EN 301 549 is the European standard setting accessibility requirements for ICT products and services, and for web content it adopts the WCAG success criteria at level AA by reference. It is the harmonised standard European accessibility legislation points to, which is how WCAG conformance becomes a compliance and procurement question for an industrial manufacturer rather than a design preference.
The standard reaches further than websites: it also addresses software, electronic documents, hardware with an information function and self-service terminals. Which clauses apply to a given organisation depends on the products and services it places on the market, the markets it sells into and its size, and that determination belongs with qualified legal counsel.
EN 301 549 is the European harmonised standard for accessibility requirements applying to ICT products and services. Its web content clause adopts the WCAG success criteria at level AA by reference instead of writing separate web rules.
For a website, meeting the referenced WCAG level AA criteria is, in practice, meeting the web content part of the standard. The remaining clauses address categories a manufacturer may encounter elsewhere in its product and software portfolio.
The first is legislation. European accessibility law references the standard, so an obligation reaching your organisation is generally discharged by conforming to it.
The second is procurement, and it often arrives first. Public bodies, utilities, hospitals, universities and large private buyers cite EN 301 549 in tender documents and supplier questionnaires. A manufacturer bidding for a framework may be asked to attest to conformance for its website, its portal and its product documentation before technical evaluation begins.
Whether the standard applies to your organisation, which clauses apply and from what date depends on the products and services placed on the market, the markets served, the entity publishing each property and the size of the business. Some categories carry exemptions and transitional arrangements.
Treat this page as background for a technical conversation. The applicability determination should be confirmed with qualified legal counsel, and the position for a country subsidiary is often different from the position for the parent.
The recurring work sits in the same places on most catalogue sites: keyboard operability through faceted filters and product finders, a visible focus indicator, colour contrast on specification tables and certification badges, text alternatives for schematics and exploded views, labelling and error handling on RFQ forms, and heading structure on long technical pages.
Distributor portals add authenticated flows, session timeouts and downloadable order documents. Our website accessibility page describes how we scope and remediate that.
Industrial sites carry datasheets, installation manuals, declarations of performance, safety data sheets and CAD documentation, most of it produced by engineering or by a translation vendor. The standard addresses electronic documents alongside web pages.
Scanned or image-only PDFs, untagged specification tables and missing document language are the common findings. Where remediating a large library in one pass is impractical, publishing the specifications a buyer needs as accessible HTML is usually the faster route to a usable outcome.
Conformance is a claim that has to be supportable. Keep a dated test report covering the referenced criteria, the templates and journeys tested, the tooling used and the manual keyboard and screen-reader passes performed, together with known exceptions and a remediation plan.
Publish an accessibility statement reflecting the actual position and a feedback route. Our accessibility compliance page sets out how that programme runs.
It is the European harmonised standard for accessibility requirements applying to ICT products and services. For web content it adopts the WCAG success criteria at level AA by reference, which is why WCAG conformance is the practical target for a website. It also addresses software, electronic documents, hardware with an information function and self-service terminals, so its reach extends beyond a site.
No. WCAG is the web content specification; EN 301 549 is a broader European standard for accessible ICT that adopts WCAG at level AA for web content and adds requirements covering other categories. For a manufacturer, the web clauses usually govern the website and portal, while other clauses may apply to software, documents or equipment interfaces elsewhere in the portfolio.
That depends on the markets you serve, the products and services you place on the market, the publishing entity and the size of the business, and some categories carry exemptions or transitional arrangements. It also arrives through procurement, where buyers cite it in tenders irrespective of statutory scope. Confirm the applicability determination with qualified legal counsel rather than inferring it.
The standard addresses electronic documents alongside web pages, and on industrial sites documents are usually where the largest gap sits. Scanned manuals, untagged specification tables and missing document language are frequent findings. Where remediating a full library at once is impractical, publishing the specifications a buyer needs as accessible HTML is often the faster route.
There is no single EU-wide certification scheme applying uniformly, and requirements differ by country, by sector and by whether the entity is public or private. What buyers generally ask for is a dated conformance report and a published accessibility statement. Your legal or regulatory team should confirm what documentation your markets and customers require.
The standard references a specific WCAG version, and the versions in force across most member states reference 2.1 level AA. WCAG 2.2 is additive, so building to it generally covers 2.1 as well. See WCAG 2.1 vs 2.2 for what the newer version adds and where it affects catalogue and portal interfaces.
Tell us which markets and which buyers are asking for it, and we will scope the audit and the evidence you will need to show.