Local Authorities and Digital Accessibility
Local authorities — municipalities, inter-municipal bodies, departments, and regions — are at the forefront of public service digitization. More administrative procedures are moving online: civil status, school enrollment, urban planning, and social assistance.
According to the Observatory of Online Procedure Quality, fewer than 15% of local authority websites display a compliant accessibility statement. The situation is particularly critical for small municipalities lacking resources and technical expertise.
Specific Obligations
All local authorities are subject to RGAA regardless of size. Obligations include accessibility statements, multi-year plans, compliance badges on homepages, and reporting mechanisms. Non-compliance penalties are €20,000 per year per digital service.
Critical Online Procedures
Civil status requests, school and extracurricular enrollment, urban planning applications, and social assistance forms all require accessible design with clear labels, error messages, keyboard-operable calendar components, and accessible file uploads.
Solutions for Small Municipalities
Small municipalities can use accessible CMS platforms (WordPress with accessible themes, DSFR-based solutions, or shared platforms). Staff training in alt text, heading structure, accessible PDFs, and video subtitling is essential. Budget ranges from free (automated audit) to €30,000 (full website redesign).
For local authorities, digital accessibility is a matter of republican equality. Every citizen must be able to access public services online, regardless of disability.