Online Services: equal access for everyone

The advance of online services has made the issue of web accessibility particularly important. It means that everyone, including elderly people and people with disabilities, should have equal access to the Internet, at least to the public sector bodies' websites. Today the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee adopted its response to the European Commission’s proposal on improving access to public sector websites.

“Services are based online now more than ever. Whether you want to apply to a university or register a car, you can do so without leaving the house. The problem is that very few websites, only 10%, across the EU are accessible to all. This means that 80 million Europeans with disabilities and elderly people risk being excluded from society. Our aim is to counteract this risk and make all public sector websites accessible”, said Rafał Trzaskowski MEP, who drafted the European Parliament’s response to the proposed Directive on behalf of the Group of the European People’s Party.

MEPs insist on widening the scope of the proposal beyond the twelve types of websites of public sector bodies proposed by the European Commission. Members want all websites concerned to be accessible by January 2017. They also insist on including applications for mobile devices and want guarantees to ensure proper application of this legislation.

The proposal will now go into trilogue negotiations between the EP, Council and the European Commission. The plenary vote is expected for spring 2014.