 

A  significant  number  of  Member  States  (21)  have  already  taken  measures  on  web-
accessibility; and others will probably follow, as Most member States have ratified the United 
Nations  Convention  on  the  Rights  of  Persons  with  Disabilities.  Nevertheless,  there  are 
significant and evident differences among the Member States with regard to their legislative 
approaches. 

Many political initiatives relate to web-accessibility: the European Disability Strategy 2010-
2020 (ICT accessibility); the eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 (inclusive and accessible 
eGovernment  services);  the  ‘Digital  Agenda  for  Europe’  (Commission  proposes  to  ensure 
fully-accessible public sector websites by 2015). EU funding programmes (FP7, CIP) support 
R&D  of  technological  web-accessibility  solutions.  Web-accessibility  will  also  be  stimulated 
by the Commission’s Standardisation Mandate 376 (for functional-accessibility requirements 
for ICT products, services and web-content, to be used in public procurement procedures) and 
the revision of the Public Procurement Directives. 

Numerous  public  consultations  and  analytical  studies  have  been  carried  out  to  identify 
problems  and  needs,  addressing 
including  Member  States’ 
representatives, industry and civil-society organisations. 

relevant  stakeholders, 

An  Impact  Assessment  Steering  Group,  led  by  the  Directorate  General  for  the  Information 
Society and Media, was established with a wide representation of services and departments of 
the  Commission.  These  included  the  Legal  Service,  the  Secretariat-General,  and  the 
Directorates-General  Communication; Economic and Financial Affairs; Employment, Social 
Affairs and Inclusion; Enterprise and Industry; Eurostat; Health and Consumers; Informatics; 
Internal  Market  and  Services;  and  Justice.  Their  task  has  been  to  analyse  and  discuss  the 
issues and perspectives relevant to this proposal on web accessibility. 

2 

See website European Disability Forum: http://www.edf-feph.org/Page_Generale.asp?DocID=12534.  

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Drafts of the Impact Assessment report were submitted to the Impact Assessment Board and 
its final version incorporates responses to the Board’s recommendations. 

3. 

PROBLEM DEFINITION 

Despite ten years of voluntary EU policy actions, including Council conclusions, Parliament 
resolutions,  Commission  communications  and  Ministerial  declarations,  there  has  been  no 
adequate progress on web-accessibility. Market fragmentation and insecurity are at the root of 
the  problem.  The  internal  web-accessibility  market  does  not  function  properly.  Web-
developers  face  barriers  in  the  form  of  additional  production  costs  if  they  operate  across 
borders. Enterprises, SMEs in particular, do not have the knowledge and capacity to cope with 
all  the  different  specifications  and  procedures.  This  hampers  competition  and  economic 
growth.  Website  owners  receive  fewer  and  more  expensive  bids  to  provide  services.  Web-
accessibility users may be confronted with non-interoperable web browsers, screen readers or 
other  assistive  technologies.  The  consequence  could  be  different  and  disruptive  user-
experiences in different countries. In addition for people with functional limitations, including 
people with disabilities, there is a risk of a growing social exclusion. 

Member  States  cannot  benefit  from  sharing  experiences  in  responding  to  societal  and 
technological developments. 

Without harmonisation at EU level of web-accessibility requirements, fragmentation and 
uncertainty  in  the  web-accessibility  market  cannot  be  reduced.  Such  harmonisation  would 
help fulfil existing political commitments and would ensure the effectiveness of the European 
and international standardisation efforts for accessibility (e.g. Mandate 376 and new ISO/IEC 
40500),  the  upcoming  European  Accessibility  Act  and  the  revised  Public  Procurement 
Directives.  The  proposal  could  be  limited  to  public  sector  websites,  as  this  alone  would 
result in a sizable market for web-developers. 

Since  the  Member  States  cannot  achieve  a  single  web-accessibility  market,  the  Union 
proposes  to  adopt  measures,  while  respecting  subsidiarity  and  proportionality,  on  the  legal 
basis  of  Article  114.1  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union.  This  states 
that  the  Commission  ‘shall  adopt  the  measures  for  the  approximation  of  the  provisions  laid 
down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States which have as their object 
the establishment and functioning of the internal market’. 

Now  is  the  time  to  act,  as  modest  intervention  now  can  prevent  extensive  reparative 
measures later. 

4. 

OBJECTIVES 

General  objectives  include  improving  the  internal  market  for  web-accessibility-related 
products and services, and augmenting the number of accessible websites. Specific objectives 
include  harmonised  requirements  for  a  minimum  list  of  types  of  public  sector  websites  and 
promoting web-accessibility for public sector websites beyond this list. The main operational 
objective is to achieve by 2015 full web-accessibility for all public sector websites on the list 
mentioned. 

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5. 

POLICY OPTIONS 

The  Digital  Agenda  for  Europe  (DAE)3  announced:  “The  Commission  will,  based  on  a 
review  of  options,  make  proposals  by  2011  that  will  make  sure  that  public  sector  websites 
(and websites providing basic services to citizens) are fully accessible by 2015”.  

