European Web Accessibility Directive (WAD) was integrated into laws of the member states of the European Union which means that countries that are not members of the EU did not need to integrate it immediately. But now all European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries will follow.
European Free Trade Association member states
European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is an intergovernmental organization of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland that was set up in 1960 (opens in new window). I will not go into political and organizational details, but let’s just simplify it and say that some member countries are not a part of the European Union and therefore they did not require to implement the Web Accessibility Directive.
Until today that is. EFTA has made some comments and asked for some additional time and today, 5th of February 2021 it decided to proceed with the WAD integration.
In practice this means that almost all of Europe will need to comply with WCAG 2.1
Well, at least in the EU and EFTA member states and in their public sector for now. As Web Accessibility Directive defines minimum countries can choose its own scope – like for example Finland that included parts of private sector as well (insurances and banks) – and like Norway that decided to continue with all of private sector (that has at least 50 employees etc.).
Another step towards an more accessible future
my hopes
