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Accessibility Statement

This statement applies to content published on the domain: ‘https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en

It does not apply to other content or websites published on any of its subdomains. These websites and their content will have their own specific accessibility statement.

This website is managed by the European Commission on behalf of all the institutions of the European Union, under the supervision of the Inter-institutional Online Communication Committee (IOCC) It is designed to be used by as many people as possible, including persons with disabilities.

You should be able to:

  • zoom up to 200% without problems
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using a modern screen reader and speech recognition software (on your computer or phone)

This website is designed to comply with the technical standard for websites and mobile apps, EN 301 549 v.3.2.1. This closely follows level ‘AA’ of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with technical standard EN 301 549 v.3.2.1 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. See ‘Non-accessible content’ for more details.

The website was last tested on 10 March 2023.

Preparation of this statement

This statement was prepared on 8 December 2023.

The statement is based on a review of a representative sample of web pages by an IAAP-qualified accessibility expert, using a combination of manual and automated testing.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of European Union website. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers:

  • Phone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11
  • Contact form: Write to us (please refrain from providing sensitive information in the form, e.g. any information that would reveal personal financial information, information related to your health, or any other sensitive topic).

We try to respond to feedback within 15 business days from the date of receipt of the enquiry by the responsible Commission department.

Compatibility with browsers and assistive technology

The European Union website is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:

  • the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari browsers;
  • in combination with the latest versions of NVDA, VoiceOver and TalkBack.

Technical specifications

The accessibility of the European Union website relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

  • HTML
  • WAI-ARIA
  • CSS
  • JavaScript

Non-accessible content

Despite our best efforts to ensure the accessibility of the European Union website, we are aware of some limitations, which we are working to fix. Below is a description of known limitations and potential solutions. Please contact us if you encounter an issue not listed below.

Known limitations for the European Union website:

  1. Video captions: Some of our videos do not have captions. We are continuously working on adding them to more videos.
  2. Video player – keyboard accessibility: We are aware of some issues with the keyboard accessibility of our video player (when selecting the caption language from the menu, it is not possible to use the arrow keys to move between languages, this can only be done with the TAB key).
  3. Interactive maps: Interactive maps are not accessible to people with a vision impairment or users who rely on keyboard navigation. We plan to fix this issue by March 2024.
  4. Navigation menu accessibility: Some content has not been properly coded for the best experience with a screen reader. We plan to fix this issue by March 2024.
  5. Heading hierarchy: Some headings do not follow the correct heading hierarchy, which can cause problems for screen reader users. We plan to fix this by March 2024.
  6. Sliding captcha: We are aware of the issues with the keyboard focus of the slider. We plan to fix this issue over the course of 2024. It is important to note that the sliding captcha is not accessible to deaf-blind users.