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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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