RGAA for French local authorities: accessibility duties and where to start

RGAA and French local authorities: who is covered?

The page "Rappel du champ d'application" (reminder of the scope) on accessibilite.numerique.gouv.fr recalls that Article 47 of the Law of 11 February 2005 on equal rights and opportunities, participation and citizenship of people with disabilities makes the online public communication services of several categories of organisations subject to the accessibility obligation, starting with legal entities governed by public law. The same page also names local authorities (collectivités territoriales) explicitly, in a transitional provision: until Decree No. 2019-768 of 24 July 2019 enters into force under the conditions set out in its Article 10, the State, local authorities and the public bodies that depend on them remain subject to the accessibility obligations laid down by Decree No. 2009-546 of 14 May 2009.

The scope goes beyond the administration itself. Certain legal entities governed by private law are also covered: those entrusted with a public service mission, and those created specifically to meet needs of general interest that are not industrial or commercial in nature, where their activity is mostly funded by one or more of the persons listed in points 1°, 2° and 3° of Article 47, where their management is subject to their control, or where more than half of the members of their administrative, management or supervisory body are appointed by them. For a local authority, the key takeaway is that the online services of its public service delegates are covered too.

A news update: the official page states that version 5 of the RGAA is being drafted, with publication planned for the end of 2026, and stresses that this deadline does not call into question the relevance of current or upcoming accessibility work, which must under no circumstances be suspended or postponed.

Which digital services of a local authority are covered?

Online public communication services are defined by Article 1 of Law No. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004 on confidence in the digital economy: any making available to the public or to categories of the public, by electronic communication, of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds or messages of any kind that are not private correspondence. Section II of Article 47 specifies that they include in particular:

• websites, intranets and extranets;
• software packages, where they are applications used through a web browser or a mobile app;
• mobile applications designed for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, excluding the operating system and hardware;
• digital street furniture, for its application or interactive part, excluding the operating system and hardware.

Reference standard and exempt content

Online services that comply with the European standard EN 301 549 V2.1.2 (2018-08) are deemed to meet the legal requirements. WCAG 2.1 levels A and AA are mentioned for a different case: the companies referred to in point 4° of section I of Article 47 that choose to refer to international standards must meet its success criteria.

Some content falls outside the scope of the obligation. Before budgeting your work, identify what belongs on this list:

• files in office formats published before 23 September 2018, unless they are needed to complete an administrative procedure relating to the tasks carried out by the organisation concerned;
• pre-recorded audio and video content published before 23 September 2020;
• live audio and video content;
• online maps and mapping services, provided that, for maps meant to give a location or a route, the essential information is supplied in an accessible digital form;
• third-party content that is neither funded nor developed by the organisation and is not under its control;
• reproductions of heritage collection items that cannot be made fully accessible, either because accessibility is incompatible with preserving the item or with the authenticity of the reproduction, or because no automated and affordable solutions exist to transcribe their text;
• intranet and extranet content published before 23 September 2019, until those sites undergo a substantial revision;
• website and mobile app content that is neither needed for an active administrative procedure nor updated or modified after 23 September 2019, archives in particular.

The multi-year accessibility plan

Under section III of Article 47, the multi-year plan, lasting no more than three years, sets out the organisation's digital accessibility policy. The official page dedicated to the plan lists the information it contains:

• how digital accessibility is built into the digital strategy and into the policy for including people with disabilities;
• the functional position and duties of the organisation's digital accessibility officer;
• the human and financial resources allocated to digital accessibility;
• how the required skills or knowledge are reflected in job descriptions and recruitment processes;
• training and awareness actions for staff;
• any external resources and expertise used, and the technical means and tools to manage and test digital accessibility;
• the internal organisation for meeting the obligations, including how digital services are checked and how user requests are handled;
• accessibility in contract clauses (calls for tenders and quotes), in supplier scoring and selection criteria, in acceptance procedures and, where relevant, in agreements with operators, delegates or partners.

Annual action plan and compliance work

The multi-year plan also presents the work to bring the organisation's online services into compliance. This work and the actions in favour of digital accessibility are planned each year in action plans. The multi-year plan presents in particular the following work:

• accessibility in new projects;
• taking people with disabilities into account in user testing;
• the conformity assessments (or audits) planned for all communication services;
• the corrective measures for non-accessible content, with an implementation timetable that prioritises the most viewed content and the most used services;
• non-mandatory measures, such as sign language for audio and video content or translating some content into plain language;
• the review of the annual action plans.

Accessibility statement: what it must say about the plan and exemptions

The two official pages reviewed here provide for several items in the accessibility statement. First, links to the multi-year plan and to the current year's action plan, which are themselves available online on the organisation's website and published in an accessible format.

Second, content or features not made accessible on grounds of disproportionate burden. This exemption is invoked case by case, for a specific feature or piece of content, when it is reasonably impossible to make it accessible. To assess it, the organisation considers in particular its size, resources and nature, and the estimated costs and benefits for the organisation compared with the estimated benefit for people with disabilities, taking into account how often and how long the service is used and how important it is. Lack of priority, time or knowledge are not legitimate circumstances. Except where justified, the exemption does not cover an entire online service. Moreover, the disproportionate burden exemption does not release the organisation from producing an accessibility statement: each item concerned is listed there with the justification, the duration of the exemption and, where applicable, the accessible alternative offered. In addition, the content or feature concerned must come with an alternative giving access to equivalent content or features, as long as producing that alternative is not itself a disproportionate burden. Where the content relates to the core missions of a body entrusted with a public service mission, the exemption must be accompanied by an alternative providing an equivalent service.

RGAA for French local authorities: steps for a town starting out

The official pages describe obligations, not a work schedule. Based on their content, here is the sequence we recommend to a municipality starting from scratch:

• List every online service: main website, secondary sites, intranet, extranet, mobile apps, web-based software, digital street furniture, including those run by public service delegates.
• Set aside exempt content, checking the dates (23 September 2018, 2019 and 2020) and any link to an administrative procedure.
• Appoint the digital accessibility officer and define their functional position and duties, since the multi-year plan must describe them.
• Assess the services against the EN 301 549 V2.1.2 standard and identify the most viewed content and the most used services.
• Draft the multi-year plan (three years at most) and the first annual action plan, covering training, purchasing and contract clauses.
• Publish these documents online in an accessible format and link them from the accessibility statement, listing any disproportionate burden exemptions there.
• Every year, review the action plan and plan the next one.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading on Conformly

• Public sector accessibility obligations
• Public sector accessibility observatory
• Accessibility statement template to complete

Sources

This article relies on the official sources listed at the end of the page.

• DINUM — Champ d'application
• DINUM — Schéma pluriannuel