Accessibility statement: when is it required?

An accessibility statement is public status documentation: how accessible your website or app is, what still fails, and how you plan to improve it. According to Digitoegankelijk, your organisation accounts to supervisors and to visitors. The statement does not replace real accessibility; it describes the current state, including known gaps and a plan.

In practice a serious statement also needs evidence. For government that often means links to audit reports, a contact path for reports, and a plan for open issues. Without that context a statement is little more than an empty promise. With it, it becomes a working document you update after releases and re-audits.

The technical yardstick behind most requirements is WCAG level AA. The statement itself is not a quality-mark scorecard; it is a legal or regulatory compliance document. For the broader duty (government versus business), start with digital accessibility.

For government organisations the statement is legally required. Digitoegankelijk puts it bluntly: without a statement you do not meet the law, and you must create statements for all your websites and apps to a fixed model. Who is obliged? lists central government, provinces, municipalities, water boards and public-law bodies among others.

According to Digitoegankelijk, websites also include intranets, extranets and cloud applications; apps include native, web and hybrid apps. Every government website or app gets a status from A to E. Status A, B or C meets the law; status E means there is still no statement. Status A or B requires a full accessibility audit as evidence.

After you publish, Digitoegankelijk often reviews the statement and suggests improvements. Statements must be updated at least yearly, and audit reports for status A or B have a limited validity. A statement that sits unchanged drops in status. Publishing is step one; keeping it current is the real work.

Since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act (EAA) applies to e-commerce services among others. According to ACM guidance, the accessibility duty covers providers with 10 or more employees or annual turnover above 2 million euros. Micro-enterprises below both thresholds are exempt.

Services in scope also have a statement duty: you explain how your service meets the accessibility rules, in a place that is easy to find. Think footer, help centre or account menu. The ACM line we use on this site matches our EAA page: be accessible and document it; a quality mark is not legally required.

The government model and Digitoegankelijk dashboard are not the standard route for a web shop. The underlying idea is the same: be honest about what works, what still fails, and how visitors can give feedback. A checkout that only works with a mouse belongs in that documentation until you fix it.

Government bodies create the statement via the assistant at toegankelijkheidsverklaring.nl. Digitoegankelijk describes that wizard as the way to produce statements that meet the mandatory model. You need an account; the assistant walks you through domains, audit reports, remediation plan, contact details and sign-off.

Before you start, the assistant expects you to gather: web addresses or app-store links, links to audit reports, for open issues a deadline and temporary measures, links to contact and complaints procedure, and the name and role of who signs for reviewed and approved. Without those pieces you stall in a draft.

After publication the statement enters the register. Digitoegankelijk notes that the accessibility label (or the full HTML statement) must go on the site; a bare link alone is not enough for government. Companies under the EAA usually do not use this government portal as their legal channel, but can still use the structure as a checklist: scope, evidence, feedback path, plan.

WebYes is an independent website review on four pillars: accessibility, speed, security and mobile. GEKEURD means that at audit time your site met our thresholds: average at least 80, and at least 60 per pillar. That is not a Digitoegankelijk status A to E, and not an ACM statement under the EAA.

Our scan runs automated checks against WCAG 2.2 AA and covers up to six pages per run. That helps find quick, measurable problems: missing alt texts, low contrast, empty buttons, missing form labels. Automated checks do not catch everything; government status A or B still needs a full audit, and EAA certainty on checkout often needs manual testing.

Use WebYes as a starting point for remediation, not as a substitute for the legal statement. Measure where you stand first, fix the blockers, then publish an honest statement through the right channel (government: Digitoegankelijk model; e-commerce: a findable status page along ACM guidance).