Towards Web Accessibility Certification: The Findings of the Support-EAM Project

This paper presents the results of a European Specific Support Action whose objective was to explore the possibility to certify the accessibility of Internet services and the possible implications for a eAccessibility Quality Mark. The project initiated and conducted a CEN workshop which produced a CEN Workshop Agreemeent (CWA) identifying three possible schemes for Web accessibility certification, namely inspection according to the ISO/IEC 17020, certification according to the EN 45011 and Supplier's Declaration of Conformity according to the ISO/IEC 17050. The CEN workshop also recommended the creation of an Institute whose objective would be to harmonise the interpretation and implementation of the W3C/WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) in Europe. The Institute would create, promote and maintain a Quality Mark.