There's no valid certificate for digital Accessibility and you don'T need one
One of the most frequent customer inquiries is whether we can certify the accessibility of websites. The short answer - we can't, because there are no corresponding certificates. And that we think certification is as useful as a band-aid for cancer. The long answer follows here.
The determination that an application is compliant with WCAG or, in this country, with EN 301549 (the declaration of conformity) is the certification, there is nothing more. And nothing more is needed.
Since there is no such thing as a perfectly accessible website, it is actually not possible to create a certificate for full conformity.
Digital products are alive - certifications are deadwood
How useful can it actually be to certify a digital application? Even authorities are often redesigning their interfaces these days. Content is integrated and removed, modules are exchanged and content is constantly changing. You might as well certify a freshly planted tree. A year, a month, or a week later, the certification may be obsolete because something has changed significantly.
DIAS-BITV test is not a certification
The DIAS-BITV test is not a certification. It is an interpretation of WCAG/EN 301549 and has no public legitimacy because it is developed and maintained by private companies.
You yourself do not say that it is a certificate. As mentioned above, it is a snapshot at the time of the test, which may already be out of date by the time the test report is published.
VPAT and ACR are unsuitable for websites
Internationally, the VPAT Voluntary Product Accessibility Template appears to be the standard. It is also not a certificate, but a structured report on the accessibility of a product or software. The result is the Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), which is often published or issued on request. In my opinion, it is too powerful for a content-heavy website; it is more aimed at complex applications such as Google Docs or Jira. It is also practically unknown in this country, although there is a special version for EN 301549. As far as I know, there is no German company that offers the creation of a VPAT as a service. Unlike the DIAS-BITV test, the VPAT can be used without a license and free of charge, provided you follow their rules.
As with the DIAS-BITV test, a VPAT does not say that an application is accessible, but is a structured test report. It shows that the provider has at least dealt with accessibility. Since you can also create a VPAT yourself, you should always remain critical. However, I have not yet seen a VPAT/ACR for a German product.
But my boss wants a Certificate
Explain to him - or more rarely to her - that the declaration of accessibility/conformity is a certificate or at least fulfills a similar function. This is usually based on a test report from a qualified person or organization. The test report contains a lot of important information such as the time of the test, the errors found, a timetable if necessary, by when the errors will be corrected and much more. This declaration, the feedback mechanism and quality assurance are much more relevant than a certificate.
How can I, as a service provider, prove my accessibility/conformity?
You offer a digital product and want to prove that you are accessible/compliant? Then you have the options mentioned above. Since there is no generally accepted certificate, you can carry out a test or have it carried out and document the result in a test report.
Every professional knows that self-tests are not just there to tick off, but must be carried out critically. If you are unable to do this yourself, you should hire a third party to do it. A false or dishonest test report will come back to haunt you very soon.
And of course, the test must ALWAYS be up to date. This means that if the project is updated, at least the new component must also be tested accordingly. This should actually be a given, but many project managers have not yet realized this. This shows how important digital accessibility is, somewhere under minor features.
Dead wood to stifle criticism?
A certificate does not protect you from lawsuits, it does not matter who created it. The issuing body will always cover itself: a date of the test will probably be included. If someone complains two months later, the issuing body can always point out that the test was carried out a long time ago and that something has probably changed. Which is probably true.
On the other hand, a certificate is often used to protect oneself against lawsuits and nip criticism in the bud. A disabled person complains about barriers? Send them the certificate, then it is clear that this complaint is unfounded. You don't do that? So what exactly is the purpose of such a certificate?
What is the point of a certificate?
Who do you want to impress with a certificate? It is certainly nice to hang it on a real or virtual pinboard, for business reports or other formal nonsense. Nobody reads them anyway, neither the reports nor the certificates, because they are as exciting as last week's newspaper.
Of course, you will always find someone who will sell you such a certificate, even with the corresponding tests. Dowsing rods are also sold and bought. Of course, not all procedures are completely dubious. As described above, the half-life of such a certificate is perhaps a year. Even if offers are to be tested annually, you certainly don't want to go through the hassle of certificates every year.
Conclusion: Invest the money wisely
In Germany, there is a fanatical love of complex formal processes and weighty papers that say meaningful things like "Certified according to DIN/ISO..." Whether these are of interest to anyone outside the bubble - who cares?
Don't waste your money on such formal confirmations, because they are of no use to you and the person affected by barriers certainly doesn't care. If you have extra money to spare, put it into an accessibility feedback mechanism.