This country/region is part of the Global Law and Policy Page, which contains information about laws that protect disabled people’s rights to participate in the digital world.
[Note: This country is in the European Union (EU). Visit the European Union section of this Global Digital Accessibility Laws Page for more information about the European Accessibility Act and other digital accessibility Directives impacting EU countries.]
- Federal Republic of German Accessibility Law (2021 [PDF in German language only]) This is the law that implements the European Accessibility Act.
- 2022 Accessibility Regulation implementing the Accessibility Law
- 2017 German law implementing the European Union Web Accessibility Directive for public bodies
- Many German states have their own regulations on digital accessibility. Examples include
- Regulation for the creation of barrier-free information technology according to the Disability Equality Act North Rhine-Westphalia (Barrier-free Information Technology Regulation North Rhine-Westphalia – BITVNRW)
- Lower Saxony Ordinance on Accessible Information Technology in Public Bodies (NBITVO)
Implementation of German law
I recently learned of a practical application of accessibility law in Germany. A blind benefits recipient had been unable to receive social security information in an accessible format he could independently read and filed a lawsuit. He won the case, with the court ruling that the government agencies had to send him electronic notices in a “barrier-free form” by email at the same time that an inaccessible print version went out.
The government had argued that the needed digital forms were not secure, but the court said they still had to be sent with the plaintiff’s consent:
The plaintiff expressly consented to the transmission by email and thus accepted the risk that confidentiality would not be maintained 100%. The right to barrier-free access cannot therefore be relativized or negated with reference to data protection.
Read about this case in the article titled Right to barrier-free administrative procedures. I used the translation feature in Chrome – please see the note on translation at the top of this article.