Twenty-Four European Organisations from twelve countries working
in the field of Web Accessibility, together with the W3C/WAI (Web
Accessibility Initiative) have signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for the creation of a Euro Accessibility
Project.
The MoU sets out governing principles for their co-operation
towards the goal of establishing a harmonised set of support
services over Europe, which would include a common evaluation
methodology, technical assistance, and a European certification
authority for Web accessibility.
All the signatories of the MoU consider that equal access to
Web is a key factor in the inclusion of people with disabilities
in the society.
In setting up this project, the signatories expect to
contribute to reinforce the European co-operation toward the full
accessibility of e-services based on the W3C/WAI guidelines, to
avoid the risks of fragmentation of the WAI outcomes, and finally
to significantly increase the number of accessible Web sites.
Their main goals include establishing a certification of authority
for web accessibility, addressing the lack of a harmonised
methodology for the application of the W3C/WAI guidelines and to
consider the provision of an "eAccessibility Mark" for
goods and services which comply with relevant standards for
eAccessibility.
The 24 European organisations are:
AbilityNet Ltd (UK),
Accessibility Foundation (Netherlands), Accessinmind Ltd (UK),
ASPHI (Association for the Development of ITC Projects for people
with disabilities, Italy), Blindensorg Licht en Liefde (Belgium),
ONA (Belgium), BrailleNet (France), Cellule Wall-On-Line
(Belgium), AEGEAN (The Department of Product and Systems Design
Engineering of the University, Greece), European Blind Union, FIT
(The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology,
Germany), France Telecom R&D (France), IBM Europe, Linz
University (Austria), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium),
KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics
(Hungary), Palo Alto (Belgium), RINCE (Ireland), RNIB (Royal
National Institute for the Blind, UK), RNID (Royal National
Institute for Deaf People, UK), Fundación Sidar - Acceso
Universal (Spain), Fundosa Teleservicios S.A (Spain), Videncenter
for Synshandicap (Visual Impairment Knowledge Centre, Denmark),
Web for All (Germany).
To learn more about the group, please visit www.euroaccessibility.org
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