How does WCAG relate to the EAA?

How does EAA relate to WCAG?

EN 301 549 is directly related to the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which is legislation aimed at improving the accessibility of products and services across the European Union.

EN 301 549 makes extensive references to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, integrating its success criteria as benchmarks for accessibility in ICT products and services. Here are the key references:

  1. General Integration:
    • The document integrates various success criteria from WCAG 2.1 across different sections to ensure web content accessibility. It states that ICT products and services must meet these criteria to be considered accessible​​.
  2. Specific Success Criteria:
    • Timing Adjustable: Where ICT is a web page, it must satisfy WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.2.1​​.
    • Pause, Stop, Hide: Where ICT is a web page, it must satisfy WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.2.2​​.
    • Three Flashes or Below Threshold: Where ICT is a web page, it must satisfy WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.3.1​​.
    • Keyboard Accessibility: ICT web pages must satisfy WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria 2.1.1 and 2.1.2​​.
    • Error Identification and Suggestion: Web pages must meet WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria 3.3.1 and 3.3.3​​.
  3. Testing and Evaluation:
    • Annex C of the document provides detailed procedures for assessing conformance to WCAG 2.1 success criteria through inspections and checks​​.
  4. Level AAA Success Criteria:
    • The document encourages considering WCAG 2.1 Level AAA success criteria, even though it is not recommended to require these for entire sites as a general policy due to the difficulty of satisfying all criteria​​.
  5. Non-Web Documents:
    • Non-web documents must also satisfy specific WCAG 2.1 success criteria, such as meaningful sequence, sensory characteristics, and use of color​​.
  6. Conformance Requirements:
    • EN 301 549 includes a section on WCAG 2.1 conformance requirements, detailing the conditions under which ICT must comply with WCAG standards to ensure full accessibility​​.

Additional References in EN 301 549

EN 301 549 includes several references beyond WCAG, which are both normative and informative. These references support various aspects of accessibility for ICT products and services. Here are the additional references:

Normative References

  1. ETSI Standards:
    • ETSI ETS 300 381: "Telephony for hearing impaired people; Inductive coupling of telephone earphones to hearing aids"​​.
    • ETSI ES 200 381-1: "Telephony for hearing impaired people; Inductive coupling of telephone earphones to hearing aids; Part 1: Fixed-line speech terminals"​​.
    • ETSI ES 200 381-2: "Telephony for hearing impaired people; Inductive coupling of telephone earphones to hearing aids; Part 2: Cellular speech terminals"​​.
  2. ISO/IEC Standards:
    • ISO/IEC 17007:2009: "Conformity assessment - Guidance for drafting normative documents suitable for use for conformity assessment"​​.

Informative References

  1. ANSI/IEEE Standards:
    • ANSI/IEEE C63.19: "American National Standard Method of Measurement of Compatibility between Wireless Communication Devices and Hearing Aids"​​.
    • ANSI/TIA-4965: "Receive volume control requirements for digital and analogue wireline terminals"​​.
  2. European Commission:
    • European Commission M 376-EN: "Standardization Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI in support of European accessibility requirements for public procurement of products and services in the ICT domain"​​.
  3. ETSI Human Factors Standards:
    • ETSI EG 201 013: "Human Factors (HF); Definitions, abbreviations and symbols"​​.
    • ETSI ES 202 975: "Human Factors (HF); Requirements for relay services"​​.
    • ETSI ETS 300 767: "Human Factors (HF); Telephone Prepayment Cards; Tactile Identifier"​​.
    • ETSI/CEN/CENELEC TR 101 550: "Documents relevant to EN 301 549 'Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe'"​​.
    • ETSI/CEN/CENELEC TR 101 551: "Guidelines on the use of accessibility award criteria suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe"​​.
    • ETSI TR 102 612: "Human Factors (HF); European accessibility requirements for public procurement of products and services in the ICT domain (European Commission Mandate M 376, Phase 1)"​​.
  4. ITU-T Recommendations:
    • ITU-T E.161: "Arrangement of digits, letters and symbols on telephones and other devices that can be used for gaining access to a telephone network"​​.
    • ITU-T G.722: "7 kHz audio-coding within 64 kbit/s"​​.
    • ITU-T G.722.2: "Wideband coding of speech at around 16 kbit/s using Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband (AMR-WB)"​​.
    • ITU-T V.18: "Operational and interworking requirements for DCEs operating in the text telephone mode"​​.
  5. IETF RFC:
    • IETF RFC 4103: "RTP Payload for Text Conversation"​​.
  6. ISO/IEC Standards:
    • ISO 9241-11: "Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Part 11: Usability: Definitions and concepts"​​.
    • ISO 9241-110: "Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Part 110: Dialogue principles"​​.
    • ISO 9241-171: "Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Part 171: Guidance on software accessibility"​​.
    • ISO/IEC 13066-1: "Information technology - Interoperability with assistive technology (AT) - Part 1: Requirements and recommendations for interoperability"​​.
    • ISO/IEC Guide 71: "Guide for addressing accessibility in standards"​​.
    • ISO/IEC TS 20071-25: "Information technology - User interface component accessibility - Part 25: Guidance on the audio presentation of text in videos, including captions, subtitles and other on-screen text"​​.
    • ISO 21542: "Building construction - Accessibility and usability of the built environment"​​.
  7. W3C Recommendations:
    • W3C Recommendation: "Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0"​​.
    • W3C Recommendation: "User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0"​​.
  8. US Legislation:
    • Section 508 of the United States Rehabilitation Act of 1973, revised 2017​​.
  9. W3C Working Group Note:
    • W3C Working Group Note: "Guidance on Applying WCAG 2.0 to Non-Web Information and Communications Technologies (WCAG2ICT)"​​.

These references provide additional frameworks and guidelines that enhance the robustness and comprehensiveness of EN 301 549, ensuring it covers various aspects of accessibility in ICT products and services.

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