Accessibility statement

Strategic the Technologies for Europe Platform website

This statement applies to content published on the domain: ‘https://strategic-technologies.europa.eu’

It does not apply to other content or websites published on any of its subdomains. These websites and their content will have their own specific accessibility statement.

This website is managed by the Directorate-General for budget, European Commission. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible, including persons with disabilities.

You should be able to:

• zoom up to 200% without problems
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using a modern screen reader and speech recognition software (on your computer or phone)

This website is designed to comply with the technical standard for websites and mobile apps, EN 301 549 v.3.2.1. This closely follows level ‘AA’ of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with technical standard EN 301 549 v.3.2.1 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. See ‘Non-accessible content’ for more details.

The website was last tested on 04 April 2024.

Preparation of this statement

This statement was prepared on 04 April 2024.

The statement is based on a review of a representative sample of web pages by an IAAP-qualified accessibility expert, using a combination of manual and automated testing.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform website. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers:

• Phone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11
• Contact form: Write to us (please refrain from providing sensitive information in the form, e.g. any information that would reveal personal financial information, information related to your health, or any other sensitive topic).

We try to respond to feedback within 15 business days from the date of receipt of the enquiry by the responsible Commission department.

Compatibility with browsers and assistive technology

The Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform website is designed to be compatible with the following most used assistive technologies:

• the latest version of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari browsers;
• in combination with the latest versions of NVDA, VoiceOver and TalkBack.

Technical specifications

The accessibility of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform website relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

• HTML
• WAI-ARIA
• CSS
• JavaScript

Non-accessible content

Despite our best efforts to ensure the accessibility of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform website, we are aware of some limitations, which we are working to fix. Below is a description of known limitations and potential solutions. Please contact us if you encounter an issue not listed below.

Known limitations for the European Commission website:

1. Graphs and charts – use of colour: Some graphs and charts on the website rely on colour alone to communicate information, which is confusing for people with colour vision deficiency. In charts where labels are not visually associated with the corresponding coloured section, clicking on the labels in the legends toggles the corresponding line, bar or section on or off, which allows users to check which label belongs to which part of the chart. We plan to fix this issue over the course of 2024.
2. Feedback form – error messages: Error messages in the feedback form are not associated with the field in which the error was detected and do not clearly indicate in which field the error was detected. We plan to fix this issue over the course of 2024.
3. Form elements do not have associated labels: This issue is related to the corporate service Europa Search and only applies on desktop. It should be fixed by the team in charge of the service. Elements on the page incorrectly use the aria-roledescription attribute, which should only be applied to elements with valid ARIA roles.
4. Empty button: Some of the left navigation menus have a title considered as button. It should be fixed by the team in charge of the service.
5. Audio description: Videos on this website do not have audio description.
6. Video player – keyboard accessibility: We are aware of some issues with the keyboard accessibility of our video player (when selecting the caption language from the menu, it is not possible to use the arrow keys to move between languages, this can only be done with the TAB key).
7. Video player - no subtitles or audio descriptions. Videos on the website currently lack subtitles and audio descriptions, limiting accessibility for users with hearing or visual impairments.
8. Alternative text: Some images on the website lack descriptive alternative text, which may affect users relying on screen readers to understand visual content.
9. Zoom and responsive design issues: When the page is zoomed to 200%, some content becomes difficult to read or interact with, particularly for keyboard users.
10. Heading structure: Text styled to appear as headings does not always use proper semantic heading elements (<h1>, <h2>, etc.), potentially confusing assistive technologies.
11. Contrast issues: Some text and background color combinations do not meet the minimum contrast requirements, affecting readability for users with visual impairments. Certain interactive elements (e.g., navigation links) fail to meet enhanced contrast requirements for WCAG AAA (contrast ratio of 7:1).
12. Non-descriptive Carousel: The carousel component lacks appropriate ARIA labeling or descriptive attributes, making it challenging for assistive technology users to navigate its content.

Known limitations for the European Commission platform dashboard:

1. Elements with role=”dialog” or role=”alertdialog” do not have accessible names.
2. Some interactive charts and are not accessible to people with a vision impairment or users who rely on keyboard navigation.
3. Graphs and charts – use of colour: Some graphs and charts on the website rely on colour alone to communicate information, which is confusing for people with colour vision deficiency. In charts where labels are not visually associated with the corresponding coloured section, clicking on the labels in the legends toggles the corresponding line, bar or section on or off, which allows users to check which label belongs to which part of the chart.
4. Some links are distinguishable by color only

First three issues are caused by third party Qliksense tool built in features. We could expect to be solved in the upcoming releases.   

Last point will be modified in the future.