Digital accessibility – the essentials

In Hungary, the law requiring products and services to be accessible, including digital interfaces in the business sector, will come into force in June 2025. Act XVII of 2022 sets out the general rules for complying with accessibility requirements. The Act will enter into force on 28 June 2025.

What requirements are in place?

Accessibility requirements are fairly wide-ranging, and it is easy to get lost in the subject. Below, we list those you need to be aware of when working with digital accessibility:

• In Hungary, the primary legislation is Act XVII of 2022, which enters into force on 28 June 2025. This Act refers to the EU Web Accessibility Directive (2019/882), effectively transposing it into Hungarian law and supporting compliance with it. It is therefore worth being familiar with it too.
• EU Directive 2019/882, also known as the European Accessibility Act (EAA), aims to create consistent EU-wide rules for digital devices and interfaces provided by the business sector. This Directive also set the 2025 date uniformly across the EU.
• EU Directive 2019/882 refers to the EU Web Accessibility Directive (WAD, Directive 2016/2102), which came earlier. The WAD requires websites and mobile applications belonging to the public and public-service sectors in the EU to comply with accessibility requirements. It entered into force gradually between 2019 and 2021, and was transposed into Hungarian law by Act LXXV of 2018. In other words, the regulator began with itself – the public sector – in pursuing its aim of making services accessible to people with disabilities.
• The basis for implementing the Web Accessibility Directive is the European standard EN 301 549. This is where WCAG comes into the picture, as EN 301 549 requires compliance with WCAG 2.1 at level AA. (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
• WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is one of the most important international standards for accessible web content, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

So, Hungarian Act XVII of 2022 transposes EU Directive 2019/882 into domestic law. That Directive ensures alignment with the EU Web Accessibility Directive (2016/2102), which is implemented through the European standard EN 301 549, requiring WCAG 2.1 level AA compliance. (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)

Who does the domestic law apply to?

Public-sector institutions were already required to make their digital services accessible, including municipalities, state schools and government bodies.

The law applying to the business sector (Act XVII of 2022) explicitly names certain services:

• retail banking services,
• e-commerce services (including the online sale of both products and services),
• audiovisual media services (typically online video platforms),
• e-books,
• self-service terminals,
• electronic communications services,
• public-transport ticketing solutions

The Act limits the above services to:

• services provided by companies to consumers,
• and excludes services provided by microenterprises from its scope.

As a result, most interactive digital interfaces fall within the scope of the Act.

What requirements must be met?

The Act states that its aim is to ensure that ‘every person, regardless of disability, has access [to digital devices and interfaces] to the fullest extent possible’. We would highlight the following examples across several areas:

Accessibility of information

• Information about the use of products and services must be made available through multiple sensory channels, for example both visually and in audio form.
• Navigation elements within a website, such as the menu bar and sidebar, must always appear in the same order and location across different subpages.

Communication options

• Different modes of communication must be provided, such as visual, acoustic, verbal and tactile elements.
• Speech-based devices must offer alternative communication options.

Using devices

• Visual content must allow users to zoom without losing information, and be compatible with screen-reader software.
• Other means of distinction must be used alongside colour coding.
• Visual cues must be provided alongside audio signals.
• Audio elements must allow users to adjust volume and playback speed, and audio clarity must be ensured.

Physical access

• Devices must offer alternatives to actions requiring fine motor skills.
• Alternative identification methods must be available alongside biometric identification.

Accessibility has several levels

WCAG defines three levels of accessibility conformance. The lowest level is A (pronounced ‘single A’), followed by AA (‘double A’) and AAA (‘triple A’). (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)

1. Level A – Basic accessibility: minimum requirements

Ensuring basic accessibility so that the website is at least partly usable for people with disabilities.

Examples:

• Alternative text (alt text) for images
• Providing at least a text transcript for videos
• Navigation that can also be used with a keyboard

2. Level AA – Expected accessibility: a legal requirement in many places

Providing better accessibility for most users. The legislation mentioned above (EU Directives 2016/2102 and 2019/882) requires this level.

Examples:

• Appropriate text-to-background contrast ratio (at least 4.5:1)
• A responsive interface that works well on mobile devices
• Providing captions for every video
• Clear presentation of error messages and forms

3. Level AAA – Advanced accessibility: the ideal level, but neither mandatory nor easy to achieve

The highest level of accessibility, providing a convenient, easily accessible experience for all users. Achieving it may not always be a realistic goal.

Examples:

• Even higher text-to-background contrast (at least 7:1)
• Alternative means of communication (e.g. sign language interpretation for videos)
• Providing interactions without time limits

The three levels build on one another. If legal compliance is the goal, Level AA is clearly what we need to aim for.

Why does this matter?

There are several good answers:

• it is required by law, which may in itself be reason enough.
• there is an economic benefit to developing digital interfaces for a wider audience – and it is not only those directly affected who will find them easier to use. Level AA compliance improves the overall user experience (UX) too (e.g. responsive design, forms that are easier to complete, sufficient time for transactions, etc.) (user experience)
• taking accessibility into account improves a site's SEO through better-structured content (search engine optimization)
• the brand experience suffers if an interface does not even meet basic accessibility requirements

What should I do?

If you are ready to get started, we recommend the following steps:

1. Accessibility audit

The first step is to assess how well your digital interfaces currently meet accessibility requirements. At Works., we can help with this. We have developed a robust accessibility audit methodology that identifies as many issues as possible while offering good value for money. As a result of the audit, you can expect an issue list that several people will need to work on:

• Developer: perhaps most tasks will end up with the developer, who will need to adapt the interface at code level so that screen readers can handle it properly, users can navigate without a mouse, and so on.
• Designer: the designer will also have tasks from the issue list, as they need to put the interface's information architecture in order and work with colours too (contrast, communicating meaning through colour, etc.).
• Colleagues responsible for copy (marketing, product, copywriter, legal): there will be plenty to do with the copy as well, and the other two colleagues will consult them when a business decision is needed.

2. Fixing issues

The issue list produced by the accessibility audit needs to be prioritised, then handed over to developers, designers and others, with fixes scheduled together. Once you get this far, you have already taken steps to make your existing interfaces accessible. Not every issue may be fixed immediately, but you are on the right track and making progress.

3. Updating the development process

To ensure that meeting accessibility requirements is not a one-off exercise, and that the accessibility of digital interfaces improves continuously, the process through which interfaces are developed needs to change. Regular monitoring of accessibility requirements should be built into this process, for example through recurring audits. This also assumes that knowledge of accessibility requirements has been developed within the organisation, which means providing training for colleagues. You can think of Works. for this too.

4. Improving the design process

Best of all, address compliance for digital interfaces right from the start by incorporating accessibility considerations into the design process – in other words, by applying inclusive design. Inclusive design aims to create products, services and experiences that are usable and accessible to everyone. It does not only develop solutions for people with disabilities, but takes into account anyone who may encounter a barrier – even temporarily.

Summary

We have aimed to provide an overview of applying accessibility considerations and of what to do if you want to start addressing them, whether driven by internal or external motivation. The best place to begin is with an audit, then progress through updating the development process towards inclusive design.

We would be happy to help with these tasks. Find out more on our website.