Three policy options have been identified: 

1 — Baseline Scenario (‘no additional action’) 

2 — A Recommendation (‘soft law’) 

This option concerns the adoption of a Recommendation expressing a common approach for 
Web-accessibility,  in  particular  the  implementation  of  the  Web  Content  Accessibility 
Guidelines  (WCAG  2.0  level  AA)  for  a  minimum  list  of  types  of  public  sector  websites 
concerned. 

3 — Legally binding measure 

A legally binding measure, to approximate the laws, regulations and administrative provisions 
of the Member States on web-accessibility, lays down the rules for making a minimum list of 
public  sector  websites  accessible,  according  to  harmonised  web-accessibility  requirements. 
Member  States  are  still  free  to  extend  the  approximated  provisions  to  other  types  of  public 
sector  websites.  The  proposal  specifies  the  common  requirements  for  web-accessibility 
and the  recognition  and  referral  to relevant  standards.  . The  proposal  follows  the  usual 
approach  to  standardisation  based  on  presumption  of  conformity and is  in  line  with 
the modernised approach for dealing with ICT standards. . 

Member States shall have their laws, regulations and administrative provisions in place by 30 
June  2014  and  apply  their  measures  by  31  December  2015.  They  shall  participate  via  their 
standardisation organisations and via relevant committees and platforms in the establishment 
of  a  harmonised  standard  for  web  accessibility  and  in  the  definition  of  both  the  monitoring 
methodology and the reporting arrangements. In addition, Member States shall promote web-
accessibility  in  general  and  cooperate  with  industry  and  civil  society  to  exchange  best 
practices and review new developments.  

A Directive is the appropriate instrument because of its flexibility. It would respect the fact 
that some Member States already have related legislation in place. Moreover, Member States 
could extend the minimum list of types of websites and organise implementation (such as the 
way complaints are handled) in their preferred way. 

A Regulation would be immediately enforceable and would probably make it possible to fulfil 
the  DAE  commitments  in  time.  However,  web-developers  would  incur  considerable 
compliancy costs even if they were to operate only in their own country. 

Deferred and discarded options 

5.1. 
Civil  organisations  such  as  AGE,  ANEC,  EBU4,  and  EDF5  have  asked  for  the  scope  to  be 
extended to other relevant websites (e.g. with ‘basic services to citizens’). This sub-option has 

3 
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https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/ 
European Blind Union 

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been  deferred,  because  the  scope  would  then  extend  to  the  private  sector  with  different 
specificities, domain already considered for coverage in the European Accessibility Act under 
parallel preparation. 

Three  additional  options  were  considered  but  have  been  discarded  because  they  failed  to 
tackle  market  fragmentation,  could  question  proportionality  or  imposed  a  considerable 
administrative  burden.  These  were,  respectively,  a  legally  binding  measure  based  on  the 
combat  of  discrimination  according  to  art.  19  of  the  TFEU,  the  use  of  public  procurement 
legislation and the extension of the proposal to either authoring tools or assistive technologies.  

6. 

ANALYSIS OF IMPACTS 

6.1. 

Policy Option 1: Baseline scenario — no change in policies 

The  impact  of  continued  weak  EU  coordination  would  be  limited:  slow  progress  on  web-
accessibility, with new national measures causing further fragmentation. 

Economic impacts: Web developers would still face high entry barriers for cross-border sales 
of  products  and  services,  and  smaller  domestic  demand.  Public  administrations  would  not 
benefit  from  better  offers  and  from  sharing  their  approaches.  They  would  not  be  able  to 
benefit from taking off-line information and services on-line. 

Social  impact:  Persisting  ‘Digital  exclusion’  of  those  not  able  to  benefit  from  on-line 
facilities (e.g. for employability). 

Political  impact:  The  efficiency  of  service  provision  and  social  responsibility  would  be  in 
jeopardy. Commitments, as those in the Digital Agenda for Europe, could not be achieved. 

6.2. 

Policy Option 2: Adoption of a Recommendation (‘soft law’) 

The impact of a Recommendation depends on the willingness of Member States. It would not 
guarantee  that  the  fragmentation  problem  would be  tackled.  Studies  and  consultations  show 
that  this  approach  over  the  past  ten  years  has  not  been  able  to  resolve  the  problems  and 
remove the drivers behind these.  

Economic  impacts:  Web-developers  might  still  be  confronted  with  a  fragmented  internal 
market. If all Member States did fully endorse the recommendation, the net-benefits would be 
similar to those in section 6.3 below. 

Social impacts: Possibly persisting ‘Digital exclusion’ of those not able to benefit from on-
line facilities (e.g. for searching job opportunities). 

Political/reputational impacts: similar risks as in option 1. 

5 

European Disability Forum 

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6.3. 

Policy Option 3 — legislative measure based on Internal Market 

Economic impacts 
If the six Member States without existing web-accessibility measures would have zero web-
accessibility in their public sector web sites, they would have to invest between €
 37 and 88 
million to achieve 100 % compliance. The yearly expenditures are estimated at €
 41 million, 
assuming  redevelopment  of  one  third  of  these  websites  and  maintenance  and  monitoring  of 
web-accessibility for the rest. 

For the 21 Member States with existing web-accessibility measures, additional investments 
are  minimal,  since  the  public  sector  websites  concerned  fall  under  the  existing  national 
regulation.  The  proposed  measure  will  accelerate  implementation  and  lower  prices,  while 
giving a clear schedule of delivery. Countries that adhere to WCAG 1.0 (e.g. UK) would save 
money, as the ‘(re-)development’ of websites according to WCAG 2.0 is about 8 % cheaper. 
For  Member  States  that  follow  (variations  of)  WCAG  2.0  the  prices  eventually  decline 
because of improved competition and cheaper web-accessibility tools. 

The  reporting  schemes  for  common  monitoring  and  Information  Obligations  would  cost 
around €

 1.65 million. 

To achieve 100 % compliance of the websites concerned in one year for the entire EU would 
take an investment between €
 260  and  560  million. Suppliers of web accessibility services 
would benefit from economies of scale, due to a larger market and a lower go-to-market price 
for their services. 

Economic  benefits  for  governments  from  reaching  a  wider  population  could  be 
considerable.  Table  1  below  indicates  the  cost  and  benefits  if  100%  web-accessibility  is 
achieved – after EU intervention - within a year. In that case the benefits outweigh the costs in 
both the high and low scenario. The effect would be even stronger if they were spread over a 
3- or 5-year period.  

People with 
disabilities 

Low estimate 
(Simple 
websites)  

High estimate  
(Large 
websites) 

Reach in % 

Net benefits 

Net benefits 

100 
75 
50 
25 
5 

487.327.060 
300.389.484 
113.451.907 
-73.485.670 
-223.035.731 

191.147.305
4.209.728
-182.727.849
-369.665.425
-519.215.487

 Benefits 

 Costs 

 Costs 

Basic public 
sector 
services 
747.750.307
560.812.730
373.875.153
186.937.577
37.387.515

Low estimate 
(Simple 
websites) 

High estimate 
(Large 
websites) 

260.423.247 
260.423.247 
260.423.247 
260.423.247 
260.423.247 

556.603.002
556.603.002
556.603.002
556.603.002
556.603.002

Table 1 Calculation of net benefits of reaching full compliance with WCAG 2.0 in EU27 

Costs  and  benefits  for  the  six  Member  States  without  web-accessibility  policies  to  reach 
100 % web-accessibility for basic public sector services within 3 years, is estimated in Table 
2. 

Target group 
(people with 
disabilities) 

Low estimate 
(Simple 
websites) 

High estimate 
(Large 
websites) 

Reach in % 

Net benefits 

Net benefits 

 Benefits 
Basic public 
sector 

 Costs 
Simple 
websites 

 Costs 
Larger 
websites 

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100 
75 
50 
25 
5 

31.502.980 
20.557.798 
9.612.617 
-1.332.564 
-10.088.709 

14.597.479
3.652.298
-7.292.883
-18.238.064
-26.994.209

services 

43.780.725
32.835.544
21.890.362
10.945.181
2.189.036

12.277.745 
12.277.745 
12.277.745 
12.277.745 
12.277.745 

29.183.246
29.183.246
29.183.246
29.183.246
29.183.246

Table  2  Cost  of  reaching  full  compliance  in  the  six  EU  Member  States  with  no  web-
accessibility measures 

Economic  benefits  for  web-developers  would  be  substantial,  as  they  could  improve  their 
economies of scale and make attractive bids in adjacent markets. This measure could create a 
cascade of spillovers to other public sector bodies' websites. 

Social  impacts  and  sensitivity  analysis:  Better  opportunities  for  economic  and  social 
participation  for  many  citizens,  in  particular  older  people  and  those  with  functional 
limitations.  Better  job  opportunities  across  Europe  for  experts  on  web-accessibility  with 
disabilities. 

Monetary impacts would be €
million  in  time  saving  for  every  1 %  increase  of  online  access  and  €
10 % increase in online shopping. 

 400 Million for every 1 % increase in labour participation, €

 30 
 300  million  for  every 

7. 

PREFERRED OPTION 

Option 3 is recommended as the preferred option. 

8. 

MONITORING AND EVALUATION 

Member States shall monitor on a continuous basis the conformity of the websites concerned 
with the web-accessibility requirements. A common methodology will be established by the 
Commission  together  with  Member  States,  to  be  published  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the 
European Union.  

Member States shall report annually on the sampling of the websites concerned and the results 
of  their  monitoring  activities.  Their  reports  should  also  include  their  decisions  on  possible 
extensions of the list of types of public sector websites and any other additional measures. 

8.1. 

Prospective evaluations 

The Commission shall review the application of this directive within three years from its entry 
into force.  

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